Web 2.0 Revolution for social change

Blogging is a duty!Tweeting is a duty! and this responsibility is what keeps me tweeting everyday and blogging regularly either by reporting the real stories or criticizing issues that concern my community. However, what I most found fascinating in the Web 2.0 is the interconnectedness of all of us as human beings, meeting different challenges, suffering from different problems but at the same can relate to each others' suffering and eventually can inspire each other, help and solve each others' problems although we don't live together. This realization has been confirmed when Tunisia's revolution has inspired not only neighboring or Arab countries but people far away with whom I thought I don't share any identity, background, language or culture but actually I found out that we share more than that...we share the strife for social change.. isn't amazing? you don't have to be in Congo to raise awareness about women's rights, you don't have to be in Myanmar to reveal children's violations , with Web 2.0, you can campaign, advocate, shoot videos, write, interview, speak out and change people's lives indeed! you just need one link to a small community than you grow up the network...

Women have been oppressed in many societies and they used the digital media as a tool to speak out and guess what? it really works! it touches the reader, it impacts societies and it empowers fellow women. Reading the blog posts of women at Wold Pulse, for instance, and what resulted from it can only confirm the power of the Web when used by women. When they share their problems and stories, many women can relate to them and it creates an amazing global connection that eventually shape policy making and pressure all concerned portions of the society.

Digital media is the exposure of reality through the eyes of witnesses and that made me not only report what I find but run after "trouble" sometimes to expose this reality and investigate, connect and start new initiative with like minded people. The Web didn't only empower me but was the driving force for me to empower, mentor and inspire others. One of the things I'm proud of is when participating in citizen journalism workshops in Tunisia and actually help others create new Twitter accounts and blogs, it might seem regular but the birth of every blog is important because every single information that comes from the citizen is important. By helping them create Twitter, it doesn't only give them the power to speak out but also to connect, network and revolutionize their ideas. It might seem extreme but a tweet can save somebody's life! Three African women from different parts of the continent have created blogs inspired by mine and when reading their posts from now and then I feel my life is worth-living and that I have to continue what I'm doing with the same passion.