Most of us use social networks to keep in touch with people that live far away, to find out what old friends are doing, to share pictures, to get in touch with people with the same interests. But in some areas of this planet, Social Media are necessary in order not to be killed.

In some countries like Mexico, Twitter is used for safety purposes. Right now in the country there is a war going on against (and between) drug traffickers, with more than 40,000 people killed in the last five years. Before journalists or the police can inform about a violent or dangerous fact, Twitter (and a number of user-generated online media) is already informing citizens. Messages like “Avoid this square”, or “There are armed people, not soldiers, they wear masks” can be read on Twitter every minute of every day.

This real-time witnessing became common in Mexico last year, especially in the most violent cities, where mass media are corrupted or have suffered blackmailing and killings. This GOOD infographic shows us how the drug cartels share the control of the whole nation. Families and criminal groups that act brutally, violently, with no mercy at all: almost 90% of all the murders are targeted executions. For many Mexican citizens, Social Media are a necessity. And they have a different mission than what we saw during the Arab Spring.

In the Arab revolutions social networks were used to identify the repression, organize and unify groups of rebels; they’ve been very effective especially when they were working together with traditional media, such as Al Jazeera (Arabic News TV Network). In El Cairo, Facebook pages with time and place of the protests were printed and handled to people with no Internet connection. And we should not forget that Twitter and Facebook – together with a massive usage of Balckberry Messenger – helped to coordinate the London Riots, earlier this year.

But in those cases Social Media were also (or mainly?) informing the Western world about the revolutions, with Twitter and Youtube creating instant worldwide awareness about what was happening in squares and dusty streets. Millions of people from USA or Europe were following the action, but only a few people in Iran, Egypt or Tunisia were actually tweeting, recording, sharing. While here in Mexico Twitter, Facebook and other websites are used by a large amount of people just to survive, to organize their everyday life. It became a daily routine: quiet, silent, with no need to share it with the rest of the world.

In Mexico the number of websites and blogs about the Drug War is increasing every day, with a huge collaboration from users: we can mention Blogdelnarco, or Borderland Beat. And Wikinarco, with an interactive map updated in real-time by regular citizens: mapping and geolocation to warn about crimes, shootings and danger.

Contents are morbid: very often these blogs show very violent images, or videos of brutal executions,  and most of the times this kind of information can’t be found anywhere else (we invite you to visit these web pages, but WARNING: some pictures and videos can be extremely upsetting).

Every person that contributes does it without revealing his identity. People involved in sharing info about this cruel civil war definitely can’t reveal their names. 74 journalists have been killed from 2000, according to Mexico’s Human Rights Commission. Some weeks ago, a man and a woman were found dead in northern Mexico – one of the most dangerous areas, towards the USA border. There was a message left next to their bodies “This is what will happen to Internet spies” (more info here).

Social Media are literally filling the gap that official media left. Drug-related gangs are getting stronger and stronger, and in some areas they completely substitutes the government. It is here that Social Media are becoming crucial in in order to survive: many Mexicans, nowadays, state they trust more Twitter than the press.

Jessica Noguez