Social media fuels an Arab revolution

Egypt is still experiencing a large protest over the thirty-year reign of President Muhammad Mubarak. The protests have gained worldwide attention and grown increasingly violent and unstable.

Attempts have been made to shut down the uprising, using everything from rubber bullets to tear gas, and eventually resorting to live ammunition. This resulted in some fatalities, and consequently, intensifed the riot.

The situation became extreme, and the Egyptian government, shut off the Internet and mobile services for the entire country.

Considering the important role that the Internet plays in getting footage out, this may have be a wise move. But there are other reasons for the Internet shutdown besides a few Youtube videos. All the information being leaked caused the government to panic.

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook were used to rally the protesters and gained attention from the media. A Facebook page plotting the protest had 80,000 fans, and Twitter posts from various protesters flooded the website.

Facebook and Twitter are known for connecting a world simply, easily and freely. These two sites allow people worldwide to keep in touch and share stories.The social media giants also present the lives of its users uncensored.

Twitter is important as a collection of the random thoughts and blurbs of millions of people. And by keeping things simple, approximately 140 characters, their thoughts are straight to the point.

These tools have fueled the revolution by making communication between the protesters easy. The rest of the world was also kept in the loop by these technological means.

The Egyptian government did its best to oppress the rights of the people by isolating them from the world. But, such actions only strengthened Egyptians’ will to fight for what they believe in.

Some may abuse the powers of social media, but in the hands of the right people — or in this case, angry protesters — regular people can become a force to be reckoned with. The riots are a testament to this.

Whether or not they achieve what they want, they will go down in history. Not only for lasting so long under such an overwhelming opposition, but also for being one of the first protests to harness the power of social connection over the Internet.