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| Greek crisis: Twitter actively shapes fast-moving events | Greek crisis: Twitter actively shapes fast-moving events |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| There have been numerous memorable moments from Greece’s rollercoaster debt crisis. Think jubilant protesters celebrating Sunday’s no vote in Athens, or Yanis Varoufakis, departing from political office on his Yamaha motorbike. | |
| But it is perhaps Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission chief, who best encapsulates the way in which social media has defined the current crisis, creating both opportunities and pitfalls for politicians, and a source of vivid, unmediated real-time information for everyone else. | But it is perhaps Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission chief, who best encapsulates the way in which social media has defined the current crisis, creating both opportunities and pitfalls for politicians, and a source of vivid, unmediated real-time information for everyone else. |
| On Tuesday Juncker told parliament in Strasbourg that he opposed “Grexit”. A group of MEPs, some of them from Ukip, then spotted that Juncker was engrossed in his phone, rather than listening to the debate. They began heckling him. | |
| Speaking in French, an irritated Juncker told them he was busy swapping messages with Alexis Tsipras. “Stop all this chatter about me looking at my telephone all the time. I am texting, as they say in Franglais, with the Greek prime minister,” he said defiantly, adding: “I’m doing my work.” | Speaking in French, an irritated Juncker told them he was busy swapping messages with Alexis Tsipras. “Stop all this chatter about me looking at my telephone all the time. I am texting, as they say in Franglais, with the Greek prime minister,” he said defiantly, adding: “I’m doing my work.” |
| Meanwhile, Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, used Facebook to post his latest thoughts on how the debt crisis might be resolved. He told his 800,000 Facebook followers that Europe was finished unless it stopped being the “prisoner of rules and bureaucracy” and acted in the spirit of solidarity. | Meanwhile, Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, used Facebook to post his latest thoughts on how the debt crisis might be resolved. He told his 800,000 Facebook followers that Europe was finished unless it stopped being the “prisoner of rules and bureaucracy” and acted in the spirit of solidarity. |
| In crises gone by, European leaders were able to negotiate in secret. Their decisions were revealed afterwards, via leaks, briefings or wordy press releases. Further back, during the economic crises of the 1970s, for example, what really went on only become known years later when those involved, like Tony Benn, penned their memoirs. | |
| The current Greek crisis, by contrast, has played out minute by minute, tweet by tweet, across Twitter, Facebook and newspaper live blogs. Twitter hasn’t merely reflected fast-moving events: it has actively shaped them. Some of the EU’s protagonists have revealed policy positions on Twitter; traders have moved markets on the (sometimes unsubstantiated) basis of 140 characters. | The current Greek crisis, by contrast, has played out minute by minute, tweet by tweet, across Twitter, Facebook and newspaper live blogs. Twitter hasn’t merely reflected fast-moving events: it has actively shaped them. Some of the EU’s protagonists have revealed policy positions on Twitter; traders have moved markets on the (sometimes unsubstantiated) basis of 140 characters. |
| Difficult to help #Greece against the will of people & Government which lives in parallel World | Difficult to help #Greece against the will of people & Government which lives in parallel World |
| Above all it is the Greek government – in the shape of iconoclastic now ex-finance minister Varoufakis and prime minister Tsipras – who have used social media to grab the initiative. This has been in sharp contrast to their biggest critics in Europe - the non-tweeting German duo of Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schäuble. | |
| Before his resignation on Monday, Varoufakis was a hyperactive tweeter. He posted links to his interviews (with Channel 4’s Paul Mason, among others) and flagged articles supportive of the no cause (such as Joseph Stiglitz’s in the Guardian). His blog post on Monday announcing his exit – Minister No More – attracted 18,000 retweets. It includes the classic Varoufakisian line: “I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.” | |
| Tsipras has tweeted regularly in Greek to his quarter of a million followers. He also has an English account. His style is less flamboyant than Varoufakis’s but has its own gnomic charm. On Monday, after his referendum triumph, he tweeted: “Democracy and right is on our side. I am sure that we will succeed.” Before the poll he noted that the Greeks were fighting “with a weapon more potent than any other - right.” | Tsipras has tweeted regularly in Greek to his quarter of a million followers. He also has an English account. His style is less flamboyant than Varoufakis’s but has its own gnomic charm. On Monday, after his referendum triumph, he tweeted: “Democracy and right is on our side. I am sure that we will succeed.” Before the poll he noted that the Greeks were fighting “with a weapon more potent than any other - right.” |
| Compare this with Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, Merkel’s coalition partner, who shared his views by giving a traditional interview to the German weekly Stern. “The entry of Greece into the euro was done, from today’s perspective, very naively,” he told the magazine. Gabriel last tweeted in 2013. | |
| Aufgrund massiver technischer Probleme mussten wir den für heute angekündigten Chat abbrechen. Wir holen ihn so schnell wie möglich nach. | Aufgrund massiver technischer Probleme mussten wir den für heute angekündigten Chat abbrechen. Wir holen ihn so schnell wie möglich nach. |
| According to Sony Kapoor, the director of the international thinktank Re-Define, Twitter has become invaluable for Greek crisis-watchers. “It’s the most efficient source of relevant information. You have a curated version of all other sources of news. We used to send out email press releases. Now we just tweet them.” | According to Sony Kapoor, the director of the international thinktank Re-Define, Twitter has become invaluable for Greek crisis-watchers. “It’s the most efficient source of relevant information. You have a curated version of all other sources of news. We used to send out email press releases. Now we just tweet them.” |
| Kapoor agrees that the Greek leadership has been far more adroit at exploiting new media than its more traditional German counterparts. “This has something to do with German political culture. It moves slowly. It’s more consensus-orientated. It’s less individualistic … There is a general scepticism about social media [in Germany], linking to issues of privacy.” | |
| Kapoor is one of a number of commentators – some world-famous academics, others independent bloggers – who have coalesced into a virtual community. They follow every twist and turn of the crisis, and offer their own insight, driving the news agenda, and writing in colourful terms. “This is the first crisis in the social media age. Twitter in particular has arrived,” Kapoor says. | |
| There is no longer a barrier between distinguished economists, previously in ivory towers, and ordinary citizens simply interested in events going in Athens. Regular crisis tweeters include the Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Nobel prizewinner Stiglitz, and labour economist Danny Blanchflower. All three are based in the US; social media makes distance irrelevant. | |
| Other notable pundits include the anonymous Zero Hedge, commentators Lorcan Roche Kelly and Fabrizio Goria, Theodora Oikonomides, who blogs as Irate Greek, and the Greek journalist Efthimia Efthimiou. Their followers are in the tens of thousands; collectively they provide lively and continuous micro-journalism. To an extent, they also make old-fashioned print outlets – tomorrow’s newspaper – redundant. | Other notable pundits include the anonymous Zero Hedge, commentators Lorcan Roche Kelly and Fabrizio Goria, Theodora Oikonomides, who blogs as Irate Greek, and the Greek journalist Efthimia Efthimiou. Their followers are in the tens of thousands; collectively they provide lively and continuous micro-journalism. To an extent, they also make old-fashioned print outlets – tomorrow’s newspaper – redundant. |
| Oligarchs control much of the Greek press. According to Oikonomides, frustrated Greek citizens turned to social media from 2011, when the country’s debt crisis first began. Some politicians in turn started tweeting, including far-right ones. “There are more progressive people active on Twitter,” Oikonomides says, adding that Varoufakis had a large following well before he became a celebrity minister. | Oligarchs control much of the Greek press. According to Oikonomides, frustrated Greek citizens turned to social media from 2011, when the country’s debt crisis first began. Some politicians in turn started tweeting, including far-right ones. “There are more progressive people active on Twitter,” Oikonomides says, adding that Varoufakis had a large following well before he became a celebrity minister. |
| Before Sunday’s referendum the no campaign employed social media on a massive scale to connect with voters. Oikonomides says that she wasn’t convinced this online surge corresponded with popular opinion – until the result came in. “I never expected 61.5%,” she says. | |
| At times, the intra-pundit conversation on Greece has become heated, even angry. On Wednesday, Mason issued a semi-apology following a tremendous Twitter spat with @Greekanalyst, an anonymous blogger. Mason accused Greekanalyst of trolling him, and suggested he was part of a “unaccountable” rightwing network. He and other “abusive” individuals were revelling “in their own country’s destruction”, Mason wrote. | |
| @GreekAnalyst which side your grandfather fight on in WW2? Oh I forgot you don't exist | @GreekAnalyst which side your grandfather fight on in WW2? Oh I forgot you don't exist |
| Perhaps unwisely, Mason had tweeted: “Which side your grandfather fight on in WW2? Oh I forgot you don’t exist”. Justifying his actions, Mason said he’d been on the receiving end of weeks of vitriol, online and off, including from two Greek businessmen who “verbally abused me” in a hotel lobby and blocked his way. | |
| He blogged: “For the best part of four weeks people on both the right and left of Greek internet have been abusing me, aiming vile abuse against myself, friends and anybody associated with me in Greece. I know other senior journalists that this is happening to, from all sides ... I understand there is rage on all sides in Greece today, and in future I will learn not to feed the trolls.” | He blogged: “For the best part of four weeks people on both the right and left of Greek internet have been abusing me, aiming vile abuse against myself, friends and anybody associated with me in Greece. I know other senior journalists that this is happening to, from all sides ... I understand there is rage on all sides in Greece today, and in future I will learn not to feed the trolls.” |
| Spare a thought, meanwhile, for Euclid Tsakalotos, Greece’s new finance minister, who turned up at his first Eurogroup meeting in Brussels with his notes clearly visible. Within seconds Tsakalotos’s handwritten talking points – including the chastening remark “no triumphalism” – had been flashed round the world. | Spare a thought, meanwhile, for Euclid Tsakalotos, Greece’s new finance minister, who turned up at his first Eurogroup meeting in Brussels with his notes clearly visible. Within seconds Tsakalotos’s handwritten talking points – including the chastening remark “no triumphalism” – had been flashed round the world. |
| “It’s made policymaking a lot more difficult,” Kapoor says of Twitter. “It increases volatility. There can be a crowd mentality. Leaks are easier. But it’s also been a force for democratisation in terms of citizens and actively engaged stakeholders.” | |
| He acknowledges that some key European institutions like the European Central Bank and the European commission have “belatedly responded” by improving their media operations. On Monday Kapoor tweeted his own prediction for what would happen next: “If someone were to put a gun to my head to force me to choose now - I’d still say #Grexit unlikely”. | He acknowledges that some key European institutions like the European Central Bank and the European commission have “belatedly responded” by improving their media operations. On Monday Kapoor tweeted his own prediction for what would happen next: “If someone were to put a gun to my head to force me to choose now - I’d still say #Grexit unlikely”. |
| If someone were to put a gun to my head to force me to choose now - I'd still say #Grexit unlikely | If someone were to put a gun to my head to force me to choose now - I'd still say #Grexit unlikely |
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