With 40 percent of Russian adults online, many say social media, including the Russian social networking site VKontakte, has made it possible for a long stalled opposition movement in Russia to organize a rally that size.

Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group in Somalia, has posted on Twitter more than 80,000 times since setting up an account. The move demonstrates that, in the 21st century, no radical insurgency or martyrdom operation is complete without a social media platform, even if Somalia is one of the world's poorest and most anarchic countries.

In China, a large number of government departments and officials have stepped into the online world through weibo, the most popular and biggest micro blog service in China. But most of them are still more show than tell, while some have just followed the new media trend blindly without interacting with netizens.

India prides itself on being the “free” rising Asian giant. Some Indian policymakers may have watched China’s extraordinary economic rise in recent years with a little envy. But the social clampdown is presumably not what most Indians want as they seek to emulate some of the success of their massive neighbor.

Egypt's dominance is emblematic of the important role hashtags played in organizing real-time updates and reaction to big news events this year. Egypt had "a far more mature and extensive social media environment" before its uprising than Tunisia did before its revolution, and the Egyptian protests went on to forge microblogging celebrities.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which broadcasts readings from its own pollution monitoring equipment on an hourly basis through Twitter and an iPhone app, has been instrumental in piercing the veil around air quality in China’s capital, particularly since celebrity real estate mogul Pan Shiyi cited its readings in calling for tougher air monitoring standards.

The phrase “Israelhates” had been tagged onto enough posts on Twitter that the message had become a worldwide trend topic. To combat that message of hate, Jewish Agency's social media head counters anti-Israel trend on Twitter with a message of love.

Media and technology have played a powerful role in mobilizing protesters and exposing authoritarian rulers and regimes. Political consciousness and solidarity have given shape and strength to civil societies, making it increasingly difficult for recalcitrant establishments to go unchallenged.