Maldovan Youth Protest Online

Right now, Twitter is abuzz with discussions of #pman. In fact, #pman ranks among "Easter" and "Braves" as one of the 10 most discussed topics on Twitter. #pman is a searchable tag that protesters in Maldova coined to galvanize protests against the country's Communist government. As they ransacked the parliament building, youth were able to post live updates. Their use of Twitter has enabled global audiences to follow the situation and provided a platform for discussing Sunday's election.

By Tuesday night, the seat of government had been badly battered and scores of people had been injured. But riot police had regained control of the president’s offices and Parliament Wednesday. After hundreds of firsthand accounts flooded onto the Internet via Twitter, Internet service in Chisinau, the capital, was abruptly cut off. There was no sign that the authorities would cede to any of the protesters’ demands, and President Vladimir Voronin denounced the organizers as “fascists intoxicated with hatred.”

- excerpt from "Protests in Moldova Explode, With Help of Twitter" by Ellen Barry in The New York Times. Click here to see the full story.

This situation reflects the emergence of a global youth culture and shows how Web 2.0 tools like Twitter and Facebook can be used for grassroots activism. These protests are a breed of faster and fiercer citizen journalism. With this instantaneous feed of firsthand accounts, it becomes even more difficult for nations to create cohesive brands or communicate credible messages.

Here's BBC's story on three eyewitness accounts on the protest.