Facebook and Communicative Action: The Power of Social Media during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution Joel Bowerbank Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. in Communication Department of Communication Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Joel Bowerbank, Ottawa, Canada, 2013 Abstract Social media had an impactful role in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Facebook as a public sphere space was used as a powerful tool to enhance communicative action among Egyptians, dissidents, and global observers. Drawing on the philosophical and theoretical notions of individuality and the responsibilities of the state of John Locke (1689; 1690), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762); the public sphere and communicative action of Jürgen Habermas (1981; 1989); and Manuel Castells network society and new public sphere (2004; 2006; 2008), this thesis empirically investigates the role of social media, specifically Facebook, during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Theories and concepts including the strength of weak ties, social movement theory, and Internet and organizational theory, a discussion of recent writings from both sides of the spectrum— those believing social media to hold power and those with the opposite view—inform the theoretical foundation of this thesis. The primary purpose of this thesis is to better understand what power lies in Facebook as used during the Egyptian Revolution. Using a qualitative approach, a methodological frame is employed to examine both the form and content of Facebook posts. This study concludes three major findings regarding the social power of Facebook during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution: the power of attention and momentum, the power of cooperation, and the creation of a repository of information and communication. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my Family for supporting me, Robyn for always being there, and my supervisor Dr. Eid for providing expedious and helpful feedback and guidance. This thesis is dedicated to all those who lost their lives and suffered in the hopes of making the Arab World a better and freer place; not for themselves, but for those to come. My Father, Mother, and Step Mother have all been instrumental to my success; I could not have done this without their support. Finally, to all the good friends I made along the way that made this journey so pleasant: N. Jasmine, T. Corner, M. Stauffer, J. Triggs, A. Cruz-Santos, W. Mayar, R. Zaky, L. Paré, and J. Barnes for his copy editing skills. Without all of the above, I could not have come this far. I owe you all a debt of gratitude. iii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv Table of Figures .................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 7 Preamble ................................................................................................................. 7 Facebook and the Egyptian Youth ........................................................................ 10 Research Problem and Objectives ........................................................................ 12 Thesis Overview ................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................. 17 Liberalism and the Individual ............................................................................... 18 John Locke‘s Second Treatise ................................................................... 19 Rousseau and the Social Contract ............................................................. 21 The Public Sphere and Communicative Action .................................................... 23 The Public Sphere ..................................................................................... 23 Communicative Action ............................................................................. 27 Network Society and the New Public Sphere ....................................................... 30 Network Society ........................................................................................ 30 The New Public Sphere: Three Defining Characteristics ......................... 33 Strong Weak Ties ...................................................................................... 37 Social Movements, the Internet, and Organization ............................................... 41 Social Movements ..................................................................................... 41 Internet as a Communication Platform ..................................................... 43 Determinism .............................................................................................. 45 Coordinating Action / Networks ............................................................... 47 Power of Social Media? ............................................................................ 50 Social Media and the Arab Spring ........................................................................ 52 Chapter 3 Research Design and Methodology .................................................................. 57 Concepts and Conceptualizations ......................................................................... 59 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 69 Research Design .................................................................................................... 69 Data Collection and Analysis ................................................................................ 77 Method ...................................................................................................... 77 Sampling and Sampling Strategy .............................................................. 77 iv Data Analysis ............................................................................................ 80 Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis ...................................................................................... 85 The Use of Facebook during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution ................................ 85 General Trends and Patters ....................................................................... 85 Facebook Posts .......................................................................................... 89 Questions ....................................................................................... 90 Calls .............................................................................................. 91 Advice ........................................................................................... 93 Solidarity/Support ......................................................................... 95 Information ................................................................................... 96 Opinion ......................................................................................... 98 Outliers .......................................................................................... 99 Frivolous Communication ...................................................................... 100 Facebook as a Public Sphere ............................................................................... 101 Universal ................................................................................................. 101 Accessible ............................................................................................... 103 Rational Critical ...................................................................................... 107 Punctuated Diamonds ............................................................................. 109 Rough or Worthwhile? ............................................................................ 110 Discussion ........................................................................................................... 112 Chapter 5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 122 Significant Finding .............................................................................................. 122 Attention and Momentum ....................................................................... 123 Coordination ........................................................................................... 125 Repository ............................................................................................... 127 Implications and Limitations .............................................................................. 128 Thesis Summary .................................................................................................. 130 References ....................................................................................................................... 134 v Table of Figures Figure 1: Administrator and User Codes .........................................................................