The situation in Hong Kong is unfolding rapidly and will continue to do so over the weekend. For breaking updates, social media is the way to go. Here are five ways you can stay up-to-date on all the latest developments armed with only your computer, tablet or smartphone.
1. Twitter: On-the-scene reporters are tweeting out updates as quickly as they happen. Some of my favorites, in no particular order: Tania Branigan of The Guardian (@taniabranigan), Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post (@ishaantharoor), Isabella Steger of the Wall Street Journal (@stegarsaurus), and Hong Kong Wrong blogger Tom Grundy (@tomgrundy). You can also follow the Twitter accounts of the groups behind the protests, including Occupy Central with Love and Peace (@OCLPHK) and the Hong Kong Federation of Students (@HKFS1958).
2. Reddit: If you don’t want your Twitter feed to be all Hong Kong protests, all the time, fear not: there’s a live Reddit feed covering the protests that rounds up many of the Twitter updates for you. The feed also features real-time updates from on-the-scene Redditors. You can check it out here.
3. YouTube: Hong Kong’s Apple Daily has set up a live feed of the Hong Kong protests on YouTube. The feed pans through the various protest sites to cover major action (such as CY Leung’s press conference yesterday). All commentary is in Cantonese, but as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words — and a video is worth even more.
4. Facebook: Both Occupy Central With Love and Peace and the Hong Kong Federation of Students operate Facebook accounts. These pages are the place to go for official statements from each group. They also aggregate posts and particularly photographs from other Facebook users, filling both pages with media and commentary from eyewitnesses.
5. Instagram and Flickr: You may have heard that the popular photo-sharing site Instagram was blocked in China to prevent people from sharing photos of the Hong Kong protests. Naturally, then, there are plenty of jaw-dropping images on Instagram that are well worth a look. Just search for the tag #umbrellarevolution and prepare to spend hours combing through pictures and videos. For more photos, you can check out Flickr. Again, you can simply search for “Umbrella Revolution,” or you can check out these specific accounts, which are doing great work: alfredkhc, Kevin Law Photography, chet wong, and camera2m.