Ideas change everything

How social media can make history

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Clay Shirky |

TED@State

• June 2009

While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.

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Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.

About the speaker

Social Media Theorist

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Clay Shirky argues that the history of the modern world could be rendered as the history of ways of arguing, where changes in media change what sort of arguments are possible -- with deep social and political implications.

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Why an Internet "slow lane" is a terrible idea

In this Q&A, learn what Clay Shirky thinks about the FCC's "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet."

null - Why an Internet "slow lane" is a terrible idea

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.