The success of demands for political change in Egypt and Tunisia led individuals in other countries to pick up the conversation. “In other words,” Howard said, “people throughout the region were drawn into an extended conversation about social uprising. In Tunisia after Ben Alis resignation, there were about 2,200 tweets a day. In the two weeks after Mubaraks resignation, there was an average of 2,400 tweets a day from people in neighboring countries about the political situation in Egypt. In the case of both Tunisias and Egypts revolutions, discussion spanned borders. Subsequently, the primary topic for Tunisian blogs was “revolution” until a public rally of at least 100,000 people eventually forced the old regimes remaining leaders to relinquish power. 14), up from just 5 percent the month before. Twenty percent of blogs were evaluating Ben Alis leadership the day he resigned from office (Jan. In Tunisia, conversations about liberty, democracy and revolution on blogs and on Twitter often immediately preceded mass protests. Political discussion in blogs presaged the turn of popular opinion in both Tunisia and Egypt. The Project on Information Technology and Political Islam assembled data about blogging in Tunisia one month prior to the crisis in that country, and had special data on the link structure of Egyptian political parties one month prior to the crisis there. The research is unusual because the team located data about technology use and political opinion from before the revolutions. In Tunisia, for example, less than 20 percent of the population uses social media, but almost everyone has access to a mobile phone.ĭata for the UW project came directly from immense digital archives the team built over the course of several months. Twitter provides a window into the broader world of digital conversations, many of which probably involved cell phones to send text, pictures or voice messages, he said. “Twitter offers us the clearest evidence of where individuals engaging in democratic conversations were located during the revolutions,” Howard said. The amount of content produced online by opposition groups, in Facebook and political blogs, increased dramatically. Videos featuring protest and political commentary went viral – the top 23 videos received nearly 5.5 million views. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom.”ĭuring the week before Egyptian president Hosni Mubaraks resignation, for example, the total rate of tweets from Egypt - and around the world - about political change in that country ballooned from 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day. “People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. “Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising,” said Philip Howard, the project lead and an associate professor in communication at the University of Washington. Conversations about revolution often preceded major events, and social media has carried inspiring stories of protest across international borders. Hussein ElkhafaifiĪfter analyzing more than 3 million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts, a new study finds that social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the Arab Spring. A rebel waves a Libyan flag while standing atop a tank gun.
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