social media as starting points, from cute cats to revolution

While I too was sceptical about the role of facebook and twitter in things like the Arab Spring, this article by Corey Doctorow , makes some valid points
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/jan/03/the-internet-best-dissent-start

The best of these is that as youtube/facebook/twitter become normal tools for everyone, they are natural starting point for minor individual dissent, which is what is needed for major widespread revolt. The fact that these sites are 'mundane' (cute cat stuff) most of the time means they are both hard to suppress without a government drawing attention to itself, and also have a wide initial audience.
What does follow from this, as he says, is that the privacy and security of these services then become an issue.

(these points arise from Doctorow's listening to  Ethan Zuckerman's 2011 Vancouver Human Rights lecture, Cute Cats and The Arab Spring, which I have yet to listen to)