Social Networks and Society

By Brad

At the New York Times, Jennifer Preston looks at the growing role of social networking sights in humanitarian and political events:

[The] new role for social media has put these companies in a difficult position: how to accommodate the growing use for political purposes while appearing neutral and maintaining the practices and policies that made these services popular in the first place.

YouTube was one of the first social media networks to wrestle with content posted by a human rights advocate that conflicted with its terms of service. In November 2007, YouTube removed videos flagged as “inappropriate” by a community member that showed a person in Egypt being tortured by the police.

The entire article, inspired by the removal of photos of Egyptian police on Flickr, is worth reading.