CNN released an article called Can social media clear air over China? It is amazing what the effects our user-generated content can have on government.
"At the beginning of 2011, when the government revised its air quality standards, it stated in the first draft that PM 2.5 would not be monitored or disclosed," Ma said.
"And then people made such an outcry over the Internet, especially through the micro blogs. Eventually, the government changed its policy by the end of the year."
This use of media shows the power our technology has on our society. We are connected in ways that were not attainable before and in this situation it has shown to have a positive effect on our lives. The video below illustrates how the blogs have had a great impact on the Chinese government:
What are your thoughts on how social media may be helping speed up the changing environmental efforts in China? How can this effect their government moving forward in the future? The use of user-generated content gives us a lot of power but how we govern this phenomenon? Who is to stop a group of citizens from blogging on environmental issues that may not be as important that can ultimately affect a country's health moving forward. I find this very interesting and something we should seriously monitor as we continue to advance our technology.
I think it's interesting and really cool that social media allows EVERYONE to have a voice - not just the rich or the powerful. Without the power that social media allows the masses, China's government may not have changed their pollution policies. The power of social media can be seen in all different realms of society, from examples such as these in sustainability to politics and the Arab revolution that is occurring mostly via social media. Just like you said, though, social media is an awesome tool, but one that has the potential to be very dangerous as well. Learning to govern and control social media so that it has the most positive impact will be hard but definitely worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting to see how social media forced China to change its policy. I never would have guessed that China would be the country to enact change due to pressure from social media. I would have expected China to block these blogs to try to quiet their citizen's voice. I enjoy looking at how social media has caused change within society. Everyone does have a voice and social media the the outlet for everyone to get their voice heard. This was a really fun and interesting post to read.
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