Effectiveness of Social Media for Socio-Political Change

Using social media for socio-political change is only effective if a public sphere, where people can freely discuss their problems, already exists.  If this public sphere does not exist, social media will not help much with gaining any political change.  If the government monitors and has the power to punish individuals for what they post on their social media, people will not feel comfortable posting their true thoughts and beliefs.  In these places, the government also has the ability to censor the information put on the web so people will have a hard time communicating with each other on social media to make any progress towards political change.  For social media to be effective, people need to have the ability to freely communicate about their problems and concerns with the government without censorship or fear.