Online Social Networking - Essay Example

On-line Social Networking Over the past few years, there have been increased and intense uprisings in various parts of the world. The Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia and other places in the Middle East are classic examples of these. Online Social Networking (OSN) is important in accelerating social protest in its early stages.  Evidently, the protestors came together mainly through OSNs and their success raises the questions in regard to the role played by OSN in conflicts. By analyzing the role of OSN in the most recent Egyptian Revolution that took place in 2011 in Tahrir square, Cairo, this paper aims at making a critical evaluation of how OSN has contributed to recent situations of conflict. Definition and Purpose of OSN Boyd and Ellison (210) define online social networking (OSN) as an online platform, site, or service that is focused on facilitating the building and reflection of online social relations among people with common social ties, interests, or who do similar activities. These sites allow users to display information about themselves like age, location, interests, and activities among others. OSN is achieved through social networking services (SNSs) like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, Linkedin, Spoke and Cyworld. The main function of OSN is to provide a link through which people can communicate. According to Papacharissi (120), OSN sites allow people to create a profile for representing themselves and interacting through instant messaging, email and other integrated communication channels. There is a section on these sites that is dedicated to comments, friends, and other people with similar interests. Some of them allow users to create contact groups for ease of sharing common interests. They also allow users to hold discussion forums over the internet through services like chat rooms. Secondly, OSN provides a powerful means through which people can share information and personal data among other things. SNSs offer individually-centred services which allow users to share personal data, activities, events, information, interests and ideas within their individual networks. Thirdly, OSN provides a quick way of expanding one’s social base. The social sites allow users to view or search people that share the same interests. Individuals or organizations can also compile and share lists of contacts. They also allow users to suggest more friends to their own friends. How OSN has been used in Recent Conflicts OSN has played a role in recent conflicts. The social sites have allowed people to communicate quickly and easily. Unlike other modes of communication like face-to-face forums, phone calls, and SMS, OSN enables the instant transfer of information and views among the masses cheaply. During the Egyptian Revolution where one million protestors were mobilized and assembled in Tahrir square on 25th January, 2011, OSN can be said to have provided a powerful way of rallying protests and building emotion. The Egyptian uprisings focused on political and legal issues including lack of freedom of speech and free elections, uncontrollable corruption, police brutality, and economic issues like low minimum wages, fluctuations in food prices, and unemployment even amongst the nation’s most leaned youths (Weaver and Bowcott, 33).The speed and wide coverage of these sites provided a more effective means for exchanging information and views concerning the existing situations. This made nationals living beyond Egypt’s borders open realize the state of affairs in their country and express their support for the protests against President Hosni Mubarak. OSN has facilitated the freedom of speech which is an important ingredient for political conflicts. People are cautious of what they speak in public against the government because of the fear of being arrested. The government can also control anti-government meetings that could lead to possible conflicts. However, it is almost impossible to control communication through SNSs. This, in effect, encourages freedom of speech as seen from President Mubarak’s fruitless efforts to crackdown on cell phone and internet users. As a result of the virtual freedom of speech that was established through the use of the social networking sites, information regarding the situation of the country spread like a virus. Users of the services were free to post anything on these sites and they were also able to modify them real time. This made it possible to doctor the messages posted in a way that it generated anti-government views among other users. The Positive Impacts of the Use of OSN in the Egyptian Revolution OSN helped speed up the process of self-expression and confrontation leading to the achievement of desired goals. Through SNSs, people expressed their views faster unlike the case with holding a series of meetings. According to Jensen (1), Facebook and other SNSs helped the masses get a lot of feedback as people responded positively in the call for solidarity. They also helped gather people virtually considering that it was difficult to do this on the streets. Face-to-face meetings were limited to strategy sessions even as they used Twitter and Facebook to deceive state security forces on their intentions. The strategic positioning and secrecy availed by the social media enabled the anti-government supporters to counter the vast security apparatus in Egypt. This resulted in a quick and successful confrontation with the government through marches, protests, labor strikes and civil disobedience. The amount of support achieved as a result was so enormous that Mubarak resigned from office on 11th February, following only 18 days of pressure and popular protest. OSN allowed anonymity in communication when faced by repression and oppression. SNSs allow people to fake their names thus they can communicate without disclosing their real identities. This aspect of the social networking sites motivated many people to communicate their feelings about the oppressive nature of the Mubarak regime and the need to terminate it without fear of being identified, arrested and tortured. Mainwaring (1) explains that social networks helped diffuse cognitive dissonance by connecting the minds of the activists and thought leaders with ordinary citizens leading to rapid expansion of the network of supporters willing to take action. As a result, the Egyptian Revolution received a lot of support from people of all walks of life as its 1 million protestors dramatically surpassed the 5,000 people targeted. The use of ONSs created a global awareness of the plight of people in certain areas. Many people were not aware of what Egyptians were going through initially. However, information circulating through the ONSs at the time revealed a lot about the plight of the civilians. This resulted in massive internal support and a global call on Mubarak to step down. The Negative Impacts of the use of OSN in the Egyptian Revolution OSN helped to speed up the protest process against bad government control in Egypt. This also accelerated the existing economic instability. The revolution concurred with the global economic recession and Egypt was equally affected. Because of the existing economic strain, the Egyptian government was not prepared to face such a massive and historic conflict. If the mobilization for the protest was done through meetings, the government could have successfully handled it through its military. However, the use of OSN speeded the mobilization process and protests to a magnitude that the government could not handle. Conclusion The Egyptian Revolution is a classic example of how OSN are important in accelerating social protest in its early stages. The protestors came together through the various SNSs and these formed platforms through which the activists and thought leaders passed their ideas to the civilians. The effect of meeting secretly and communicating virtually led to the mobilization of the largest protest in modern Egypt. Despite the few negative impacts, OSN can be said to have affected recent conflicts positively. Civilians have a sincere plight to present but open mobilisation could have led to low and ineffective participation, and arrests, torture and even death of many civilians. Works Cited Boyd, Danah & Ellison, Nicole. Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 13(1), pp 210-230. 2007. Print. Jensen, Jon. “Behind Egypt's Revolution: youth and the internet: How youth activists used social media to counter Egypt's security forces. 2011. 22 March, 2012. Web. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/egypt/110213/social-media-youth-egypt-Revolution . Retrieved on 22nd March, 2012. Mainwaring Simon. (2012). “Exactly what role did social media play in the Egyptian Revolution?” Online: http://simonmainwaring.com/facebook/exactly-what-role-did-social-media-play-in-the-egyptian-Revolution /. Retrieved on 22nd March, 2012. Papacharissi Zizi. “The virtual geographies of social networks: a comparative analysis of Facebook, LinkedIn and ASmallWorld.” New Media and Society. 11(1/2). pp 119-220. 2009. Weaver Matthew and Bowcott Owen (30th January 2011). "Egypt protests – as they happened". The Guardian (London).Online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/jan/30/egypt-protests-live-. updates#block-33. Retrieved on 22nd March, 2012. Read More