The Role of Social Media in the Arab Spring

Media in today's civilization are an incredibly powerful force. During the Arab Spring, media, specifically social media, influenced the protests in Syria, Libya, and Egypt. Since its beginning in 2011, the Arab Spring movement has been fueled by a passion for change by young progressive Arabs. These communities have used social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to help stage protests and ultimately, revolutions. Egypt's uprising sprouted partially from a Facebook page called “We are all Khaled Said.” In Libya, NATO used information gathered from Twitter posts to help determine targets for airstrikes (Norton-Taylor). Now there is a plethora of information pouring out of Syria in the form of social media, which allows a comprehensive understanding of a complex war as it happens halfway across the world. Social media is a powerful tool that gives Arabs, who were once unable to express their ideas, a chance to do so on a global stage.

Social Media and the Arab spring go hand in hand. In recent years, social media has been the driving force behind several movements worldwide. The Occupy Wall Street protests, the 2013 protests in Brazil, Ukraine, and Turkey, and the Arab Spring have all been influenced by social media sites. But what is social media? It is a technology, or rather, a utilization of many technologies, that allows users from anywhere in the world share information and media content with each other. Today, the two “giants” in social media are Facebook and Twitter. There are many other sites and apps, but none with the global reach or user base of Facebook and Twitter. Combined, they have a user base of more that 1.2 billion people (Edwards). Facebook is a social networking site, in which users have friends, and followers which can see the text and photos that they post, and allows for “liking,” commenting, and private messaging, among other things. Twitter is a microblogging site on which users post short text updates which can be seen by their followers.

The Arab spring was a revolutionary movement in the Middle East and North Africa, which occurred mainly in 2011. The Arab population had long been oppressed by their dictatorial governments; they staged protests all across the Arab world, and they quickly gained momentum. The protests lead to different outcomes depending on the country. In many cases, the protests ended in a civil war or a regime change. Even though the majority of the protests occurred in 2011, the effects are still very prevalent today. In the case of Syria, there is still a major civil war going on, with no signs of slowing down (“Syria’s Civil War”).

One of the first countries to experience the Arab Spring was Egypt. On June 6th, 2010, a man named Khaled Said was dragged from an internet café by Egyptian police and beaten to death in the street. It was alleged he had video of a police officer sharing drugs from a bust (Lim 241). This inspired the Facebook page “We are all Khaled Said.” This page gained attention and “quickly became the most popular dissident Facebook group in Egypt” (Lim 241). Eventually the page staged a large protest in Tahrir square on January 25th, 2011 (Lim 243). This protest would ultimately last for 18 days and ended with the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. It is unclear exactly how many people turned out for the protests, but some media estimates are near 1 million (“Protesters Flood Egypt Streets”); more conservative estimates place the number at around 250,000 ("Update on the Size of Protests in Cairo"). This organization of a mass protest shows just how powerful social media can be, especially in an oppressive setting such as pre-2011 Egypt.

In Libya, the Arab Spring started almost immediately after Mubarak resigned in Egypt. Similar to the protests in Egypt, Libyans were protesting Gaddafi because of the massive amounts of corruption present in his regime. However, unlike Mubarak, Gaddafi did not step down from power. The protests became increasingly violent to the point of a civil war. Inspired by the use of social media in the January 25th protests in Cairo, Facebook groups and Twitter users created a “Day of Rage” in Libya, which would be February 17th. In response, security forces fired live rounds into crowds of protesters, which was a major starting point for the civil war (Black). The explosion of social media happened overnight in Libya, and soon there were images and videos of the conflict appearing on news organizations around the world. In March 2011, the international community responded to the war with a no-fly zone and a bombing campaign by NATO. Social media played a part in that as well; NATO used information gathered from twitter to help create a picture of what was on the ground. They used this intelligence picture to designate targets for their airstrikes (Norton-Taylor).

Yet another Arab Spring movement happened in Syria. The protests there began in March 2011, and were demanding a release of political prisoners. The government responded by shooting several people, which in turn sparked more protests. By June, there was conflict happening on a scale similar to Libya’s civil war. By the end of the year, the situation had escalated to a full civil war, with large organization and firepower on both sides. (“Syria Profile”). An interesting development in the conflict is the use of social media. Many of the fighters on both sides are using social media like Facebook to document their experience in the war. A fascinating new report, by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, details the way Syrian freedom fighters use social media, and how social media is inspiring the fighters. By analyzing 190 profiles of freedom fighters in Syria, the report shows several things about the makeup of the opposition group. More than two-thirds of the fighters are affiliated through social media with Al-Nusrah or ISIS, which have connections with Al-Qaeda. Another interesting finding is that of the 190 fighters in the report, 65% followed an account called Shami Witness on twitter, indicating that there are a few central figures in the conflict that are trusted by many people (Carter). This type of inspiration is unique to the Syrian conflict, because it is truly the first large scale conflict that is taking place in this new age of social media.

The role of social media in the Arab Spring was significant. It is indisputable that Facebook and Twitter have influenced major events and in some cases, have brought down governments. The availability of real time information to anyone with internet access has truly changed the world. No longer are repressive governments kept in power because the people don’t realize there is hope. The Arab Spring is just the beginning of cultural and political revolutions that will occur in the future because of social media.

Works Cited

Carter, Joseph A., Shiraz Maher, and Peter R. Neumann. #Greenbirds: Measuring Importance and Influence in Syrian Foreign Fighter Networks. Rep. London: International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Lim, Merlyna. "Clicks, Cabs, and Coffee Houses: Social Media and Oppositional Movements in Egypt, 2004-2011." Journal of Communication (2012): 231-48. Print.

Norton-Taylor, Richard, and Nick Hopkins. "Libya Air Strikes: Nato Uses Twitter to Help Gather Targets." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 16 June 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

"Syria Profile." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Edwards, Jim. "Twitter Is Smaller Than Facebook Because Twitter Is For The Elite While Facebook Is For The Masses." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 04 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

"Protesters Flood Egypt Streets." Al Jazeera English. N.p., 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

"Syria's Civil War." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 03 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

"Update on the Size of Protests in Cairo." Stratfor. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Black, Ian. "Libya's Day of Rage Met by Bullets and Loyalists." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.