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The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution

The wide spread of social media allows undisciplined groups to share and communicate quickly at a reduced cost so that they can easily form collective actions. Thus, electronic revolutions begin worldwide as all people for the first time in history are politically conscious and interactive. This stu...

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Main Author: Allam, Mai Nabil
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2012
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access_status_str Open Access
author Allam, Mai Nabil
author_browse Allam, Mai Nabil
author_facet Allam, Mai Nabil
author_sort Allam, Mai Nabil
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.
description The wide spread of social media allows undisciplined groups to share and communicate quickly at a reduced cost so that they can easily form collective actions. Thus, electronic revolutions begin worldwide as all people for the first time in history are politically conscious and interactive. This study examines the role of social media in the Arab uprising with the Egyptian revolution as a case study. This primary research linked both the uses and gratification theory to the new usage of social media and the spiral of silence theory to people confidence in forming collective actions. A survey was conducted among a purposive sample of Egyptians (353 participants) to examine role of social networking websites in the Egyptian revolution and relationship between using these websites and political participation. An in depth interviews were conducted with nine media experts and political activists regarding role that social networking websites played in the Egyptian revolution. The findings support the spiral of silence theory whereby people are encouraged to go to the street and demonstrate when they know through the social networking websites that they hold the majority opinions and that most of the Egyptians are against Mubarak's regime. Experts opinions support the survey findings that social networking websites have a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution in motivating the protesters and facilitating communication but there are many causes that pushed Egyptians to demonstrate such as poverty, oppression, and corruption. Without the protesters' blood and persistence, the revolution would have never succeed.
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2009 The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution Allam, Mai Nabil The wide spread of social media allows undisciplined groups to share and communicate quickly at a reduced cost so that they can easily form collective actions. Thus, electronic revolutions begin worldwide as all people for the first time in history are politically conscious and interactive. This study examines the role of social media in the Arab uprising with the Egyptian revolution as a case study. This primary research linked both the uses and gratification theory to the new usage of social media and the spiral of silence theory to people confidence in forming collective actions. A survey was conducted among a purposive sample of Egyptians (353 participants) to examine role of social networking websites in the Egyptian revolution and relationship between using these websites and political participation. An in depth interviews were conducted with nine media experts and political activists regarding role that social networking websites played in the Egyptian revolution. The findings support the spiral of silence theory whereby people are encouraged to go to the street and demonstrate when they know through the social networking websites that they hold the majority opinions and that most of the Egyptians are against Mubarak's regime. Experts opinions support the survey findings that social networking websites have a crucial role in the Egyptian revolution in motivating the protesters and facilitating communication but there are many causes that pushed Egyptians to demonstrate such as poverty, oppression, and corruption. Without the protesters' blood and persistence, the revolution would have never succeed. 2012-06-01T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1010 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2009/viewcontent/Thesis_final_draft.pdf The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Revolutions Egypt
spellingShingle Revolutions
Egypt
Allam, Mai Nabil
The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution
title The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution
title_full The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution
title_fullStr The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution
title_full_unstemmed The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution
title_short The role and impact of social media on Arab networks on Arab Spring: a case study on the Egyptian Revolution
title_sort role and impact of social media on arab networks on arab spring a case study on the egyptian revolution
topic Revolutions
Egypt
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1010
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2009/viewcontent/Thesis_final_draft.pdf
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