Facebook and the Arab Revolutions

Gabe Steinmeyer

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions 1998-2008

“Facebook” - Term used to refer to all things social on the Internet.

Since most regimes controlled other forms of media, the Internet became the

only viable option for organization.

1998-2001: Anti-regime groups in Tunisia started using the Internet

Takriz (Cyber Think-Tank, 1998)

SuXydelik (First Arab-African social network, 2000)

TuneZine (Political Webzine and forum, 2001)

2008: fewer than 30,000 Tunisians had Facebook

Tunisia ranked below Iran and China in terms of Internet Freedom

“Online we could be anonymous” ~ Foetus (Takriz’s CTO)

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions The Emergence of Facebook

Early Egyptian organizers relied on leaflets, blogs, and Internet forums.

First Egyptian anti-regime Facebook group gained 3,000 new fans a day

Key Turning Points:

Egypt: June 6th 2010

Khaled Said

Tunisia: December 17th 2010

Mohamed Bouazizi

Usage of Facebook and Youtube skyrocketed.

By end of 2009 more than 800,000 Tunisians used Facebook.

By 2011 1.97 Million users in Tunisia

“We didn’t think about Facebook in the beginning because [to us] it was very new,”

~ Ahmed Maher (Leader of “April 6th Movement”)

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions Facebook Meets the Streets

Protestors used Facebook, Mumble, Twitter, Youtube, and Foursquare to:

Meet

Organize protests

Upload picture and videos

Inform about future demonstrations

“We were online every day, and on the streets pretty much every day, collecting information, collecting videos, organizing

protests, getting into protests.” ~ Foetus

Facebook became “the GPS for this

revolution”

“Without the street there’s no

revolution” “Add Facebook to the street and you get real potential”

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions What was the Role of Facebook

Two roles could have been played:

Main Instigator of Revolution

Tool of Reform

Facts:

Facebook is where people saw and shared horrifying videos and

photographs of state brutality that inspired them to rebel.

Social Media enabled people to find the basic logistics of the protests.

Where to go? When to show up?

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions Role of Facebook

“Facebook is what guided the protests, but the true vehicle for change was the

protests themselves.” ~ Foetus

“Before this social-media revolution, everyone was very individual, very single,

very isolated and oppressed in islands. But social media has created bridges to

speak out, to know that there are other men who think like me. We can work

together, we can make something together.” ~ Hassan Mostafa (Egyptian Activist)

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions Discussion

How significant a role did Social Media play in the Arab Revolutions?

How does the diffusion of Technology assist Revolution?

How does Poverty impede Revolution?

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Facebook and the Arab Revolutions Sources

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/09/so-was-facebook-responsible-for-the-arab-spring-after-all/244314/

http://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/designprocess/files/2012/08/TheNational_FacebookandTwitterKeytoArabSpringUprising.pdf

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/425137/streetbook/

http://dayan.org/sites/default/files/SILSBEE_BEN_SOCIAL_MEDIA_TANOTES_260812.pdf

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14747731.2011.621287

http://facultyfiles.deanza.edu/gems/kaufmancynthia/Saletan.pdf