Webit Congress kicks off today, bringing over 187 speakers from 72 countries to Istanbul for a conference focusing on the digital, techonlogy, and entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Having grown over the past six years, the conference has hit a peak this year. Here Plamen Russev, the conference's founder and author of the book Power to the People, explains how he started the eAcademy in Europe to spread online education, and how using social media helped him grow a global brand. 

"Social media changed the world as we all know it," he says. "Social media democratized the voice of the people, and we use this democracy."