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How influential was Twitter in overthrowing theArabregime?

How influential was Twitter in overthrowing theArabregime?

By Sandra Murphy

(Mohammed Abed/AFP/GettyImages)

Technological determinism believes social media is a tool for change

Analysis of the human/machine relationship

Was this a virtual or real revolution - online or offline?

The shift in power since the dawn of technological advances

The limits of online activism.

This paper will explore the phenomenon discussing the following:Arab Spring?

In December 2010, a 26-year-old Tunisian named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire.

The extreme act came after he was banned from selling fruit to earn a living but it triggered a remarkable series of events that became known as theArabSpring.

Tunisia: January 4th

Mohamed Bouazizi dies and in a show of solidarity more than 5,000 joined in his funeral procession.

Did Egypt Tweet Its Way to Freedom?

The story of how theArabworld erupted was now being seen through the eyes of the people using the internet and social media to try to overthrow their leaders.

In fact, the most popular hashtag of 2011 was #egypt. (BBC, 2012)

The phrase "Sidi Bouzid" (Bouazizi's home city) became a shorthand for the revolt. (Twitter quote: Family of Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, of #Sidibouzid say he died on Tuesday night. His self-immolation inspired popular uprising in #Tunisia, 2011)

On Twitter, participants began labeling messages discussing the uprisings with#sidibouzid, and on January 14, 2011 the people celebrated after the resignation of Ben Ali. (Gaffney et al., 2011)

Tweets for #jan25

Mass media began reporting on viral rage

TIME magazine

In 2011, protesters didn't just voice their complaints; they changed the world, that was how Time magazine saw it when it named The Protester as their 2011 Person of The Year, five years after naming You as their Person of The Year. (Image: TIME)

Revolution 2.0?

Tunisian protesters demonstrate beneath a poster of Mohammed Bouazizi in January.

How it unfolded

The Tunisian Revolution, which successfully ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, consisted of a series of street demonstrations in January 2011 following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010.

Buoyed by the success, opposition groups and activists in Egypt organised a demonstration in Cairo for January 25, to protest abuse by police. (Egyptian revolution of 2011, 2015)

A series of protests involving civil resistance illegal in Egyptensued over several weeks, spreading to other major cities in the country, resulting in violence as protesters clashed with police forces loyal to President Hosni Mubarak.

The military refused to fire upon the protesters, most notably in Tahrir Square where protesters camped out in civil resistance. Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011. (Egyptian revolution of 2011, 2015)

Twitter adopted as a tool of the uprising and a famous designer felt wrath of web after gaffe

CNN reported how Kenneth Cole committed quite the faux pas when he used the unrest in Egypt to plug his latest collection on Twitter.

Cole apologized for the misguided tweet on both Twitter and Facebook within hours, saying that he wasn't "intending to make light of a serious situation."

(Dumbest moments in business, 2011)

Revolution rages on and offline

Using Twitter as a tool of revolution, in January a student in Cairo with the Twitter name @alya1989262 was the first to use #Jan25 in a tweet. (Schonfeld, 2011)

Egypt: January 25th,known as The Day of Revolt marks the start of protests calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

Protesters organise on Facebook and Twitter.

The Egyptian government shuts down access to networks.

Egypt: January 27,Egypt blocks nearly all Internet access.
(Stearne, D. and McCullagh, D. (2015)Declan McCullagh. Available at: http://www.cnet.com/news/egypts-internet-still-offline-a-day-later/)

What did Twitter do?

Twitter emerged as a key source for real-time logistical coordination. (Gaffney et al., 2011)

After analysing more than three million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts, a 2011 study found social media played a central role in shaping political debates in theArabSpring.

During the week before Mubaraks resignation, study found rate of tweets on Arab Spring ballooned from 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day.

The Egyptian government's blackout from January 26February 2.

Tweet nothings?

A powerful blue bird or a powerful people?

Study after President Hosni Mubaraks resignation. (Remington and Writer, 2012)

52% had a Facebook profile and almost all used it for communication about the protests; only 16% had a Twitter account.

But 48.4% first heard about the protests from face-to-face communications.

Traditional mass media were far less important for [informing] people about the protest than were more interpersonal means of communication (face-to-face, telephone, or Facebook), the study concluded.

Here comes the science bitproof of technological determinism?

Twitter is your window to the world. (Twitter, 2015)

Kellner said the political battles of the future may well be fought in the streets, factories, parliaments and other sites of past struggle, but politics is already mediated by broadcast computer, and IT and will be so increasingly in the future.

Smart mobs of socially active people linked by emerging mobile devices can become cyber activists relatively easily.

The politics of technology outlined by Winner argues that machines are not neutral, but are fostered by groups to preserve or alter social relations.

Conclusion

Twitter and Facebook are indeed useful tools, but they are not tools of revolution at least, no more than American patriot Paul Reveres horse.

It is still down to people to be the tools of revolution, whether their dissent is spread by whisper, by letter, by tweets, or by some means we havent yet imagined.

Shutting down the internet forced people out on the streets to protest, as many view the ability to connect as a fundamental right.

It took a million-strong movement to overthrow of Mubarak's government, and it happened when the state had pulled the plug on the internet

In conclusion, credit for freedoms wave in the Middle East belongs more to human beings standing together than to a tide of tweets.

Thanks!

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