Social Media for Good III

We hear the words daily on news reports--“amateur video,” “powerful images,” “unable to independently verify.” The caveats are required from responsible journalistic sources, but the fact that major news organizations use social media for important news coverage attests to its power.

Citizen videos have been key to our understanding of what is going on in Syria. They make it hard to ignore the awful realities there—much harder than if they were out of sight. That is the ultimate contribution.

It’s less easy to understand the lives of the people who take huge risks to make and upload videos. This article, and the image of Omar Abu Al Huda and his cat in a safe house in the small town of Idlib, Syria gives human perspective to the story. The link is from the Global Voices site, whose newsletter is a fascinating read. It has a link to a partner site, Syria Deeply.

Either or both are well worth following.