The meteoric rise of Twitter and Facebook not only helped create a sub-genre of communication and user interactivity which reshaped the way news organisations planned coverage, but social networking also became the weapon of choice in the war of words between dictatorships and dissenters.
The story does not end there, however.
By publishing online and dissenting in 140 characters or less, activists in the Middle East and North Africa are not only challenging dominant state institutions, but they are using powerful social networks to foster a new sense of community and citizenship.
This is likely to grow in the next decade as more in the Middle East log on and create new means of social interaction and mobility.
Jillian C. York, the Director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says one sign of strength is the ability of transnational networks to come together through the work of participants and volunteers.
She cites the recent Arabloggers meeting - a conference which brings bloggers and digital activists together to discuss transitional democracy and transparency - as an example.
“Though the first conference was organised by [Netherlands-based Tunisian blogger] Sami Ben Gharbia (almost on his own), the two later ones were greatly enhanced by the participants of each [by] suggesting other people they knew online,” she says. “There are numerous other wonderful examples: Syrian activist communities on Facebook; Palestinian and Tibetan diaspora networks; the Moroccan atheist community.”
Most social media experts now find that global networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn help identify a trend of group content aggregation and virtual gathering places for ideologies and people.
“It's an unrestricted meeting place of sorts for ideas that would normally be exchanged in violation of that country's emergency law,” says Ahmed Fahad, a consultant on social media and the former editor at TheNextWeb.com.
The possibilities social networks can bring are most evident, indeed heart-warming, when content sharing leads to physical and humanitarian action among groups of people.
“Jordanian Nakhweh.com or Egyptian Kherna.com both provide a platform that promote volunteerism and social cohesion through collaborative initiatives that include - instead of seclude - in both countries,” says Fahad. “What you'll notice in the latter is the hyper-local approach they take in this process. They bring it closer to home than global networks, and provide an extra layer of trust”
Nervana Mahmoud, an Egyptian political blogger, says that social media’s main benefit is its capacity to raise awareness of multiple issues.
“Frankly, Twitter spreads the news well before many news channels, including Al Jazeera. That in itself is a major achievement and a big credit to social media,” she says.
How social media facilitated humanitarian aid in Tahrir Square
The recent clashes in Tahrir Square and Mohammed Mahmoud Street in Cairo are a case in point.
While watching live broadcasts of dozens of wounded being evacuated from Tahrir Square, Ahmed Abulhassan, an Egyptian living in the United Arab Emirates, felt there was a need to coordinate medical assistance and delivery of supplies.
As he monitored appeals for help tweeted from Tahrir, and retweeted around the world, Abulhassan started @TahrirSupplies, an account and hash tag in an effort to consolidate communication online and organise volunteer efforts to help the injured in the square.
Abulhassan credits the collective effort of Egyptians coming together, united in a single cause.
Volunteers used were able to then track down nearby field hospitals so that they could communicate with others at home who were eager to donate food, medical supplies and other necessities.
“The purpose of the initiative was to save lives, it was purely a humanitarian cause, nothing political,” he said.
This community effort established through social media was boosted when Wadeeny, a car pooling service which advertises shared rides on Twitter, pitched in to transport medical supplies to Tahrir Square.
By the time the violence in Tahrir Square had subsided, some 16,000 people had followed the account and logged on to the TahrirSupplies website which was emblazoned with the words “From the world to Tahrir. While politics and borders divide, humanity unites us”.
Dalia Hamed, the managing editor of ComStratEg, a media consulting firm, believes that the TahrirSupplies experiment provided “a magnificent example of how social media can function at its best.”
Social media in Egypt, she says, is now playing a significant role in bringing communities together.
“These virtual interactions are no different than real life. They can go beyond sharing information; social networks are now being used to connect with peers, with those who share interests, hobbies, political views and not just locally, but also worldwide.”
Providing a platform and protecting citizens
Perhaps that is what motivated Salma Hegab, a journalism and mass communication student at the American University in Cairo, to move the social interaction from the screen and onto the streets.
She co-founded Tweet Share3, described as “an initiative by the people on Twitter with no political affiliation to take their activism out on the street and raise awareness of the people.”
Hegab started with her family, who she recalls were against the revolution, moving on to discussion with taxi drivers, and she shared ideas with waiters in cafes.
"We need to get out of the bubble that we created for ourselves," she says.
In early October, members of the initiative volunteered to speak about the revolution and raise political awareness among residents of Ezbet Khayrallah, an under-privileged district in Cairo that still does not have electricity or running water.
Tweet Share3 administrators ensured that all their volunteers would not campaign on behalf of any specific candidate or party.
"People agreed on political awareness and not campaigning and that is what we are trying to follow, by keeping a record of videos, visits and photos to make sure everything is under control," Hegab said in an interview with her university student newspaper.
There have been other initiatives that pre-dated the January 25 uprising.
Harassmap.com launched in October 2010 in a bid to use social media to combat increased incidents of sexual harassment. Women who are verbally abused, sexually harassed, touched, groped or victims of indecent exposure send an SMS or report transgressions on the website.
“Harassmap.com brought together all those concerned with harassment in Egypt on one platform to fight this social sickness regardless of which part of the Egyptian community they're from,” says Fahad.
More than entertainment, social media became the news
But social media also started to play a role in television programming.. Earlier this year, an independent news parody show which played exclusively on YouTube was picked up by ON TV, a network owned by business tycoon, Naguib Sawiris.
The B+ Show hosted by Bassem Youssef has become a runaway hit with some making comparisons to Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.
However, beyond the entertainment bridge between social media and television broadcasters, networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube proved instrumental in providing a parallel of news coverage to traditional media.
This proved to be a turning point during the 18 days of the Egyptian uprising. Social media networks offered a different, often contradictory, report of the protests, violence and police brutality thereby directly challenged state media coverage.
This was repeated during the late November Mohammed Mahmoud clashes. Amateur video, coupled with live Tweeting, was picked up by television networks such as Al Hayat, ON TV, Tahrir TV, CBC and Dream 2 and broadcast to shocked audiences who heard and viewed the violence.
A number of media pundits believe that social media can be positively incorporated in traditional news reporting and coverage.
“Social media has become a vital part of the news coverage, especially for small organisations such as ours where we don’t have the kind of manpower to have our reporters covering everything that is happening,” says Rania Al Malky, editor-in-chief of The Daily News Egypt.
She says that through social media, news organisations are able to use hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook “screening” the streets, passing along tips and information of what is happening, and offering different sides to the stories.
“Social media has worked its way into our daily routine, the planning process and news cycle because of its immediacy,” she said.
“We take a look at what people are talking about on Twitter, what has caught their attention and created discussion.”
Al Malky cautions, however, that vigorous fact-checking should be applied to information gathered via social networks.
Firas Al-Atraqchi is an associate professor of practice at the Journalism Department at the American University in Cairo.
