Twitter Revolution: How the Arab Spring Was
Helped By Social Media
As a result of the many technological advancements and
innovations that have revolutionized how individuals communicate, an abundance
of information has become available to everyone. Depending on where the
information is found, however, it’s reliability can be questioned. With the
growing number of international, self-described (both non-for-profit and
for-profit) organizations such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Wikileaks and more, much
of the information provided is now often opinionated and biased, nonetheless,
truthful. Ultimately, public information supplied by social networking websites
has played an important role during modern-day activism, specifically as it
pertains to the Arab Spring. In Arab countries, many activists who played
crucial roles in the Arab Spring used social networking as a key tool in
expressing their thoughts concerning unjust acts committed by the government.
Being capable of sharing an immense amount of uncensored and
accurate information throughout social networking sites has contributed to the
cause of many Arab Spring activists. Through social networking sites, Arab
Spring activists have not only gained the power to overthrow powerful
dictatorship, but also helped Arab civilians become aware of the underground
communities that exist and are made up of their brothers, and others willing to
listen to their stories.
In countries like Egypt,
Tunisia, and Yemen, rising action plans such as protests made up of thousands,
have been organized through social media such Facebook and Twitter. “We use
Facebook to schedule the protests” an Arab Spring activist from Egypt announced “and [we
use] Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.” The role
that technology has taken in allowing the distribution of public information
such as the kinds stated by the aforementioned activist, had been essential in
establishing the democratic movement that has helped guide abused civilians to
overthrow their oppressor.
Social networks have broken the psychological barrier of fear by
helping many to connect and share information. It has given most people in the
Arab world the knowledge that they are not alone, that there are others
experiencing just as much brutality, just as much hardships, just as much lack
of justice. Social networks "for the first time provided activists with an
opportunity to quickly disseminate information while bypassing government
restrictions," Hussein Amin, professor of mass communications at
the American University in Cairo said.
It is important to understand that new platforms of social media
didn’t cause Arab Spring but played a role of communication that aids the
revolutions in the long run.
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