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. On January 25, 2011, Egyptians took to the streets in
Cairo, Alexandria, and some other places in the so called Day of Revolt, concentrating their
grievances on legal and political matters. Rather than a typical small protest, the Day of Revolt
exploded into a monumental moment in Egypt's history because of social media. Social media
did not cause Egypt's revolution; however, it accelerated the movement. Viral videos, such as
Asmaa Mahfouz's, and the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia created a surge of emotion in
Egyptians, persuading them to protest.
Egyptian protestors used Facebook and Twitter to get people out on the streets within the
country and YouTube to let the world know what was happening. By using tools that the regime
underestimated, activists were able to spread hope, not only to Egyptians, but also worldwide,
encouraging other repressed populations to attempt something similar in their countries.
Because of the protests, President Mubarak stepped down and turned his power over to the
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces; however, at the time of publication, protests continue in
an effort to speed the process of what many Egyptians see as extinguishing the last remnants
of the old regime. Without social media allowing Egyptians to communicate with the outside
world, the government would have been able to quickly suppress the protests.
Role of Social Media in the Revolution
Philip Howard (2011) quoted an activist in Cairo as saying, "We use Facebook to schedule the
protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world." This statement sums up the
use of social media in the protest. Newsweek.com offers a collection of videos that are posted
chronologically:
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/28/youtube-captures-scenes-from-egypt-protests.html.
Newsweek calls it the Facebook Revolt; in fact, it could also be called the Twitter Revolution, the
first of its kind. However, not everyone agrees with the Facebook Revolution concept. Malcom
Gladwell believes that the influence of social media is limited, and the revolutions would have
happened anyway: "I mean, in cases where there are no tools of communication, people still get
together. So I don't see that as being… in looking at history, I don't see the absence of efficient
tools of communication as being a limiting factor on the ability of people to socially organize"
(Ingram, 2011).