Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Social media and Tibet

On Sunday (May 27, 2012), I was engrossed and shouting to the television which is airing the final cricket match of IPL (Indian Premier League) when I received a text message from my girlfriend notifying that there is an unconfirmed report of yet another self-immolation by two Tibetans in Lhasa. While the news stirred me out of the IPL excitement, it slowly dawned on me how she has come about from a seemingly hopeless reader of Tibetan news to a potent one. No, she still doesn’t read much but she religiously follows newsfeeds on facebook where much of what she knows come from.  And as expectedly, she got the news from facebook!