A New Century, A New Democracy?

The beginning of the 21st century seems to be bringing forth a new type of democracy spawned by technology and the social media. Mass protests are easy to organize, and tens of thousands of people can be mobilized in a relatively short period to support or oppose some issue or cause. Except in what is know as direct democracy, where the people exercise power directly, most democracies have representatives of the people who following their wishes enact law and public policy. In the 21st century we have seen more and more action by citizens to protest the behavior of their leaders or government. This has often lead to bloody confrontation and even to the overthrow of certain governments. In many of the cases worldwide, citizens ignore their elected representatives and take to the streets.But what form of government is this? Is this democracy or anarchy? What do you think? Where do citizen protests end? How should democracy function in the 21st century, and is there anything better available? Please post you thoughts and comments.