March 19, 2004
Spain: Flashmobs rallied by SMS
ITWeb has an interesting essay on how SMS, flashmobs and blogging combined to change the face of Spanish politics.
"The power of the information age was starkly illustrated this week, when SMS, blogging and flashmobs were used extremely effectively in changing the outcome of the Spanish general elections.
Political scientists, sociologists and those interested in the applied effects of technology will probably be studying the influence these three concepts had on changing the face of a democratically elected government.
The actual mechanics of how this electoral upset happened are still being studied, but it seems SMS and flashmobs were key in motivating people to cast their votes in what was expected to be a low turnout election".
For more on how cell phones and text messaging have turned into a political force, check out the SMS and Politics category of Textually.org.
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