Saleem Samad
Social media made its presence felt among micro-bloggers, activists and millions other at receiving end for development updates of events and breaking news.
For social media, the 2014 was a big year in social action. News goes viral worldwide on various stories, demonstrating that with social media, news knows no borders.
Huge world sports events like the Sochi Olympics and World Cup took place and garnered nearly 5 million shares on social networks.
Other stories captured worldwide attention and spur online engagement. Stories like the Ferguson's Michael Brown case and the Scottish independence voting sparked political outrage both on the streets and online. But there was one thing we found tied all of these events together. After the Michael Brown/Ferguson hearing and Eric Garner jury decision, people across the world took to social networks to keep abreast of information, post their thoughts debated online and organise protest on the streets.
The Ukrainian crisis and Gaza conflict followed the same pattern: people used hash tagging in social media to gather in protests and disseminate information quickly.
Social media was used as a tool to bring about change in these communities. People were not apathetic, they took charge, and it was the people who empowered social media.

Saleem Samad is Special Correspondent at The Daily Observer