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To oppose the salariazo, more than 11.000 Ticos joined the Facebook page created for the public to express their opinion.

Perhaps this page was a key factor in the position of presidenta, Laura Chinchilla, in declaring that she would veto the bill is legislators passed it.

Chinchilla has used during the election and continues to use now that she is president Facebook to keep Costa Ricans informed.


Click here to go to Chinchilla's Facebook page.
Click here to got to the Inside Costa Rica Facebook page

It will be some time before Costa Ricans will leave the streets behind for their protests. But, sites like Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 and many others are now providing Ticos a forum.

José Carlos Chinchilla, sociologist at the Universidad Nacional (UNA) explained that politicians in Costa Rica cannot ignore the social media networks.

"Before these networks it was difficult for people to come together with their ideas that were mainly shared by the unknown, but today a large number of people with the same thinking can come together easily by way of the web", said Chinchilla.

The use of social media in opposition against the legislator's salary hike that was passed in first debate and derailed before the required second debate, is an example of things to come, where the social media will be more and more a part of the process of consensus, for or against a bill or government action.