The Role Of Social In The Arab Spring MLA Paper

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The Role of Social in the Arab Spring

The Arab Spring was like no other revolution in recent history. Revolutions occur

spontaneously following a key event that acts as a trigger to an upheaval that leads to mass

outpouring of pent up anger. What made the revolution unique was how it spread across many

nation states under different regimes. Observers can draw parallels with the revolution that

occurred in the Soviet Union leading to the fall of the United Socialist Soviet States (USSR),

towards the end of the 1980s. However, it is instructive to note that the socialist states were

under one rule. Another unique feature of the Arab Spring was the extensive use of social media

to disseminate, mobilize, and draw the attention of the world towards the actions of the nation-

states and the citizenry. So much was the use of social media that some commentators refer to

the revolution as the Twitter/Facebook revolution. This draws attention to the importance of

social media in these revolutions. Evidently, social media played a central role in the success of

the Arab Spring.

Social media played several important roles in ensuring the success of the revolution.

Ironically, the trigger to the revolution was an event outside the realm of social media, the self-

self-immolation of Mohammed Bouzizi in Tunisia, on December 17, 2014 in protest of the

dictatorial rule in the country. Howard et al. in their working paper for Project on Information

Technology and Political Islam reveal that events that followed this act utilized social media

extensively. For instance, images of Bouzizi aflame went viral across the region and the world

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and drew the attention of the citizenry to the injustices of the regime. Consequently, citizens took

to Facebook and Twitter to vent and express solidarity. Within no time, this generated synergy

that powered the revolution in Tunisia leading to the eventual ouster of then Tunisian dictator,

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali by mid-January, in 2011 (14-16).

Apart from mobilizing support, the social media played a critical role in sharing

information and organizing street protests. As Wolfsfeld, Segev, and Sheafer point out, protesters

had to move out of their homes and computers and go out to the streets for the revolution to

occur. Information is therefore of paramount importance to this treacherous enterprise where

state agents apply all manner of tricks to sabotage the efforts of the citizenry. The reader should

bear in mind the repressive nature of governments in the region, and the extent to which they

went to control the situation via disinformation using the traditional mass media. Social media

provided a trustworthy source of information through citizen journalism. Benkirane, who

authored a policy paper for the Geneva Center for Security Policy, concurs with Wolfsfeld et al.,

adding that live coverage of events on social media accelerated local social reactions by

synchronizing different levels and intensities of uprisings and permitting the global audience to

participate albeit passively in the revolution (2-3).

One reason why social media was so critical was because it was out of reach of the

authorities. Most governments in the region maintained minimal presence on social media,

instead preferring to spend their resources on tradition print and broadcast media. Though

governments in the region were repressive, they did not notice the looming threat that social

media posed. This was because majority of the people using social media sites were individuals

in the younger age group. Traditionally, they took little interest in politics (Canton 12-18). Use of

social media prior to the revolution mainly revolved around social interaction among friends and

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family. The uprising changed the dynamics completely. As one proverb posits, necessity is the

mother of invention.

With the coming of the revolution, there was need to come up with ways to share

information, mobilize people, and organize protests without government censorship. Social

media provided a perfect platform to achieve those goals. Citizens suddenly realized they could

go round the censorship, and repression of the freedom of expression in ways they had only

dreamt. Before the governments could react with the usual clamp down, the situation was out of

control. In response to the growing importance of social media usage, governments quickly

joined the fray in attempting to use social media to roll back the advances made by the

organizers of the revolution. However, even this was too little, too late (Comninos 6-10).

Not all commentators agree that social media was central to the success of the Arab

Spring. Eaton, writing for the Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, suggests that

the role played by social media may have been overblown. The author argues that the traditional

mass media also played an important role in the revolution. Once the protest picked up,

broadcasters and news publishers became emboldened and began disseminating information

about the revolution (6-15). Central to this claim was the role played by Al Jazeera, the

international broadcaster, based in Qatar. The station became the most credible source of news

regarding the revolution as its impartiality helped it earn the trust of the protest organizers;

hence, it got inside and reliable information about events during the revolution (Moussa 34-37).

Another related issue is the reliability of social media as a source of news and

information. Storck, in her master’s dissertation, on The Role of Social Media in Political

Mobilization, argues that during times of revolutions, there is an influx of information, as players

on either side compete to influence, disinform, spread propaganda, and disseminate useful

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information. Social media users have little motivation and capacity to verify news they are

spreading. The ensuing mesh of truths, half-truths, and lies creates confusion and uncertainty.

The entrance of traditional mass media into the fray was therefore a welcome break since

audiences at home and abroad at least knew they could depend on the information from

traditional mass media (Safranek 4-7).

Eaton, Moussa, and Safranek raise important issues regarding the role played by social

media during the uprising. Could the role of social media have been overblown at the expense of

the traditional mass media? As earlier noted, it is important to note that for a long time, the

authorities had censored and used the traditional media to achieve their totalitarian objectives.

The people had therefore grown to distrust the traditional media. Even after the media joined the

fray, the people still viewed the institution of media with suspicion. It is also important, to note

that the revolutions required real time updates and coverage. Though the traditional media,

including international media houses like CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera covered the events, they

could not provide real time updates to the people on the ground. There are two reasons for this.

First, media houses have to verify their stories from several sources, which take time. Secondly,

television sets are largely non-portable and most people had to wait until they got home to see

the news. In contrast, a big proportion of the citizenry could receive and make social media

updates on the move in real time using their handsets.

Other commentators disagree completely with the claim that social media played an

important role in the Arab Spring. Aday et al. in their article “New Media and Conflict after the

Arab Spring,” provide the strongest repudiation, arguing that social media played marginal to no

role in the uprising. In their dissension, they argue that that for instance in Egypt, top members of

the Muslim Brotherhood, which took charge of the revolution, were not active on social media.

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Additionally, the event that catalyzed the revolutions was outside the domain of social

media. As such, the authors argue that people could still have participated in the protests even

without social media because as demonstrated by the trigger event, the citizenry was fed up with

the regime. Once people got out to the streets and the squares, they held out until the end.

Importantly, the authors note that the Egyptian government halted all internet services and short

messaging services on January 28, 2011 in a bid to abate the upswell of the revolt. A fortnight

later, Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian dictator caved in to pressure and resigned. The most

important phase of the revolution happened without the internet. The closure of internet services

appears to have rejuvenated the revolt indeed (8-10).

This is an intriguing dissention. It is however important to understand the role of social

media in light of the actions of the Egyptian government. The closure of all internet services by

the government was official admission that the regime recognized social media as central to the

revolution. The regime saw an internet shut down as an effective way to turn the tide in its favor.

When the government shut down internet services, the people responded with anger and

indignation. By this time, enough synergy had been created to drive the revolution to its end.

The events of late 2010 and 2011in the Middle East and North Africa startled the

international community. The use of what was hitherto considered a tool of social interaction to

achieve monumental political change was also unforeseen. Though communication experts had

long theorized about such possibilities, little in way of real live usage of social media to achieve

change was forthcoming. The Arab Spring changed all that. Social medial was a key plank of the

revolution with the citizenry turning to social media due to censorship in the traditional media.

Social media was important in dissemination of information, organizing the protests, and

mobilizing support. Though some commentators argue that the role of social media could have

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been overblown, the actions of the regimes prove otherwise. With the traditional media

handicapped in sharing information, citizens turned to the only source of information they had;

social media. Doubtlessly, social media played an important role in the success of the revolution

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Works cited

Aday, Sean, Henry Farrell, Marc Lynch, John Sides, and Deen Freelon. New Media and Conflict

after the Arab Spring. United States Institutes of Peace. 2012. PDF File.

Benkirane, Reda. The Alchemy of Revolution: The Role of Social Networks and New Media in

the Arab Spring. Policy Paper 2012/7, Geneva Center for Security Policy. 2012. PDF

File.

Canton, Philip. Social Media and the Arab Spring: An Analysis of the Strategic Geopolitical

Impact and the Implications for the Future. Strategic Intelligence Practice, Institute for

Global Futures. 2011. PDF File.

Comninos, Alex. Twitter revolutions and cyber crackdown User-generated content and social

networking in the Arab spring and beyond. Association for Progressive Communications.

2011. PDF File.

Eaton, Tim. Internet Activism and the Egyptian Uprisings: Transforming Online: Dissent into the

Offline World. Westminster Papers In Communication and Culture 9.2 (2013): 3-25.

PDF File

Howard, Phillip, Aiden Duffy, Deen Freelon, Muzammil Hussain, Will Mari, and Marwa

Mazaid. Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab

Spring? Project on Information Technology and Political Islam. Working paper. 2011.

PDF File

Moussa, Mohamed. From Arab Street to Social Movements: Re-theorizing Collective Action and

the Role of Social Media in the Arab Spring. Westminster Papers In Communication and

Culture 9.2 (2013): 25-47. PDF File.

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Safranek, Rita. The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change. ProQuest

Discovery Guides. 2012. PDF File.

Storck, Madeline. The Role of Social Media in Political Mobilisation: a Case Study of the

January 2011 Egyptian Uprising. Dissertation for the Degree of M.A. (Honors with

International Relations), University of St Andrews, Scotland. 2011. PDF File

Wolfsfeld, Gadi, Elad Segev, and Tamir Sheafer. Social Media and the Arab Spring: Politics

Comes First. The International Journal of Press/Politics 18.2 (2013): 115–137. PDF File.

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