Tech Tribe 2009 revealed how young people, despite their relatively meager financial situations, are still heavily attentive to philanthropic activities surrounding their environments. Last year was a big year for youth participation and making their voices heard within their communities. Young people in particular have shown an apparent increase in participation in both off and online political protest. Online tools like Facebook and Twitter, have been essential in making clear and obvious this suggested increase. Never before has there been such tools for exercising ones voice and opinion in such a democratic manner. Yet despite this increase or least seeming increase, the integrity of this participation has often been criticized in the last year.

Considering the amount of media attention it received it is no real surprise to find that the controversial 2009 Iran Election made three appearances in the top 10 news events of Twitter’s most used status updates of 2009. Perhaps much of the media attention was because there have never really been any tools quite like this to facilitate an online protest. Yet there was no real revolution in Iran. Protests were suppressed violently and the protested regime is still in control. This suggests that the media may have overestimated the effect of the social network’s ability to dictate the offline revolutionary activities.. Yet while critics would suggest that this ‘armchair Twitter revolution’ is hypocritical and even aiding of the regime, it can be suggested that it is merely not focused as it could be. The shared opinion of many was apparent, yet the ability to carry this sentiment offline was inhibited by the brutal strength and violence used by the Iranian government. In such situations perhaps an awareness that social networking cannot do everything in its current form, yet an appreciation of its ability to proliferate information is the way that it might be best regarded.

The problem with this viewpoint however is that taking part in online protests or petitions may give some the feeling that they have done something and they may do no more. This skeptical viewpoint can be challenged however with the mix of both offline and online protest that the recent UN Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009 had. While the conference has been mostly adjudged to have failed horribly in its attempts to reach a global agreement to reduce carbon emissions, the mixture of both offline and online protest impressed some. It showed that to some extent when young people have the opportunity to match their online sentiment with their offline action then they take it in abundance. Online protests were not limited to Twitter this time. With Facebook more likely to have closer friends than Twitter, in having the world’s fifth biggest population at 350 million, and Youtube exhibiting personal video uploads. Twitter took a backseat allowing a more individual approach to be adopted by the young people involved. Facebook status updates included  ‘Hopelesshagen’ and ‘Everyone arrested before lunch. Anti-climax,’ while video updates from the UK Youth Climate Coalition made the protest seemed more real:

Despite the failure of the conference itself, Copenhagen seemed in some ways like a step forward in the growth of online youth protesting, becoming a sign that a mergence of offline protest was possible, and that online could act as a catalyst for actual offline protest. The reasons for failure were not through a lack of effort from young people rather, that again the powers that be, in this case the politics of the various heads of states that refused to compromise. If the viewpoint is taken that the opportunity to take part in offline protest is available, youth protest participation takes a more positive spin. This can be reflected in the protests of young people on a national scale in the UK.

The above video is an example of a UK youth protest organized online. The overwhelming response to the website http://www.voteforchange.co.uk asking for a protest method was that of a Zombie Walk. In this instance young protestors reclaimed public space and marched outside The Houses of Parliament as ‘brain dead politicians,’ recalling the original use of the term zombie, which in literature was an allegory of brain dead consumers who did not think about their consumptions. This generation of young people is clearly politically passionate to a large extent. New technologies have clearly allowed a politically motivated generation to express their sentiment. When this online sentiment is perceived as attainable, then offline action is merged with online sentiment. This is clear within the recent Rage Against the Machine for Christmas Number 1 campaign  recalling a nearly 20 year metal song to beat the current crop of manufactured pop using social networking. The campaign managed to raise £70,000 for the charity Shelter from single sales, against evidencing a political and philanthropic motivation to the campaign. Online organization of political participation is still in it’s infancy for young people, yet if the sentiment is as strong as has been, it can be suggested that offline participation and social cohesion will only continue to become more organized and apparent. Reclaiming public space will continue to spread awareness of positive message rather than negative ones which young people are only too aware that the mainstream media purport. Everything is OK is an online campaign group which aims to spread positive word that mainstream media is creating separatism in people, giving the opposing message that Everything is OK.

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There are increasing official ways and attempts that politics is being merged into new technologies through organizations, crowdsourcing (the Tories are offering £1million on a large-scale  platform) and games (The UK Parliament has created an ‘MP for a Week’ online role playing game) in both positive and cynical ways to include young people in politics but the openness that these new technologies bring will, one hopes, win through democratically.