14 votes

It started as a fairly routine tweet from an inoffensive source - Canada's foreign affairs ministry. But in just a few days it escalated into a world-class diplomatic clash.

14 comments

  1. [14]
    EscReality
    Link
    Maybe it's just me, but I really dislike how much weight Twitter is carrying in modern society. We thought of the platform and its users as a massive joke when it came out in 2006 and most people...

    Maybe it's just me, but I really dislike how much weight Twitter is carrying in modern society.

    We thought of the platform and its users as a massive joke when it came out in 2006 and most people I know IRL still think of it in that light.

    But, everyone from government officials, to actors, to CEOs are making massive waves based on comments made on the platform. When did we start looking at the joke of social media in a serious light?

    9 votes
    1. [9]
      Algernon_Asimov
      Link Parent
      Possibly when people started saying serious things on it - which was many many years ago. Even if you think the platform itself is a joke, that doesn't stop other people using it for serious...

      When did we start looking at the joke of social media in a serious light?

      Possibly when people started saying serious things on it - which was many many years ago. Even if you think the platform itself is a joke, that doesn't stop other people using it for serious purposes.

      And this trend has only been reinforced since the leader of one of the most powerful countries on the planet uses this platform to announce official policy.

      5 votes
      1. [8]
        EscReality
        Link Parent
        Yea, I really wish that was not a thing. But I do see your point, granted when I see politicians using twitter it makes their views less legitimate to me. But I guess the flipside of that is them...

        uses this platform to announce official policy.

        Yea, I really wish that was not a thing.

        But I do see your point, granted when I see politicians using twitter it makes their views less legitimate to me. But I guess the flipside of that is them giving legitimacy to the platform.

        2 votes
        1. [7]
          Algernon_Asimov
          Link Parent
          It's not just politicians. People have been using Twitter for serious discussions for many years. About 7 or 8 years ago, I was referred to a Twitter hashtag that was being used for professional...

          It's not just politicians. People have been using Twitter for serious discussions for many years. About 7 or 8 years ago, I was referred to a Twitter hashtag that was being used for professional career discussions. Twitter was already being taken seriously by people before then.

          2 votes
          1. [6]
            EscReality
            Link Parent
            Eh, a minority of people might have been sure. But the majority of the public didn't start taking it seriously and it wasn't a widely accepted platform until recent years. If I had to put a date...

            Eh, a minority of people might have been sure. But the majority of the public didn't start taking it seriously and it wasn't a widely accepted platform until recent years. If I had to put a date on it, I would guess it was around 2015 when they hit the 300 million user mark.

            1. [5]
              Algernon_Asimov
              Link Parent
              So 299 million people were using Twitter just for fun? I find that hard to believe.

              I would guess it was around 2015 when they hit the 300 million user mark.

              So 299 million people were using Twitter just for fun? I find that hard to believe.

              2 votes
              1. [4]
                EscReality
                Link Parent
                They rose 100 million users in about a year, so yea that would be the timeframe of their social acceptance.

                They rose 100 million users in about a year, so yea that would be the timeframe of their social acceptance.

                1. [3]
                  Algernon_Asimov
                  Link Parent
                  I'm no expert in Twitter. I've never used it. However, I can read Wikipedia: Even back in its very early days, it was being used for serious and official purposes as well as non-serious purposes.

                  I'm no expert in Twitter. I've never used it. However, I can read Wikipedia:


                  The tipping point for Twitter's popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000. "The Twitter people cleverly placed two 60-inch plasma screens in the conference hallways, exclusively streaming Twitter messages," remarked Newsweek's Steven Levy. "Hundreds of conference-goers kept tabs on each other via constant twitters. Panelists and speakers mentioned the service, and the bloggers in attendance touted it."


                  The first unassisted off-Earth Twitter message was posted from the International Space Station by NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer on January 22, 2010. By late November 2010, an average of a dozen updates per day were posted on the astronauts' communal account, @NASA_Astronauts.


                  Even back in its very early days, it was being used for serious and official purposes as well as non-serious purposes.

                  1 vote
                  1. [2]
                    JonSilentH
                    Link Parent
                    You’re intentionally avoiding his point it seems. Twitter was not used to announce companies going private, threaten and cajole countries leaders, call out sex offenders, ect. as a mainstream...

                    You’re intentionally avoiding his point it seems.
                    Twitter was not used to announce companies going private, threaten and cajole countries leaders, call out sex offenders, ect. as a mainstream media till very recently. Did some of that go on? Maybe Idk. It certainly was not making headlines. It’s very recent that tweets consistently make front page news.

                    2 votes
                    1. Algernon_Asimov
                      Link Parent
                      When they write "it wasn't a widely accepted platform until [...] they hit the 300 million user mark", it kind of undermines their point. Even if only 299 million people are using it, that still...

                      When they write "it wasn't a widely accepted platform until [...] they hit the 300 million user mark", it kind of undermines their point. Even if only 299 million people are using it, that still makes it widely accepted.

                      Also, you explained their supposed point a lot better than they did. Now I understand. Thank you.

                      1 vote
    2. [3]
      Catt
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      To be fair, the Twitter comment is not really the issue between Canada and Saudi Arabia. It's more an excuse to start breaking off an already deteriorating relationship. Edit: deteriorating not...

      To be fair, the Twitter comment is not really the issue between Canada and Saudi Arabia. It's more an excuse to start breaking off an already deteriorating relationship.

      Edit: deteriorating not degrading...

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        EscReality
        Link Parent
        True, still it still holds a lot more power in this situation than I would have thought the platform ever would (or should).

        True, still it still holds a lot more power in this situation than I would have thought the platform ever would (or should).

        1 vote
        1. Catt
          Link Parent
          Definitely agree with you there.

          Definitely agree with you there.

          2 votes
    3. dwightwalters
      Link Parent
      We have already forgotten how important Facebook and Twitter were to the upheavals of the Arab Spring. Their importance can also be overstated, since many of the original grievances weren't about...

      We have already forgotten how important Facebook and Twitter were to the upheavals of the Arab Spring. Their importance can also be overstated, since many of the original grievances weren't about technology or youthful aspirations, but often about food distribution during droughts (Syria) and political representation in many other countries. But social media platforms were such crucial mechanisms to deliver democracy, however short lived, to the streets of the Middle East.

      It was this effectiveness that drew the attention of Russia and China and a rogue's gallery of non-state actors to their potential. In the classic we-can't-have-nice-things dialectic, our social media has quickly and inevitably been turned against us.

      As a historical parenthetical... I'd like to argue that the Arab Spring, like the Pan Arab movement of the 20th century, is not yet over. We've been too quick to dismiss it as a failed experiment ending in suffering and death for a generation across the Muslim world. But Pan-Arabism lasted fifty years. It is a slow process.

      tl;dr--Twitter ain't all bad.

      2 votes