Sock-Puppet Alert: US Military's Plan to Manipulate Facebook and Twitter (Fielding/Cobain)

The US military;is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with United States Central Command (Centcom), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.

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Egypt Social Media Special: A Daughter Named Facebook (Tsotsis)

Cultural relativity is an amazing thing. While American parents worry about their kids being on Facebook, Egyptian parents are naming their kids “Facebook” to commemorate the events surrounding the #Jan25 revolution.

According to Al-Ahram (one of the most popular newspapers in Egypt) a twenty-something Egyptian man has named his first born daughter “Facebook” in tribute to the role the social media service played in organizing the protests in Tahrir Square and beyond.

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Iran Feature: Facebook and A Resurgent Opposition? (Habibinia)

Last Thursday evening, while many Iranians were following the news of the revolutionary reforms in Egypt and the dethroning of another dictator in the Middle East, security forces in Iran were breaking into the residence of students, political activists, and even family members of Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, to arrest them and blunt the call for demonstrations against the regime on Valentine's Day.

The revolutionary incidents in Tunisia and Egypt have astounded and stimulated the Iranians, who returned to their homes after a nine-month challenge against the regime just before the last Valentine's Day. Many asked themselves and others during the past weeks: "Why have Tunisians and Egyptians made it, but we did not?"

So many Iranians, imitating the Egyptian and Tunisians, have opened a Facebook page in order to spark a new street demonstration.

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Tunisia and the Real Net Effect: How Facebookers Changed Politics and Newsrooms (Ruiz-Goiriena)

When thousands took to the World Wide Web from Tehran to protest the result of the presidential elections the summer of 2009, traditional western media's first instinct was to turn a blind eye. It wasn't until days later when massive networks of activists and students were operating strictly through Twitter that outlets like CNN finally figured out covering this phenomenon was probably worth their while. Unfortunately after everything was said and done, many of my fellow journalists in newsrooms across the world concluded the Tehran Twitter protests were an isolated occurrence --- until now. After weeks of unrest in Tunisia seen only through videos uploaded on Facebook, it seems as our psychological apprehension to rely on social networks as a news source will finally come to an end.

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Iran Flashback: When EA Became the Supreme Leader's Facebook Friend

Earlier this week The Guardian of London, noting an article on the opposition site Kalemeh, wrote in astonishment: even though Twitter and Facebook are blocked in Iran, the Supreme Leader had come out on both.

Only thing is: it's an old story. 

We know this because we were one of Ayatollah Khamenei's first Facebook Friends. Here are the EA story and updates, run unedited, from August 2009:

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UPDATE 16 August, 2035 GMT: Supreme Leader wants to click "Get New Nokia N97" ad on his page but worries he will put himself under surveillance.

Ayatollah Khamenei still has 39 friends.

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Tunisia and the Real Net Effect: Getting It Right on Protest and Social Media

As with the uprising in Iran in 2009, this month's protests in Tunisia, culminating in the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Bin Ali, have sparked a debate about the role of social media in public resistance. While many seem to have been inspired and given hope by the roles of social media in helping to mobilise action or to spread news of developments, eternal net skeptic Evgeny Morozov continue to dissent.

But he and his allies aren’t just dissenting.

Morozov, in his "First Thoughts on Tunisia and the Role of the Internet", re-invents the course of  events to fit his pre-set narrative minimising the place of social media in activism. While I may not be a net-positive, I’m not as net-negative as Morozov and Co.

To be up-front and accurate, I’m replying to Morozov's entire article, paragraph by paragraph.

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Tunisia Latest: World Starts to Notice as Protests and Detentions Continue

Protest on Friday at a High School

UPDATE 8 December, 1100 GMT: Activists claim blogger and university theatre professor Fatma Riahi was arrested today.

Riahi, who blogged as Arabicca, was also arrested in Novmeber 2009.

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Over the last 48 hours, as protests (see video) over economic conditions and political repression continue in Tunisia, international attention to detentions and censorship has emerged.

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Egypt: Who Disabled Facebook's "We Are All Khaled Said" Page?

UPDATE 1520 GMT: An activist reports, "Facebook reinstated the [Egyptian] groups but the moderators as of last night remain suspended, i.e., the groups are dead in the water."

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As Presidential elections approach, tension is rising in Egypt. On Thursday, authorities arrested 156 protesters over Wednesday's  clashes between Christians and police, sparked by the government's refusal of a permit to build a church. Those arrested have been accused of planning to kill policemen, and the public prosecutor has ordered their detention for two weeks.

One sign of the concern is the apparent decision to block the Facebook page "We Are All Khaled Said". In June, Said was allegedly beaten to death in Alexandria by two policemen after he refused to give them money. 

The case has sparked widespread, continuing protests, and the page gathered more than 3000 followers.

So, with more restrictions on information likely as the vote draws near, is Facebook --- which is a leading social media site in Egypt --- collaborating with the authorities?

Burma Interview: Aung San Suu Kyi on Opposition, Talking with the Regime, and Joining Facebook

I think the South Africans worked up to this compromise that –-- for whatever people did –-- they must take responsibility for that based on a principle of accountability. We all have to live together and one has to compromise. We have got to think about the future of the nation rather than about immediate gratification in the form of taking revenge. I have to say that I have suffered so much less in the hands of the regime than many others. So it is easier for me to talk perhaps about forgiveness and reconciliation. And yet that is the direction in which my mind as well as my heart takes me.

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Iran Video: State Media Exposes Evil, Godless Facebook

IRIB 1, the main Iranian channel, gives you the truth about Facebook: