The impact of social media on arab spring - Essay Example

Impact of social media on Arab Spring History of Social media The line between work and home life is now becoming unclear with the increased use of social networks. Dejoe (2009) describes that the introduction of social networks improved better ways of interacting with one another and, therefore, taking people to another level that no one imagined. It is, however, necessary to deal with the traditional ways of interruption, which means setting up other social rules. Dejoe (2009) explains that the users of social media have been increasing everyday for having the opportunity to meet various kinds of people with different ideas and opinions.

The society, therefore, does not have to depend on people within the region, place of work or at church for the provision of ideas and opinions regarding the improvement of the society. The impact of social media such as Facebook, twitter and Youtube included shaping the debate by encouraging opinions from different people, and enables news anchors to illustrate the protestors’ situation and this facilitated the uprisings. Impact of Social Media on Arab SpringDuring the revolution of the social media and political action that took place during the uprisings of the Arab spring in North Africa and the Middle East, Twitter and other social media became the megaphone for the dissemination of information as well as the excitement concerning the revolutions to the outside world.

According to the statistics availed by a previous study, over 75 per cent of the individuals who clicked on embedded twitter links as pertains to the revolution emanated from without the Arab world (Moon 2012, p.28). Following an analysis of over three million tweets, thousands of blog posts and gigabytes of YouTube content, it was quite evident that the Arab spring was being propelled by social media. According to this study, social media did carry a cataract of messages concerning democracy and freedom across both Middle East and North Africa.

Moreover, the social media bore sizeable expectations for the victory of the political revolution (Choudhary et al 2012, p.75).For those individuals who had a common interest in democracy, they did build expansive social linkages as well as organized political action. In all these, social media became a precarious part of the greater independence toolkit. For instance, in the week prior the resignation of Hosni Mubarak (Egyptian president), the total tweet rates a concerns to political change in the country swell by ten-fold.

On the other hand, both political commentary and videos featuring protest went viral, with the first twenty three receiving approximately 5.5 million views (Skinner 2011, p.14). The amount of the information fashioned online by the opposition groups in political blogs and the Facebook rose dramatically. A fortnight after the Egyptian president’s resignation, the average number of tweets totaled to 2400 tweets per day from individuals in the neighboring countries concerning the political issue in Egypt.

In Tunisia, 20% of the blogs evaluating the then president’s leadership on the fateful day he made his resignation significantly shot up from 5% from the previous month. Successively, the chief topic for the blogs of Tunisia was revolution (Moon 2012, p.29).It is therefore notable that the success of demands for change in the Arab states, and in this case Tunisia and Egypt, made individuals in other countries to take active roles I the conversations. It greatly offered support in the creation of discussion across the region.

Moreover, the instant propagation of the visual images via the internet bore change, which was considerably crucial in terms of the outside world pressure, believed to be as a result of the totalitarian regimes in these countries. Markedly, social media played the catalyst role in speeding up processes that had- for a lengthy period of time- been on the conveyer across the Middle East and North Africa (Choudhary et al 2012, p.77). This social media was among the principal elements of the sophisticated and expansive communication links which percolated the revolution flames.

Moreover, it played a central role in shaping the environment, though I would have been considered useless in the event that the courage of some individuals to light the spark was missing. Whether it was through the fearlessness of the Tunisian street purveyor or the very first individuals to take to Tahrir Square and thereafter came face to face with the fury of the Egyptian authorities, both human dignity and human courage remained to be the Arab spring genuine heroes (Moon 2012, p.30). This is because in their absence, nothing would have been written on the same.

In conclusion therefore, freedom of the press and freedom of speech were imperative in the rebuilding of the countries within the region. Major legal, institutional and regulatory restructuring in this region is in the present time crucial, together with liberalization and deregulation. Signs of change are right now evident, though the pace in grotesquely slow (Skinner 2011, p.19).ConclusionThe outside countries have also been revolutionary due to the influence of Arab Spring as civic disturbance, objection and revolution is common.

Hend & Ayman (2012) shows in 1990s, in Libya, there were a revolution in Green Mountain region where the events that occurred then also occurred in 2011 revolution. In the earlier revolution, people did not know about the occurrences and the outside world did not know about it. With the improved technologies and social media, reporting is now easier. There spread of information and images is faster as compared to other past media used. Social media were a catalyst in speeding up the revolution process that begun in North Africa and Middle East.

It acted as an element of complex and broader communication networks by influencing revolution. Social media helped in shaping the environment, though it took courageous people in starting up the debates and lighting the sparks. Human courage and dignity made it possible for Arab Spring, as without people starting the debate, there would have been nothing to discuss. Social media should aim at improving other activities such as press freedom and freedom of expression (Wilken 2012).Bibliography Badreya, N 2012, Use of social media in the United Arab Emirates: An initial Study, Global Media Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, pp.

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