social media

With the State of Emergency, there are questions raised as to what freedom of expression remains - something that Judy Raymond touches on in her Trinidad Express article, 'The real state of emergency...' (emphasis mine):

The form of the regulations that the authorities chose to issue really has a wartime ring: they allow for "censorship and the control and suppression of publications, writings, maps, plans, photographs, communications and means of communication."

Citizens may not possess documents that may "cause disaffection or discontent," nor try to "influence public opinion in a manner likely to be prejudicial to public safety and order."

You can be jailed, it seems, for having not only illegal weapons but illegal opinions.

 

When SiliconCaribe writes about T&T lagging behind on e-services, I have to chuckle. I recall teaching my own father prior to 2005 how to use email - and he used email to try to contact various government entities. It didn't work out so well. After his death in 2005, I tried doing the same and came up with almost exactly the same results: crickets.

I wrote about this in a more general way over at KnowProSE.com, but I think it would be a good localized experiment for people of Trinidad and Tobago to see how much influence they have globally. Where Facebook seems to be the uniform social network of the day, it often astounds me how often good things posted by Trinidadians and Tobagonians aren't actually shared on Facebook as much as they are liked.

This general election has seen the most social media usage in the history of Trinidad and Tobago. On Facebook, I've been getting more friend requests from politicians than pretty women - a horrible thought in my book with aged politicians wanting to be my friend for political expediency. Ahh, the trials and tribulations of being on Facebook...

Two newspaper articles cover the same thing: 

• Blackberry, Facebook Save Child's Life
• Sleeping child rescued from stolen vehicle

While it is unclear why a mother would leave a child in a running vehicle for any length of time, the word did apparently get out through a Blackberry. How Facebook was specifically involved remains unclear.

While assisting someone with some information, I came across this data regarding Facebook usage in Trinidad and Tobago. Apparently, there are 266,920 Facebook users in Trinidad and Tobago - a figure which puts Trinidad and Tobago at number 77 of the global ranking.

The most visited site from Trinidad and Tobago remains Facebook - and now the first documented Facebook related assault has come:

I'd heard some rumblings beforehand about Criminals Soon To Be Posted On Facebook but didn't write of it because I don't like to write about rumors. But there it is, voiced by Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert on Tuesday. I'd tried to change a few minds on it but didn't get a chance to talk to anyone who was actually making decisions - so I'll outline why I think it is good and bad.

First, the good:

Edmund Gall has been asking some good questions and making good observations regarding media and social media in Trinidad and Tobago - 'Can The Dinosaurs of T&T Media Accept Change?' and 'Can The Media Do No Wrong?'   are worth reading. I agree with his observations for the most part because his observations are based on facts. And while I didn't have comment for his articles, I do have some things I want to add into the mix.

Ms Kiran Maharaj, President of the T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA) issued a call to T&T’s media professionals to unite to guarantee the industry’s survival in the face of advancing technology (e.g. social media).  This was made during her feature address at the TTPBA’s 6^th Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony for Media Excellence (see story “Unity the key to survival” by Sean Nero, Trinidad Guardian, 16 Nov 2009).