TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
where ever you go, there you are
where ever you go, there you are


« previous 4


Social Networks and Youth in Latin America
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Warning, much of the content of this post has been borrowed from other blog posts. I hope that it creates a synthesized version of the previous posts.



Social Networks have moved from being a buzzword, to an essential element of global pop culture. Social Networks are web platforms that provide users with spaces to upload and share information with others on the network. One key feature of social networks is that the value of the site is amplified as users join and share more information. Usually users share a variety of data ranging from music, photos, videos, bookmarks, as well as personal information, from likes, dislikes, to status updates on what the user is doing that very second. Some networks specialize in one area, like Flickr.com for photos, YouTube.com for video, and Last.fm for music; yet many of these networks combine a variety of data to allow maximum interactivity for their users. Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Orkut and TakingITGlobal provide users with a mishmash of these services, all catering to different populations.

What is revolutionary about this new form of communication is that each user acts as a newscast to their friends and the wider audience of the Internet. Youth choose with whom to share their information, and many youth use their spaces as platforms for social change. They say that the personal is political, and this rings true in the new Web 2.0. Much easier than creating a website, Social Networks allow users to generate their own personal content and connect with each other. Users define exactly what they want to chat about, see, and hear. This is different than traditional media such as radio, television, and print (Burnett & Marshall, 2003). Instead of the television network creating the content, it is the users themselves who have ultimate control. As well, users have the ability to interact with other users content, giving comments, ratings, and contribute similar content.

From India to Brazil, youth, artists, musicians, businesses, politicians, and NGOs are embracing these new technologies in order to interact with other users, share information and reach new audiences. Globally Social Networking sites are more popular than ever among youth. According to Microsoft and MSN Advertising’s joint global research study The Circuits of Cool, “Young people are generally aware of social networks – only 18% of those are yet to use them or have never heard of these sites.”

Yet as Social Networking becomes more popular, the arrays of choices are starting to flood the average user. In Latin America there is an overwhelming embrace by youth of Social Networking websites, much like the rest of the globe. In 2007, the number of social network users in five major Latin American countries more than doubled (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico). During the same period, Latin Americans residing in the United States also increased their participation in social networks by 48%. On average, Latin Americans spend 375 minutes per user per month on social networking sites, as opposed to 249 minutes in USA . One of the world’s largest communities of social network users is Brazilian youth, who on average have 239 people in their online network of friends. While Brazilian youth are attracted to Google’s Orkut, Central American youth more commonly connect through the site Hi5. According to Panamanian users at the time of writing . As Facebook becomes more and more popular, it is evident that the trends will shift as to what social networking platform youth are using, but the overall trend of social networks will live on for many more years in a number of incarnations.

Social Networks provide youth the opportunity to share their thoughts, ideas, and lives in a number of formats. For example, on Hi5 Costa Rican youth use the group’s function to discuss local and world issues. The controversial recent legislation to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Tratado de Libre Comercio - TLC) has caused much online discourse. Youth across the country have joined forces to oppose TLC, and their resistance has taken on grassroots communication strategies such as demonstrations, graffiti, blogs, videos and online forums. A search for groups on Hi5 containing the words “No TLC” brings up 78 results. Each individual group features discussion boards with hundreds of members and messages. The top result was “di No al TLC” (Say no to TLC), which has 1286 members and 2666 messages. While many of the messages feature porn and spam, youth use the forum to post events, announce new media launches, and discuss what is at stake. As of April 2008, the most recent messages include a Feria on Global Warming, an anarchist convention, and the announcement of a radio show against TLC.

On top of TLC, Hi5 has served as a platform for animal rights groups. Many youth use these groups as a news source. For example there have been many outcries on both Hi5 and Facebook against the Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas’s show in Managua, Nicaragua, “Exhibit No. 1." The artist used a street dog in the art installation, placing the dog at one end of the gallery tied up, and food at the other end out of reach. The dog starved to death, causing outrage from animal rights activists around the world. Through the medium of Social Network groups and blogs, youth activists were able to post photos of the cruelty exposing the artist and causing international uproar. Doriam Diaz from La Nacion reports:

The Costa Rican artist Guillermo Vargas, better known as Habacuc, is surrounded in a big controversy because of the death of a street dog in Exhibit No. 1 in an art show that took place last August in Managua (Nicaragua).

Defenders of animals in Costa Rica learned of his work through a blog yesterday and accused him of cruelty.

As part of his presentation, the artist showed the viewer a street dog, weak, sick and hungry tied in the corner of the room. He captured the animal in a poor district of Managua.

The dog died after a day at the exhibition, as was confirmed to The Nation Marta Leonor Gonzalez, editor of the cultural supplement of La Prensa in Nicaragua.

The exhibition also included the phrase, written with dog food, "You are what you read"; As well as an audio with the Sandinista anthem backwards, photos and a burner, which burned 175 rocks of crack cocaine and an ounce of marijuana.

Habacuc said yesterday that his work was a tribute to Natividad Canda, a Nicaraguan who died after being attacked by two Rottweilers in a workshop in Carthage.

Cases of animal and human rights abuse might go undetected by the mainstream media, but young activists have found a way to virally spread information to their peers with the same interests, thus also attracting the attention of the larger media networks. By using social networks, youth can share information on local and global issues that are valuable to them. TakingITGlobal.org is a perfect platform for youth from around the world, as it brings youth leaders together to share thoughts, articles, poems, pictures, and other forms of media. Social Network sites facilitate transnational communication, which can unite youth across borders to fight for social and environmental change.


May 14, 2008 | 6:42 PM Comments  0 comments



Going Mobile
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

So, I must admit, this is the second post I've made from a mobile device. It is definately a challenging and doable feet. More and more frequently activists and NGOs are harnessing these technological devices in order to coordinate everything from large scale mobilizations to healthcare revolutions. Mobile phones are now even being equiped with polution detectors with allow bike curriors to collect and share data. 2008 is the year of the cellphone, as there is now one mobile device for every two human beings. Billions of humans have adapted this telecommunications technology in less than 30 years.

Recently I have been diving into the work of Nokia's Open Studios research team. Jan Chipcase and Younghee Jung are masters of global ethnographic research, visiting urban slums to capture glimpses of how technology affects the lives of everyday people. Just as fishermen are usi