"The 21st Century is a lousy time to be a control freak." It's Alec Ross, senior advisor for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talking about the impact social media has had on politics world wide. As a follow up to my article on SOPA this week, Ross goes on to say,
"The influence of social media on world politics is big and growing. It redistributes power from hierarchies to citizens, [from large institutions and the nation-state to individuals and networks of individuals].* Social media is proving to be something of enormous consequences in politics and governments the world around."
There's no conspiracy theory or wild speculation going on here. That's a senior bureaucrat in one of the departments of the US government responsible for foreign policy. And if you think that Ross and other bureaucrats think those dynamics only apply to other countries, think again.
Interesting times in which we live.
* additional quotation soucred from OhMyGov!
