Umbrella Revolution - Digital Revolution

(Baonghean) - The revolution may not be broadcast on television, but it will certainly appear frequently on social media, messaging platforms, or specialized networks like FireChat.

This is a smartphone application used by Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution participants as a "glue" to bind members of the pro-democracy movement – ​​a formidable weapon for protesters and the mass movement. The app creates a network connecting users without needing an internet connection. It only uses Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections between mobile devices. The advantage of this type of network is that the more people connected, the stronger the signal and the faster the data transmission speed. Meanwhile, traditional internet or phone networks would become congested if too many people accessed them. Pamela Lam, a pro-democracy activist from the Occupy Central movement, said: "Actually, we initially had to use this app because there were so many people in the protest area and it made the phone network very slow. FireChat doesn't need network data to work, and now many people have downloaded it." However, this also puts significant pressure on the company that developed the application - Open Garden. Its rapid popularity and international attention have forced the company to strive to keep up with its own success, constantly updating FireChat with new features.

In the first two weeks of the protests, from September 27 to October 10, the app recorded 500,000 downloads in Hong Kong alone (61% on Android and 39% on iOS), 10.2 million chats, and 1.6 million chat rooms created. FireChat's marketing director, Christophe Daligault, told CNN: "We didn't anticipate this at all and were really surprised. We just realized there was a surge in app usage and realized something big was happening. Now there are users scattered all over the world. We think there are two reasons. First, many people are used to staying up-to-date on what's happening in Hong Kong. Second, there are people who are just curious to know what all this commotion is about." Many people in the Chinese-speaking community in Australia and the US also downloaded the app to show their support for the movement. Although download traffic has now slowed down, activity has increased.

The revolutionary protesters in Hong Kong – the young people of the tech age.

What sets FireChat apart from other messaging apps is that the content posted isn't limited to the user's acquaintances. Everything that happens on FireChat can be seen by anyone. Daligault described FireChat as "a giant loudspeaker": "You can be somewhere and yell into the loudspeaker, 'I'm here and I need a bottle of water right now.' Then you'll see someone you don't know respond and bring you the water you need. That's much harder with Facebook or WhatsApp, where you're limited to your list of acquaintances." Open Garden co-founder and CEO Micha Benoliel was also in Hong Kong when the protests broke out and extended his trip to be able to directly receive user feedback.

What users both appreciate and complain about most about FireChat is that its content is too open, even to opponents of the pro-democracy movement. Open Garden has just updated its features to partially address this drawback. Although FireChat has been extremely successful in Hong Kong and during previous protests in Taiwan, Daligault said that the application was not initially developed as a protest tool. "What we wanted to achieve was a communication network for users in places with limited access to traditional internet and high population density, such as New Delhi or Mexico City."

Similar apps to FireChat are not uncommon: Serval Mesh, Commotion, Storymaker, etc., are competing in the offline market. KakaoTalk was also once a very popular communication app in South Korea before being banned by the government due to rumors spreading on the messaging network. To compete in this fierce market, FireChat is currently developing a private messaging feature, based on feedback from Hong Kong protesters. Very useful in the early stages of the protests due to its wide reach, FireChat is now proving inconvenient for the cat-and-mouse game played by Occupy Central and the police. It would be unwise for young rebels if their plans and weaknesses were known to the police.

The reason the Hong Kong revolution became a hot spot attracting international attention is because it reflects all aspects of modern society. The power of youth, of the masses, of intangible tools... and not only that, the protests also reflect a society developing too rapidly, too impulsively, to the point of exceeding its ability to self-limit and control its development. At this point, it can be seen that the movement has declined from its peak, and the movement's leaders are increasingly showing their inability to maintain influence among the people and with the government. Like FireChat, its rapid and indiscriminate spread was an advantage that propelled it to the top of the app, but it is also a weakness that will cause its decline. The rain in Hong Kong cannot last forever; the question is when and how.

Reishi Mushroom

(According to Le Monde)