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The Impact and Role of Social Media Networks on Arab Spring: Egyptian Revolution Case Study

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The Impact and Role of Social Media Networks on Arab Spring: Egyptian Revolution Case Study The Impact and Role of Social Media Networks on Arab Spring: Egyptian Revolution Case Study. Bc. Ahmed Fihaili Master thesis 2012/2013 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 2 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 3 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 4 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 5 Abstract: While in most countries, Social Media Networks (SMN) are used for leisure and business, there are places where those platforms have become tools for mass mobilization and pro- tests organization. Countries throughout the Arab world varied in their usage of social me- dia networks (SMN), but learned from watching others on how to use it effectively to en- gage the outside world and to broadcast the human rights abuses committed by their re- spective regimes. Social unrest began in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly spread to countries across the Middle East and North Africa, most noticeably in Egypt, Tunis and Syria. In several of these countries, protests evolved into revolutions resulting in the over- throw of autocratic governments. These events, now known as the Arab Spring, have sig- nificantly changed MENA region, and in particular in Egypt as its resulted into the restruc- turing of the Egyptian regime The aim of this study is carried out based on two research themes: studying the impact and role of social media networks (SMN) in the Egyptian “Revolution” of 2011 according to activists and experts, and studying the role of social media sites from the viewpoint of Al- Jazeera and CNN news channels. For this aim, in the study, the researcher will use both qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The qualitative research data will consist of ten in-depth interviews with Egyptian activists and experts who were actively participating in the Egyptian Uprising, and studying briefly cases studies from other Arab Spring countries such as Tunisia, Jor- dan, Syria and Morocco. The quantitative research data was gathered with the aid of con- tent analysis of news articles, from the respective news websites. Content analysis of news articles demonstrated that CNN news website gave more importance to the role of social media tools in Egyptian Uprising especially to Facebook. The articles in CNN highlighted the role of social media in a positive tone. Al-Jazeera’s articles revealed a more neutral tone when talking about social media sites, when they did mention the importance of the social media sites it was mostly the blogs by Egyptian activists. Egyptian activists and esperts interviews support that social networking sites have a very important role in the Egyptian revolution to motivating the protesters and organising demonstrations, but there are many reasons that prompted the Egyptians to protest such as poverty and injustice. Key words: Arab Spring, Egypt Revolution, Uprising, Facebook, Social Media Networks TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 6 DECLRATION I hereby declare that the print version of my Master's thesis The Impact and Role of Social Media Networks on Arab Spring: Egyptian Revolution Case Study, and the electronic ver- sion of my thesis deposited in the IS/STAG system are identical. AHMED FIHAILI In Zlin, 12th April, 2013 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all people who have helped and inspired me to write this thesis. I dedicate this thesis to… All martyrs of Arab Spring Uprisings. …My dear parents, for their love, endless support and encouragement. and… …My brothers, for being a great source of motivation and inspiration. and… …My supervisor, Dr. Peter Starchon for his guidance and support throughout this study, and especially for his confidence in me. and… …Dr. Olga Jurášková, for being so supportive. To all my friends, thank you for your understanding and encouragement in my many, many moments of crisis. Your friendship makes my life a won- derful experience. I cannot list all the names here, but you are always on my mind. I would like to thank those who agreed to be interviewed, for, without your time and cooperation, this project would not have been possible. Finally, I would be remiss without mentioning Bandara Wanninayake, Pepa Kocourek, and Milan Hnátek, whose endless support will be remembered al- ways. This thesis is only a beginning of my journey. To each of the above, I extend my deepest appreciation. TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 8 "They may crush the flowers, but they can't stop the Spring." Alexander Dubcek, Prague Spring 1968 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 9 Table of Content INTRODUCTION 14 1.1 The Arab uprising 17 1.2 The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 18 1.3 Justification for the research 21 1.4 Hypotheses 24 CHAPTER 2 25 THEORETICAL PART 2.1 Social Movements and Organization Theory 27 2.2 Theories of Mass Communication 30 CHAPTER 3 33 LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Definitions and key terms in Social Media 34 3.1.1 Web 2.0 34 3.1.2 Social Media 34 3.1.2 Facebook Revolution 34 3.2 Basic Forums of Social Media 35 3.3 Definition of Social Networks Sites 37 3.4 Advantages of Social Networks Sites 38 3.5 Concepts of Social Networks Sites 39 3.6 History of Social Networking Sites 40 3.6.1 Classmates 43 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 10 3.6.2 SixDegrees 43 3.6.3 Live Journal 43 3.6.4 Ryze 44 3.6.5 Friendster 44 3.6.6 My Space 45 3.6.7 Blog 46 3.6.8 Twitter 47 3.6.8.1 The Number of Followers 48 3.6.8.2 Twitter Usage in Egypt 48 3.6.9 YouTube 48 3.6.9.1 The Number of Followers 49 3.6.9.2 YouTube Usage in Egypt 49 3.6.10 Facebook 49 3.6.10.1 The Number of Followers 52 3.6.10.2 Facebook Usage in Egypt 52 3.7 Growth of social network Sites 53 3.8 Social Networking Sites user statistics 54 3.9 Social Media Addiction 58 3.10 Impact of using social media as a tool for marketing communication 59 3.11 Social Media and the Nonviolent Revolution 60 3.1 Definitions and key terms in Social Media 61 3.12 Social Networking Sites and Political Participation 61 3.14 Role of Social Networking Sites in protesting 62 3.15.1 Introduction 63 3.15.2 Digital Revolutions 2.0 Worldwide 66 3.15.3 Kony 2012 70 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 11 3.15.4 Occupy Wall Street 71 3.15.5 Iran Uprising 72 3.15.6 African Uprising 74 3.15.7 Yemeni Uprising 75 3.16 Arguments for and against the Social Media Tools in Politics 75 3.17 Social Networks Sites Hacking 77 CHAPTER 4 79 METHODOLOGICAL PART 4.1 Research questions 80 4.2 Research Design 82 4.3 Pilot 83 4.4 Case rationale and objectives 83 4.5 The Data Collection of the Interviews 84 CHAPTER 5 88 QUALITATIVE FINDINGS 5.1 The case of Egyptian Revolution 2011 89 5.1.1 Reasons for the Uprising 90 5.1.2 Concept of Citizen Journalism Online Protester 91 5.1.3 The Egyptian Revolution 92 5.1.3.1 Before the Revolution 92 5.1.3.2 Timeline of the Revolution 93 5.1.4 Contributions of Social Media in the Revolution 95 5.1.4.1 Accessibility 95 5.1.4.2 Credibility 97 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 12 5.1.4.3 Instantaneous Updated Information Sharing 97 5.1.4.4 Multi-Dimensional Media 97 5.1.5 Advantages of the #Jan25 and “We Are Khaled Said”in the Revolution 98 5.2 Arab Spring Case studies 102 5.2.1 Tunisia 103 5.2.1.1 Tunisia's Twitter Revolution 105 5.2.2 Jordan 110 5.2.3 Syria 111 5.2.4 Morocco 113 5.3 Social Media in the Arab Spring 114 5.4 Conclusion 116 CHAPTER 6 118 QUANTITAVIE FINDINGS 6.1 Analysis of Al-Jazeera articles 120 6.1.1 The beginning of the Egyptian Revolution Coverage 120 6.1.2 Political Coverage of the Revolution 121 6.1.3 Social Coverage of the Revolution 121 6.2 Analysis of CNN articles 123 6.2.1 Political Coverage of the Revolution 124 6.2.2 Social Coverage of the Revolution 125 6.2.3 Sharing “Chaos” 126 6.3 Conclusion 126 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 13 CHAPTER 7 129 PROJECT PART 7.1 Politics 2.0: Use of social Media in Political Marketing 130 CHAPTER 8 138 DISCUSSION 8.1 Impact of Social Networks Sites usage by Activists and Bloggers 139 8.2 The role of traditional media inside and outside Egypt in the Egyptian Revo. 143 8.3 Conclusion 146 CHAPTER 9 148 CONCLUSION 9.1 Recommendations for the “Next stop for the Arab Spring” 152 REFERENCES 155 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 170 LIST OF FIGURES 171 LIST OF TABLES 172 APPENDICES 173 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Multimedia Communications 14 Introduction “We use Facebook to schedule protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world” Unknown activist from Cairo The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has always been a volatile region, with multi- ple conflicts and disturbances just in the last ten years. The Arab world has once again been shaken to its core by a series of revolutions and popular uprisings beginning in De- cember 2010. This time, however, there is a “new” component to these movements: social media networks (SMN).
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