Global Diplomacy Materializes From Decentralized Social Media
By Mark Drapeau
In his best-selling book The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman notes fundamental changes at the intersection of emerging technology and human behavior that have enabled massive 21st century globalization. Among them are collaborative Web technologies, the ability to discover an abundance of information, and personal digital devices like iPods and BlackBerries. The surfacing of such inventions has led to changes not only in running businesses, but also in organizing movements. As billions saw last year, a relatively untried junior senator from Illinois rose to become the leader of the free world. But in a flat world, you don’t need to be a senator to lead a tribe, and you don’t need to be powerful to become a household name.
