The popularity and impact of such independent reporting via social media sites from troubled areas around the world speak volumes about the growing sophistication of the use of digital media by all sides in international conflicts. Mass media's impact on the global stage is undeniable. Throughout the 20th century, and in the 21st century, mass media have had profound impacts on the sociopolitical environment locally, nationally and internationally. Twenty-first-century mass media support a previously unheard-of amount of information and cover public debates on issues large and small, turning mass media into the principal means for setting the national and global public agendas. In the 21st century, advances in communication and mass media technologies have broken down barriers and contributed to the creation of an international marketplace. Communication and mass media technologies are rapidly changing traditional geographic and cultural boundaries, and bringing disparate cultures together in an emerging globalized cyberculture.