The Social Network may not have won the best picture Oscar, but social networking has been given a far greater honour - in Egypt. Parents of an Egyptian girl born during the events that recently led to the end of Hosni Mubarak’s grip on power have named her Facebook in honour of the role that the website played in the events. Perhaps the good people at Egypt’s Births, Deaths and Marriages have already inked in an appointment from a certain Facebook Jamal Ibrahim in 18 years. More proof, if it was needed, of how social media is changing the world.
On a related topic, here’s a blog on using social media as a social change agent - or, as writer Heather Dougherty puts it, putting the activism back into ‘slacktivism’.
Speaking of new media, do you find yourself interrupting a romantic dinner to tweet a snarky comment about the table service? Are you waking up in the middle of the night just to tweet that funny dream you just had? If you’re worried you’re too attached to Twitter, here’s a Buddhist perspective.