An Egyptian father names his newborn daughter “Facebook” to honor the ways in which social media helped induce revolution in Egypt. Some go as far to label the events in Egypt, a “Facebook revolution.”
Facebook changes social activism and revolution, as seen nearly two months ago, when 86,000 people joined a Facebook event to protest in Tahrir Square. Egyptian protests, known as the “people’s revolution,” organized around an idea—the overthrow of then-President Hosni Mubarak.
Social media tools act as the perfect vehicle for social revolution. Egyptians could share ideas and opinions through social media, giving voice to the silenced population.
Malcom Gladwell wrote an infamous essay in the New Yorker magazine refuting the ability of social media tools to create meaningful social change in 2010. His essential argument is that revolutions existed long before social platforms, yet he does not acknowledge the change over time.
Gladwell uses the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s to example “true” social activism. The values and goals of the non-violent movement, the meticulous execution, all occurred without the aid of social media, as Gladwell argues in an interview on CNN with Fareed Zakaria.
Gladwell emphasizes that people are the tools of revolution not social media. With regard to the recent revolutions, Gladwell states that Mubarak turned off Internet and cell phone towers, and the Egyptians organized and protested without social media tools.
This may be true. Still, social media helped ignite Egypt’s revolution. Egyptian youth coordinated a massive revolution in a matter of days. The events of Egyptian revolution differ from the Civil Rights era in almost every way.
For the past two years, disenfranchised Egyptians gained support on social media networks publicizing governmental injustices. Workers protests began in 2008 in al Mahala al Kubra, a textile-manufacturing town, “a Facebook page rallied more than 100,000 supporters,” said Stephen Franklin, reporter for The American Prospect.
Facebook provided a virtual community where users could discuss politics in the stifling environment of “emergency” laws. Like any organization with a cause, careful planning took place. Protest leaders, like Wael Ghonim, organized discussion forums and event groups where the revolutionary ideas quickly developed.
This Facebook phenomenon allowed individual to create digital representation of themself, to engage in discussion groups, to plan events, and to voice opinion. Facebook provided anonymity and an open platform from which social activism could be launched. The leaders remained anonymous to avoid arrest.
This virtual reality provided the chance for democracy—the freedom of speech and opinion that was before unknown. Mubarak’s oppressive regime silenced the people, but social media allowed the young generation to be heard.
The information age and, subsequently, social media quickly revolutionized communication. The modes of discourse transformed from “a ‘one-to-many’ system,” as Fareed Zakaria explains, “to a ‘many-to-many’ system.” Information is transmitted instantaneously through social media platforms. The end result: access to information is unlimited.
Before Egyptian protests, Facebook started a revolution in Bogota, Colombia in 1999. Oscar Morales, referenced in the opening paragraph of, “The Facebook Effect,” by David Kirkpatrick, strongly disagrees with Malcom Gladwell. Morales used Facebook to destabilize the FARC, a narco-terrorist group in Colombia. “Facebook was our headquarters,” he said in a New York Times interview with David Kirkpatrick.
The Colombian revolution and current examples in the Arab world disprove Gladwell’s outlook on social media. Facebook provides the most advanced freedom of expression—unrestricted mass communication via multiple mediums.
The millions of Facebook users part of a democratic discourse gained confidence to protest. Without question social media played an essential role in Egypt’s revolution.
Julie Heidt is a junior corporate communication and public affairs major. She can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
