Social Media and the Arab Spring

Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Syria all experienced political uprisings in the spring of 2011, a period that became known as The Arab Spring. This revolutionary event has also been called “The Blogger’s Revolution,” because of the reported role that social media and the internet had in triggering and propagating it.

Philip N. Howard from University of Washington led an in depth study that analysed millions of tweets, Facebook statuses, blog posts, viral Youtube videos and other online sources that may have influenced the political events. His team was able to show through keyword tracking the correlation between online expression and revolutionary activity. “We find that conversations about liberty, democracy, and revolution on blogs and on Twitter often immediately preceded mass protests,”1 said Howard. The resignation of Ben Ali, president of Tunisia, occurred after a spike in criticism in the blogosphere. ‘Revolution’ then dominated online posts, which resulted in a rally of 100,000 people that ended up ousting the remainder of Ben Ali’s administration. All government efforts to control online content was quickly circumvented by the young, tech-savvy populations.

“Technologies have helped people interested in democracy build extensive networks, create social capital, and organize political action,”1 said Howard. “Technology may not have created the desire for political freedom, but it is a tool democracy advocates have used to their advantage.”1

References:

Philip N. Howard, Aiden Duffy, Deen Freelon, Muzammil Hussain, Will Mari, Marwa Mazaid. 2011. University of Washington. Opening Closed Regimes, What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring? Retrieved from: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2595096