Social media's greatest assets - anonymity, 'virality,' interconnectedness - are also its main weaknesses.

Revolution may not be pro-Western or democratic.

Look at something like cooking. Now, you would hear a lot about smart kitchens and augmented kitchens. And what do those smart kitchens actually do? They police what's happening inside the kitchen. They have cameras that distinguish ingredients one from each other and that tell you that shouldn't mix this ingredient with another ingredient.

For many oppositional movements, the Internet, while providing the opportunity to distribute information more quickly and cheaper, may have actually made their struggle more difficult in the long run.

If you want to plan a revolution, you never do it in public - the authorities show up and arrest everyone.

My hunch is that people often affiliate with causes online for selfish and narcissistic purposes. Sometimes, it may be as simple as trying to impress their online friends, and once you have fashioned that identity, there is very little reason to actually do anything else.

Much of the real computer talent today is concentrated in the private sector.