The Power of Social Network Sites in the Egyptian Social and Political Revolution On January 25, 2011, a 26-year-old young woman in Egypt worried about the state of her country wrote on her Facebook: “People, I am going to Tahrir Square”. This short message was very soon to spread as snowball to an antigovernment movement to protest Egyptian President Hosin Mubarak. All of the protesters demanded an end to Mubarak’s more than 30-year rule. They wanted to change the regime, human rights, and freedom. The antigovernment movement that came to be known as the Jasmine Revolution was quickly catching global attention via bloggers, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube activists. The protesters against the government were getting reaction from the world. When the government was aware of the power of SNSs, starting to shut down the networks, and crash down on the demonstrators and journalists, the world images have already watched in horror on the street in Egypt. In a hurry, activists from around the world joined the democratic social and political revolution. Many western democratic governments issued strong statements against the Mubarak regime. Following the Egyptian social and political revolution, other North Africa and Middle East countries like Yemen, Libya, Algeria, etc., began to revolute. On February 11, 2011, Mubarak claimed that he stepped down from the Egyptian government. Before the revolution and in the midst of the revolution, the SNSs played a very significant role. It made people spread their information, propagandized their ideology, and organized people get together. Up to this time, while all of these functions of the SNSs are very suspicious by many observers, they do not believe that the SNSs could be facilitating revolution. There are, broadly speaking, the SNSs did not result in social revolution directly in Egypt; however, the power of SNSs, as catalyst, had a significant impact in facilitating, organizing and accelerating the revolutions and protests throughout in Egypt, and definitely has the potential to do so elsewhere. The important of the SNSs on the Egyptian social and political revolution is also worth analyzing from many perspectives: 1. Powerful SNSs: the effect of the SNSs on authoritarian regimes 2. The role of the SNSs in social and political mobilization 3. Social Network Sites Skepticism

Powerful SNSs: the effect of the SNSs on authoritarian regimes In Egypt, Mubarak’s authoritarian regime existed for 30 years. Shapiro (2009) states that the internet created a platform that allows individuals to send information to the outside world and communicate with each other under the authoritarian rule. This way was much more c...

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