The power of the proverbial pen: The importance of social media during the Arab Spring.

摘要

The wave of rebellions and protests that rocked the Arab World throughout late 2010 into 2011 changed the nature of this region due in large part to platforms of social media. These platforms served as a symbolic turning point in the 21st century's innovative way to coordinate and mobilize grassroots movements. The central question—and the problem to be examined in this thesis, is: Was social media an important and instrumental tool used to orchestrate the rise and spread of independent rebellions across the Middle East, communicate messages, and share logistics on mass organizing, that ultimately led to the downfall of several regimes, or was social media an overstated mechanism with no real-change value, but only a strong bond between an identical disenfranchised demographic, united solely by their connection of living under ruthless dictators that fueled the uprisings? The method of research found within this thesis is in large part an analysis of firsthand accounts of those on the ground within the region, that is, the real participants acting as warriors via opportunities facilitated solely through social media. The methodology for validating social media's importance is the application of theories associated with human communication and natural behavior; and an assessment of participation in breadth of numbers, social media activity, and internet penetration throughout the region. These findings will solidify that social media was indeed the enabler, catalyst, and facilitator in bringing down autocratic regimes; and reigning in a future representative of individual rights, liberties, and personal freedoms. The Arab World has undergone seismic changes due in part to the advent of social media and its applicability to everyday life. The transparency it provides allows for a flood of open source knowledge and integration of information; changing the nature of how governments respond to their citizens, and the ways in which citizens respond to their governments, forever altering the political landscape of this region.