Facebook and Twitter Key to Arab Spring Uprisings - Essay Example

?TWITTER HAS MADE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO CITIZEN JOURNALISM al Affiliation) In a world that is increasingly dependent on timely information delivery, a new concept of public reporting has emerged. To this end, citizen journalism epitomizes the contemporary revolution in journalism. Furthermore, as a means to facilitate real time reporting, social media sites have emerged as reliable tools of communication. Incidentally, Twitter is among the social networking sites that have offered significant progress in the field of citizen journalism. Citizen journalism has emerged as a contemporary innovation in the spectrum of journalism. To this end, it encompasses the new role played by ordinary citizens in the collection, reporting and dissemination of information (Anwar, 2012). Evidently, the efficacy of citizen journalism in reporting has been shaped due to its potential in inspiring the participation of a large target audience locally, nationally and internationally. Moreover, citizen journalism envisions a system in which persons can report pertinent issues that are relevant to an area or locality. The growth of citizen journalism has largely been influenced by technological advancement in the social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook. In reference to Twitter, it has emerged as a revolutionary social media tool whereby an increasing number of people are acting as citizen journalists. Moreover, Twitter has equally captured the attention of mainstream media houses. Consequently, an increasing number of media houses have embraced the use Twitter handles in the reporting of citizen journalistic news. To this end the plethora of media news handles dedicated to citizen journalism includes; Blottr, NowPublic, iReport for CNN, GroundReport, Demotix and many more (Rosen, 2012). According to a research finding by Infographic Labs, the popularity is evident from the 175 million tweets daily and the consequent 31 billion tweets recorded annually. Moreover, the increasing use of Twitter by citizen journalists has been spurred by several positive attributes of the social media technology. These include; its flexible posse power and high speed in sharing of information. In addition, it ensures efficiency whereby information can be received on time and edited accordingly. Furthermore, Twitters offers the luxury of simplicity, and flexibility in use by the citizen journalists. Over and above this, Twitter is a totally free social media service that is available to the majority of users (Knight Community News Network, n.d.). To this end, Twitter has been used as a tool for citizen journalism in influencing contemporary activism, reporting on natural disasters and shaping of political landscapes. In particular, Twitter played a critical played a critical role in reporting of the political and social mandarins during the Arab Spring uprising. The Arab spring uprising that began in earnest in Tunisia and Egypt, was largely propelled by the use of social media communication via Twitter. Evidently, citizen journalists utilized Twitter in the organization of mass action protests. Moreover, mobilization and the spreading of awareness concerning the revolution were done via Twitter and Facebook. Evidently, during the Egypt revolution, 1.4 million tweets were recorded on the hashtag or search item ‘Egypt.’ Moreover, the hashtag ‘Jan 25’ recorded 1.2 million posts (Huang, 2011). A survey conducted on over 200 people during the uprising in Tunisia and Egypt revealed that they received updates via Twitter. To this end, 88% and 94% in Egypt and Tunisia respectively received information updates concerning the revolution through Twitter (Huang, 2011). Another survey during the Arab spring showed that the popularity of Twitter within the Arab world had increased astronomically. Consequently, there was a record of over two million tweets during the month of November 2010 (France-Presse, 2012). This by contrast, was a marked increase from 99,000 tweets in the month of October 2010 (France-Presse, 2012). These statistical data are critical indicatorS of the significant role Twitter has played in citizen journalism. The power of Twitter was evident through the organization and reporting of protest activities in Tunisia and Egypt (Srivastava, 2011). To this end, Andy Carvin, a reporter with NPR, transformed his personal Twitter account into a live news wire. However, Mr. Carvin preferred labeling his account as a live news room where other followers would edit, fact check and verify the information (Stelter, 2011). Andy innovatively began crowd sourcing of information in Egypt related to the protests and posting them in real time (Stelter, 2011). In effect, his sources of information were drawn from comments from protestors and sympathizers engaged in the uprising. Moreover, Andy went a step further in establishing credibility of his posts by preceding it with the actual source of information. Furthermore, among the 20,800 followers of Mr. Carvin on Twitter, many of them included fellow professional journalists (Stelter, 2011). Consequently, these journalists would amplify and confirm the tweets by Mr. Carvin. Moreover, Mr. Carvin’s network connection with NPR producers aided in the organization of interviews with some of the protestors. To this end, Andy Carvin’s successful use of Twitter in citizen journalism was epitomized by crowd sourcing of real time information, fact checking, correcting and verifying of sources. It is also necessary to note that Twitter played a critical role in the reporting of various human rights atrocities that were leveled by Hosni Mubarak’ security agents against the protesters (Kassim, 2012). To this end, Tweets and live feed by protestors in places such as Tahrir square were posted on media Twitter accounts such as iReport for CNN. To a large extent, the ouster of the dictatorial government of President Hosni Mubarak is credited to the social protests done via Twitter and other social media. Moreover, the spread of the Arab Spring to other countries such as Libya is attributed to the large follower base of the in Middle East and other Arab countries. In the country of Saudi Arabia in Middle East, Twitter has also offered immense contribution to citizen journalism. Twitter has witnessed increased use as social forum for discussing pertinent economic and political issues in Saudi Arabia. This new trend comes against the backdrop of the revolutionary effects of the ‘Arab Spring’ via Twitter in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. Saudi Arabia did not experience the Arab Spring but Twitter emerged as the new social media tool in the voicing of political, social and economic criticism. Evidently, there are estimated 2.9 million Twitter users in Saudi Arabia (Worth, 2012). Moreover, a past study has revealed that Saudi Arabia is among the rapidly expanding Twitter zones. Moreover, users such as a 31 year old lawyer named Faisal Abdullah have labeled Twitter as a form of ‘virtual democratic parliament.’ To this end, the criticisms leveled against the royal family have become increasingly common via Twitter. This is in recognition that criticism against the royal family was previously nonexistent and only comparable to a taboo topic. In addition, tweets decrying the high level corruption by the government have been posted by lawyers and prominent judges. The women have equally voiced their concerns over the curtailing of their freedoms. In effect, Twitter has created a platform for discussion that transcends social paradigms. Consequently, it has enabled the populace to voice their issues in real time. Evidently, these issues are prominently featured under hashtags such as ‘corruption’, and ‘political prisoners’ (Worth, 2012). One of the most frequent critics of the royal family goes by the name of Mujtahidd. Evidently, his tweets revealed the high level corruption on arms deals, construction scandals and shady back room power deals involving the royal family. One example of his revelation was leveled against Prince Abduld Aziz bin Fahd. Incidentally, Mujtahidd posted that the Prince had quoted a sum of $6 billion as cost for building his house in Jedda. However, in reality he only used $ 1 billion and pocketed the remainder (Worth, 2012). Evidently, the popularity of Mujtahidd is displayed by his over 660,000 followers. In effect, Twitter has emerged as a vital tool in citizen journalism towards the promotion of a just, politically moral and equitable Saudi society. To this end, Twitter has emerged as more than just a social media application for socializing but a vital tool for promoting citizen journalism. However, some critics have cast aspersion on Twitter as a tool for citizen journalism. Evidently, they have claimed that Twitter does not guarantee credibility of information and thus is prone to posting of misleading information (Russell, 2012). Irrespective of this, it should be noted that Twitter should not be judged on the same benchmark as established professional media houses. On the contrary, it should be viewed as a supplement to main stream journalism reporting. In a nut shell, Mr. Andy Carvin posits the best reference to Twitter in relation to citizen journalism. In the noble quest of citizen journalism, Twitter should be viewed as a live newsroom where the public can source for real time information, verify it, edit and further disseminate the information (Stelter, 2011). Bibliography Anwar, A. B., 2012. bdtoday.net: Citizen Journalism and Digitalization. [Online] Available at: http://www.bdtoday.net/english/thisweekdetail/detail/39 [Accessed 12 11 2012]. France-Presse, 2012. Twitter study reveals explosion in Arabic 'tweeting' | Business Recorder. [Online] Available at: http://www.brecorder.com/market-data/rates-a-schedules/118/1255886/ [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Huang, C., 2011. Facebook and Twitter key to Arab Spring uprisings: report - The National. [Online] Available at: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/facebook-and-twitter-key-to-arab- spring-uprisings-report [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Kassim, S., 2012. Twitter Revolution: How the Arab Spring Was Helped By Social Media. [Online] Available at: http://www.policymic.com/articles/10642/twitter-revolution-how-the-arab- spring-was-helped-by-social-media [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Knight Community News Network, n.d. http://www.kcnn.org/modules/why_citizen_journalists_should_use_twitter/. [Online] Available at: http://www.kcnn.org/modules/why_citizen_journalists_should_use_twitter/ [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Rosen, J., 2012. HTFN - The hard to find news on the web. [Online] Available at: http://hardtofindnews.blogspot.com/2012/08/Citizen-Journalism-Sites-List- on-Twitter-2012-I-Definition.html [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Russell, J., 2012. Social Media Week: Twitter & Future of Journalism. [Online] Available at: http://thenextweb.com/media/2012/02/15/two-worlds-collide-twitter-the- butterfly-effect-and-the-future-of-journalism/ [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Srivastava, K., 2011. Experts Debate Role of Facebook, Twitter in Citizen Journalism - Mobiledia. [Online] Available at: http://www.mobiledia.com/news/110080.html [Accessed 12 11 2012]. Stelter, B., 2011. Twitter Feed Evolves Into a News Wire About Egypt - NYTimes.com. [Online] Available at: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/twitter-feed-evolves-into- a-news-wire-about-egypt/[Accessed 12 11 2012]. Worth, R. F., 2012. Twitter Gives Saudi Arabia a Revolution of Its Own - NYTimes.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/world/middleeast/twitter-gives-saudi-arabia-a-revolution-of-its-own.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0[Accessed 12 11 2012]. Read More