The Social Network

No, this blog is not about 2010s biggest movie or about its prospects at this year’s academy awards. It’s about a tool which has empowered people around the world. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (If I can categorize it into a social media) have changed the way people communicate, express their opinion and as per the latest trend…. start a new revolution! Mighty autocrats have fallen to their knees, governments have been ousted and the world has been forced to take notice. 

The inception of Facebook was on the premise of networking university students who share their personal bio, pictures, relationship status and college gossips. Now Facebook has more than 600 million active users of all ages- young and old who not only use this media for what it was created for but also for what we see in Tunisia and Egypt. Talking about Twitter, whose inception was to bring the mobile short messaging system onto the web, where multiple people can read(follow) messages and micro blogs posted by users. As per a recent survey- 40% of the messages on Twitter were found to be countless babble, 9% pass-along value and 4% news. But this 9% pass-along value messages have assembled thousands if not millions of angry and frustrated users on the streets of Tunisia and Egypt. 

By now people around the world following the news will be aware of why I have been specifically citing these two counties. In Tunisia, the pictures and videos of the ill treatments inflicted by the police were flashed on these social networking sites. The brutal images of Muhammad ibn Bouazizi self-immolation, an act of protest against the security forces in Tunisia resulted in igniting the suppressed frustration and anger of the people of Tunisia against their government and autocratic leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. This single act of protest spread like a wild fire on social media to gather steam amongst the people resulting in what is now called “The Jasmine Revolution”. Uploaded pictures and videos on Facebook and YouTube brought the ugly truth of the government on every laptop and desktop in every home and office. Tweets from twitter were used to spread messages and organize protests and rallies. In combination with these tools and street protests the people of Tunisia were able to successfully oust their autocratic ruler in January. This was slated as the first successful contemporary revolution in any Arabic nation. 

What the world saw in Tunisia, was expected to spread like a contagious disease in the neighboring Arabic countries. And within weeks another strong republic, Egypt had thousands of people on the streets demanding the resignation of the incumbent president- Hosni Mubarak. There are striking similarities in the process in which these protests were organized- no surprise – Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Apart from galvanizing support for these protests, social networks have been utilized to request medical support to injured protesters, inform family out the country about their well being, release information and news which are restricted by the state run media in the country etc.  With a motive to control the anger and unity which was engulfed the country through these medium, the Egyptian government ordered for the shutdown of the internet. Thus acknowledging the power and influence of these 21^st century accessible and convenient medium. 

These social networking sites have surprisingly had a 66% success rate of driving a revolution to its goal from the decade they came to existence. But one should not forget Iran, where the concept of using social media to protest and galvanize support was first initiated., in spite of its failure. The question remains, are we witnessing an era where there is a shift from violent and bloodshed revolutions to a more quiet, bloodless and a socially networked revolution!!