If technology can be said to have done one thing during the year of 2011 – I would argue that it has given people a voice of real purpose. When I say technology I more than likely mean the Internet and the technologies it has spawned in recent years.

Al Gore spoke at the recent AsiaD: All Things Digital Conference in Hong Kong, held for the first time ever in Asia, and spoke of the Internet re-democratizing the media and giving a voice back to the mass populations of the world.

He noted how in recent decades the power of the media has become over-concentrated in the hands of the few. The media and TV in particular became pawns of the rich and powerful who had the financial means and political might to shape media coverage in a way to suit their needs. Essentially those who had the money to exert influence on the media pretty much controlled the political process. Gore was referring mainly to the US but it applies to Europe and Asia too in different ways.

But what is changing is that these pillars of power are being eroded by the rise of social networks and technologies that are giving all groups and individuals a chance to collectively voice their views and grievances.

And in the cases of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, the swelling of opinion has given rise to “The Arab Spring” which has caused shockwaves across the whole of the Middle East. The result has been leaders being toppled and whole regimes being brought down through the might of social media which has helped bring together voices of dissent and those that oppose repression.

Time Magazine this year made the “Protester” its “Person of the Year” and much of this stems from the power of the Internet and social media in enabling people to truly make a point and a stand for the things they believe in. Whether right or wrong, you had the riots in London, the Occupy Wall St demonstrations around the world, plus countless other movements that have all stemmed from people’s ability to leverage technology to bring together like-minded people in an effort to act and speak out.

People often point to the lack of physical and face-to-face interaction that occurs between people of the new generation and how this will impact the way they will interact in society. But society is changing and what is being possibly lost in a sense of social and interpersonal skills is being replaced by a much more powerful enabling force which gives individuals previously unavailable power to give voice to the will of the people and argue for change.

Never before have people had such power for change and technology is the underlying factor that has enabled that. And what will 2012 bring? Some predict apocalypse, I’ll predict more power to the people – rulers of the world today, beware!