We Might Need A Bigger Spotlight

by: Margie Marie G. Manlunas

The Internet is once again given the spotlight on BBC's documentary "The Virtual Revolution" by BBC. Part of the hour-long documentary is the mention of some popular websites today: Google, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, the Ivys of online media. It hailed Google as king of internet and its runner-up is nonetheless, Facebook. I got amazed by the fact presented in the documentary that if we add up the total number of Facebook users , if we count is a country, it could be the third most populous country in the world. Indeed, these astounding researches can be a big bang on the gong to our ears.

However, there were several low-key and unheard-of sites that were featured also. These sites are the ones I have never heard of until The Virtual Revolution.

Haystack. Wikileaks. Discovering these sites online would be near-impossible when you're stuck and distracted in the jungles of social-networking sites of Facebook and Twitter. I think such sites are underrated, the former I mean. These websites give us information that could change the way we act in our society. It moves us to do something to change, and according to MJ, to heal the world, make it a better a better place, for you and for me, and the entire human race. Haystack is a new program designed to provide unfiltered internet access to the people of Iran. This sprung out of the initiative of one person to fight for the rights of the people in using the Internet since it was regulated and filtered by their government. Certain websites such as Twitter and Facebook were blocked. Wiki Leaks on the other hand is another police website which publishes and comments on leaked documents alleging government and corporate misconduct. It is heaven for those CIA-driven individuals. It is a source of serious information regarding politics and etc. It's Wikipedia of political scandal, documents and the like.

I have been using the Internet since I was a kid, and still I don't know the half of it. Maybe because it is evolving. It is growing, exponentially. There new sites everyday. There are new posts every minute. Everything online is growing and booming-- even as I write this blog, something is being put up online. The Internet is endless, limitless. People change something everyday online, their Facebook status, their email address, their Youtube password... We are changing the internet as it constantly changes our lives as well. It is slowly becoming a necessity in our lives. And if not the center, then it's close to it. It is continuously on the spotlight in today's new media age.

In a few years though, we might be needing a bigger spotlight.