He Effects of Social Media on Arab Revolutions especially in Egypt, Syria and Yemen - Research Paper Example

They employed various forms of communication and information networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, cell phone technology and much more for making the world know about the violence and autocracy in their respective countries. Egypt Revolution that forced President Hosni Mubarak to leave his presidency was a continued effort of the social media activists who worked on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Maps and many mediums of communication and information sharing were employed in bringing in a change in the Egypt.

A digital guide for information sharing on Twitter and through mobile phones was prepared by ‘Global Voices’ and ‘Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’, so that people can inform about arrests of activists. The social media worked as a connection linking Egypt with the entire Arab world involving them in change. Facebook was employed for multiple uses such as increasing knowledge about current unrest, broadening the level of information sharing to worldly level and management of activists and their actions.

Twitter was used for giving information to the journalists and informed them about video footages’ location on internet. Overall, “the social media played a pivotal role in scaling connections between people, in achieving density, disseminating courage, awareness and sympathy, and in countering misinformation generated by the oppressive Egyptian regime in many countries around the world” (Frangonikolopoulos & Chapsos, 2012). The Egyptian government, under the leadership of Hosni Mubarak, sensed the efficacy of social media in enabling people towards handling a revolt against the government, due to which, they restricted internet usage.

“With the internet crackdown, President Hosni Mubarak betrayed his own fear — that Facebook, Twitter, laptops and smartphones could empower his opponents, expose his weakness to