Twitosphere: The New Frontier for Human Security in Mexico

October 24, 2011

Drug-related violence across Mexico continues to escalate despite government efforts to dismantle powerful cartels. Traditional media sources, such as newspapers and television, have curbed their coverage of these stories because of the threats and murders of journalists by drug lords and their syndicates. Social media sources-blogs, Twitter, Facebook-have, however, emerged as an alternate human security tool, offering vulnerable populations a new method of self-protection.

Drug violence in Mexico has claimed close to 40,000 lives in the last five years. Cartels are highly profitable throughout Mexico and have begun to diversify their enterprises, often venturing into money laundering and human trafficking. In an attempt to protect the security of their transport routes and limit global coverage of the topic, cartels target reporters to kidnap and murder. Eight journalists have already been murdered this year, and a total of 74 lost their lives to drug violence in the last decade.

As a result, many drug-related stories are not reported. The news industry recognizes that it is self-censoring; however, journalists who cover drug cartels and their activity risk kidnap, torture, and death-the stakes are too high for news organizations to justify putting employees and their families at risk.

Conforming to a global trend, social media has stepped into the vacuum left by conventional media in Mexico. As a trusted source of information about violence and unrest, it has quickly become a tool for everyday survival. This helps explain the remarkable growth in Facebook users in Mexico, where 95 percent of those with internet have an account (compared to 73 percent of internet users over 18 years old in the United States).

Many individuals say that they trust the information on Twitter more than they trust conventional media outlets. Users warn their Twitter followers of violence, and these tweets are then reposted and shared across the "Twitosphere."  For example, when gunmen recently held up traffic and dumped 35 bodies in the street outside Veracruz, Twitter was awash with reports long before the police could respond to the scene.

Websites such as www.blogdelnarco.com and www.borderlandbeat.com anonymously offer longer reports on incidents of drug violence across the country. By monitoring these outlets, individuals are able to avoid unsafe areas and navigate their everyday lives with more security.

While this may seem like a positive step toward inhibiting drug cartels, the surge in social media use also has its costs. The mutilated bodies of two bloggers were found hanging from a bridge in the border town of Nuevo Laredo on the morning of September 13. Their bodies were accompanied by a sign that indicated they had been killed for denouncing the actions of drug cartels in the area-on the internet. It was made clear by the perpetrators that their fate would be shared by any who posted online against drug violence. Less than two weeks later, a decapitated woman was found with a similar sign. Though she had been an editor at the local newspaper, the sign highlighted that her murder was in response to her personal posts online.

Despite the high stakes associated with social media, these recent developments have only hardened the resolve of Twitter watchdogs to continue sharing information over the internet, all the while increasing their reliance on anonymity for safety. One Twitter user from northern Mexico recently told CNN, "People will continue to tweet, despite these threats. People will still continue because the truth has to be told."

In Mexico, social media has become a tool for increased human security. While Facebook, Twitter, and blogs will not be able to put an end to the raging drug war, they fill a crucial role in providing personal safety. This story symbolizes the changing nature of our global landscape and is worth telling in more than 140 characters.

Photo Credit: Alex E. Proimos, Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/6140580579/