Importance of social networks highlighted in Cuba

Social networks are today a space where the media and social movements must have a presence, warned Spanish Professor Manuel Castells while talking to students from the Faculty of Communication of this capital.

In the 10th Meeting of Researchers and Students of Information and Communication (ICOM 2019), the professor talked to the students about the need to be present as a social force and gain ground in the network spaces.

'If you are not on the Internet, on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, you do not exist. It is in this space where large social movements and rejection of government policies that undermine their dignity have emerged and articulated,' said Castells.

He also called to shed ideas that freedom on the web is good or bad, clarifying that Internet sense is printed from the power of its consumers and the ability to build ideas, social projects; and think about today's and future society.

'The Internet is our environment, our life, where we express what we are, we enter our data, we make it a reality,' he said.

Referring to the role of journalism in the face of the avalanche of social networks, Castells ratified the need to prepare the professionals to take advantage of the web and know how to recognize the real news, verify data, and rely on citizen reports.