South Africans and private institutions have been “generously” donating money and other resources to relief efforts in East Africa. South Africa recently mounted a media blitz to raise money for a government-established relief fund, as well as for medical supplies and non-perishable foods. The government has tried to widen the reach of the campaign with social media like Facebook and Twitter.

What started as two unrelated social actions over a month ago — a Facebook campaign against inflated cottage cheese prices (an Israeli staple) and a doctors’ strike — has blossomed into a nationwide, multipronged collective revolt unprecedented in recent Israeli history. The Arab Spring, it appears, is turning into a hot, hot Israeli summer.

Twitter has become the essential tool for following and understanding the momentous changes sweeping the Arab region. It's surprisingly smart and fast -- if sometimes a little too quick on the draw -- and human where other sources feel impersonal. If there is indeed such a thing as a Twitter revolution in the Middle East, it's the way the tool is transforming how the outside world looks at the region.

From the moment he took office, Chávez deployed himself across existing platforms, using every available communications resource to present himself, his ideology and his policies directly to the public. Now, as his idiosyncratic rule runs up against limitations imposed by serious health problems, Chávez has found that...social media, is a most useful tool.

Social media allowed an ''unprecedented'' two-way exchange of information between the public and those given the task of preparing for and responding to major events such as earthquakes, floods and infection pandemics, said researchers. The technology allowed officials to ''push'' information to the public while at the same time ''pulling'' in valuable data from bystanders.

Modern public diplomacy has taken a new twist. This is a result of a change in media consumption from a one way broadcast medium to a two way dialogue. The result has been a shift from broadcasting to recruiting members of the public, or segments of civil society, to share your message indirectly. This can also be done by boosting the volume of existing fringe groups.

This past year, social media replaced traditional news outlets as an unrivaled source of information.The problem is, an unfiltered hashtag feed provides quality journalism in a haystack of foreign languages. So technically savvy outlets found that by editorially curating quality social media channels, they could cut out the noise associated with a raw Twitter feed and still relay key information at Internet speed.

I believe one of the greatest tasks of ASEAN lies in people to people. We are all agreed that a 21st century ASEAN, to be dynamic and relevant, must be people-centered and people-driven. For the first time, and in contrast to just four decades ago...