Lee 1

Texas A&M University

The Role of Social Media In Tunisia and Egypt’s Uprisings

Resulting In A Power Shift

INTS 481
Hanna Lee
December 5, 2017
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Hanna Lee
Professor ​Karasipahi
INTS 481
5 December 2017
The Role of Social Media in Tunisia and Egypt’s Uprisings

Introduction

Social media is accessed internationally as creative entertainment, a source for gathering

information, and as an instrument for spreading ideas. “Social media is defined by Kaplan and

Haenlein as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and

technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User

Generated Content.” (Jameel) The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of social media in

both Tunisia and Egypt’s uprisings in order to reveal the importance and impact of social media,

in other words, the shift in power from authorities to the public. Through protests achieved by

social media, the traditional top to bottom power system has transformed into a bottom to top

system. The role of social media is important within Tunisia and Egypt’s uprising because it was

the means which allowed the popular opinion of the people to permeate, fostered national and

international unification by establishing a renewed national identity, and helped with the

communication and organization of gatherings. The government and leader of a country’s role is

to bring about economic, political, and social changes through the creation and implementation

of laws, but what must be done when a country’s government is corrupted and citizens are

unbearably unsatisfied? Could social media be the new means to vocalize, viralize, and impose

the need for change? This study uses statistical data, secondary sources such as news articles and

scholarly journals, and is supported by both qualitative and quantitative methods.

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Background

The uprising in Tunisia was triggered on December 17, 2010 when a produce vendor

named Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in the city of Sidi Bouzid to demonstrate his

frustration and to publicly protest the corruption of the government. This self-immolation

sparked public outrage and flourished into a nationwide protest which is now dubbed as the

Jasmine Revolution. According to Internet Live Stats, in 2010, as little as 36.8% of the Tunisian

population had access to the Internet. (InternetLiveStats) Yet, Bouazizi’s self-immolation was

posted on Youtube, went viral on Facebook, and kindled passionate conversations on Twitter. As

a result, President Ben Ali, the president of Tunisia, fled the country and was ousted. This

uprising that started in Tunisia caused a domino effect, causing an uproar in neighboring

countries which is now referred to as the Arab Spring. In about a month, the uproars reached

Egypt as many Egyptians used their voice to urge for changes within their own country. On

January 25, 2011, thousands gathered at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt to demand that President

Mubarak step down from presidency. According to Internet Live Stats, in 2011, merely 25.6% of

the Egyptian population had access to the internet. (InternetLiveStats) Although Egypt had an

even lower percentage of internet users compared to Tunisia, the internet exploded with harsh

opinions, anti-Mubarak hashtags and slogans, and was utilized as a communication tool between

citizens to rally up the country. Tkacheva stated that, “Penetration percentages, however, belie

the magnitude of the Internet’s impact in a country as populous as Egypt: Even the lowest

percentage figure of 20 percent equates of the Netherlands. Furthermore, experts assume that

reported access percentages under represent the actual number of users because a large number
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access the web through Internet cafes, libraries, Internet clubs where a single connection serves

multiple users.” (51) And by 2016, 48.1% of the population in Tunisia and 33% of the

population in Egypt have access to the internet. (InternetLiveStats) Thus, with the growing

percentage of Internet users and citizens demanding for change, the importance, influence, and

impact of social media will continue to intensify. Therefore, social media, in both the Tunisian

and Egyptian uprisings, is examined as three distinct, yet fundamental roles: the means for which

ideas could permeate, fostering national and international unification, and organizing and

coordinating gatherings.

Social Media Was The Means For Ideas To Permeate

Firstly, social media was essential for spreading information and ideas that rallied up

citizens, moved hearts, and brought hope to a vast number of people locally and internationally.

Bebawi and Bossio stated that, “What you probably noticed was that interested people took it

upon themselves to become individuals nodes of information, using the tools they had to serve as

their own news networks.” (22-23) Countless common citizens, living amongst high

unemployment, conspicuous corruption, and the intensifying economic crisis, used social media

to share their personal testimonies, their ideas for change, and their dreams for a renewed

lifestyle. Jamali pinpointed the reality of this sensation when he said, “In other words, the

traditional top-down management style is slowly shifting towards government by the bottom.”

(Jamali, 1) As social media gave a bigger voice to the public, greater power was given to the

public to challenge leaders. According to Aday, Farrell, Lynch, Sides, Freelon, social media

brought a nationwide awareness as “foreign audiences experienced the turmoil vicariously

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through real-time Twitter feeds or YouTube videos posted to Facebook pages.” (3) Therefore,

social media allowed ideas to permeate and reach a mass base within both the Egyptian and

Tunisian uprisings.

In Tunisia, social media allowed world wide sharing of information created by the public.

Although mass media and journalists did not cover the news on Mohammad Bouazizi’s

self-immolation and the Tunisian government made efforts to filter the internet, Tunisians took it

in their owns to spread the word through Twitter hashtags, popular culture, and the sharing of

WikiLeaks. According to statistics from TechCrunch, “Total tweets mentioning Tunisia

(including those using the #Tunisia hashtag) were over 196K. Total tweets for #sidibouzid (the

province where the protests started) were over 103K.” (Tsotsis) As Tunisian citizens posted

Twitter news and updates independently, the tragic event grew awareness. Yasmine Ryan from

Al Jazeera revealed that, “The hashtags on Twitter tell the tale of how the uprising went from

being local to national in scope: #bouazizi became #sidibouzid, then #tunisia.”(Al Jazeera) The

trending hashtags that brought awareness depicted the government’s lack of control and how

Tunisian protesters could not be suppressed. Additionally, “this was accompanied by protest

through the popular culture, notably the rap track “Rais Lebled”— performed by El Général and

circulated via YouTube—which achieved wide circulation due to its lyrics attacking the

government and its ready access by predominantly youthful protesters.” (Bunt, 86) This rap track

shared on YouTube rallied up citizens in Tunisia and galvanized many into taking action.

Furthermore, there was “the circulation...of the WikiLeaks documents that revealed Ben Ali's

corruption.” It consisted of “damning information and reports about the crimes and

excessiveness of the ruling family that were written by U.S. diplomats.”(Bishara, 90) Lowrance
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also revealed that a blogger in an interview also said that, “...every single Tunisian knew that the

regime is corrupt...we knew everything. But when you have it in public, written by the hand of

the U.S. Ambassador giving reports to Washington, and it make a whole difference.” (Lowrance,

168) The government and leader’s failure to control the spread of the leaks revealed the power

the Tunisian public held through their exchange of information on social media. Lastly,

according to Colin Delany from Huffington Post, “at this stage, the outside world began to play

more of a part. The Tunisian expat community was heavily wired...when in-country Tunisians

slept, the outside world took over the role of sharing information and persuading.”

(HuffingtonPost)​ ​Social media allowed information to spread not only throughout Tunisia but

also to the outside world. Overall, Twitter hashtags such as #sidibouzid, #bouazizi, and #tunisia,

the protest through a rap track, and the circulation of WikiLeaks documents, reveals the role of

social media in the Tunisian uprising, the government’s lack of control, and the common

people’s newly found power through social media.

Correspondingly, in Egypt, Twitter hashtags were fundamental in apprising the public

and international audience of current events, trending topics, and popular opinions through

Twitter hashtags and Facebook pages. “The most popular trending hashtags across the Arab

region in the first quarter were #egypt (with 1.4 million mentions in the tweets generated during

this period), #jan25 (with 1.2 million mentions)...and #protest (620,000).” (Bunt, 87) Twitter

brought an awareness to life-changing events and the injustices taking place in a way as never

before. Aday, Farrell, Lynch, Sides, and Freelon also pointed out that, “#Egypt was the most

used hashtag on Twitter for 2011, beating out such formidable contenders as #JustinBieber.” (4)

Another popular hashtag that supported the Egyptian uprising was #FreeAllaa, which arose as a
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protest to free Alaa Abd el Fattah, a blogger who was sentenced to five years in prison on

October 2014 for his dissent. Ultimately, the outcries of the public lead to his release, which

demonstrated the public’s power. (Bunt, 90) Along with Twitter hashtags, Facebook pages also

bolstered the Egyptian uprising by making amiss situations go viral. “Today, Egypt ranks 19th in

the world Facebook ranking, with 11.5 million users.” (Tkacheva, 48) Wael Ghonmin, a Middle

East executive for Google, created a facebook page named “We are all Khaled Said” in homage

to a 29-year old man who had been tortured to death by the police. ​“It became and remains the

biggest dissident Facebook page in Egypt...with more than 473,000 users, and it has helped

spread the word about the demonstrations in Egypt…The protests were effectively streamed to

regional and global audiences.” (Bunt, 86-87) This Facebook page not only reached many

Egyptians, but also spread to a global audience. Therefore, these popular hashtags, #egypt,

#jan25, and #FreeAllaa and the Facebook page, “We are all Khaled Said,” made a large impact

in the Egyptian uprisings, as relevant events permeated to a worldwide audience and challenged

the government and leaders for such injustice acts. ​Next, social media will be analyzed on how it

fostered national and international unification within both the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings.

Social Media Unified Citizens

Secondly, social media also unified citizens under powerful, widespread ideas that shook

the entire country. Regardless of religion, class, race, or gender, social media brought the country

together to take ownership of their collective identity. Bishara stated how, “we understood that

the revolutions would not have been possible without the active participation of a wide network

of mobilized labor, civil society organizations, opposition parties, neighborhood associations,

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those attending Friday prayers, soccer fans, tribes, extended families, and entire communities.”

(94) Both countries, Tunisia and Egypt, consisted of a multitude of people with a variety of

differences such the wealthy, the poor, Muslim, Christian, the young, the old, traditional, secular,

female, and male. Yet, social media allowed citizens to discover beyond their own lifestyles and

to a greater national identity, giving the people power through unity. Additionally, along with the

country’s unification, social media fostered an international unification between people all over

the world. ​Monshipouri, Whooley, and Ibrahim revealed that, ​“​Digital protest fundamentally

personalizes the struggle of our contemporaries across the globe and through our computer

screens...Facebook and Twitter carried empathy across state borders, transcended regions, and

created a larger community that human rights has become a part of.” (75) Therefore, s​ocial

media brought about an unifying community and power in both Tunisia and Egypt uprisings.

In Tunisia, the uprising may have been triggered with the demonstration of one man, yet

it was put into motion through the unifying of communities on social media, which gave power

to the public through the participation of countless people. All Tunisians always stood under the

same corrupt government, same economic and unemployment crises, and the same unfulfilling

promises of an ex-president, but it was through social media that they were unified under the

same dream of hope and renewal for their families, neighbors, and country. Bishara stated that,

“In no time, people of all types and age were awakened by the calls for change and encouraged

by the will of the youth to go all the way... protests straddled all strata of society, all ages; it was

a people's revolution.“(95) The youth, initially, had a large role in the uprisings, but age

differences were transpassed as all ages were called to join in. Likewise, women were also

brought into the national community as social media gave them a voice in the uprising.
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Monshipouri, Whooley, and Ibrahim reported that, “​Evidence suggests that the region's women

are especially active users of social networking, blogging, and other online activities, in part

because the keyboard doesn’t require them to cover their heads or be accompanied by a male

guardian.” (74) ​Lastly, along with unifying all ages and genders, social media unified the

international community as “the object of interest shared by such publics spans multiple national

or regional public spheres and crosses language, ethnic, religious, or similar identity boundaries.”

(Bebawi and Bossio, 35) ​And ​the relatable hardships, that connected differing people together,

were what empowered the public to rise against the leaders who stood above these struggles. To

summarize, throughout the Tunisian uprising, social media unified the public as it reached out

beyond age, gender, language, and boundaries. It called all citizens together,​ especially those

who were oppressed, at a disadvantage, and considered the lowest of the low.

Correspondingly, social media in Egypt also unified a diverse country under agreeable

ideas for change, a collective dream, and national identity. According to Simon Mainwaring

from Fast Company, “social media helped expand the ranks of Egyptians in Tahrir Square from

young, well-educated students to doctors, lawyers, judges, Christians, women and finally State

TV personnel.” Mainwaring continued to say that, “By allowing citizens from all professions to

align around shared values for the sake of their country’s future... Egyptians are now re-taking

ownership of their national identity, pride and country after thirty years of an oppressive

regime.” (Mainwaring) Even with the inevitable class divide, social media transpassed the divide

by calling out to all Egyptians through their once lost national identity. Along with the class

divide, social media also united the community despite Egypt’s religious diversity. Egypt is a

dominantly Islamic nation, yet it consists of the largest percentage of Christians in the Arab
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world. Bunt stated how as the incident of Khaled Said exploded, social media “formed initiatives

seeking to reconcile conflicts between Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt and calling for a

united Egyptian identity.” (87) In other words, the disclosure of the tragedy through social media

reconciled religious differences and brought Egyptians under a united identity. Additionally,

“Internet citizens were not judged according to gender, ethnicity, age, or class, but on individual

contributions, ability, and wit. (Bishara, 87) Thus, overall, social media unified Egyptians

regardless of professional diversity, economic-class division, and religious differences by

highlighting the need for the ownership of their national identity. Next, social media will be

analyzed on how it helped with the organization and communication of the Tunisian and

Egyptian uprisings.

Social Media Organized Protests

Lastly, along with being the means for ideas to permeate and fostering national

unification, social media also helped with the organization and communication of protests and

gatherings in the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. Through social media outlets, protesters took

their ideas, dreams, and passion out onto the streets and started a movement that was impossible

to go unnoticed. Monshipouri, Whooley, and Ibrahim emphasised that, ​“It is worth noting that

awareness alone does not lead to social change, but opening up a political space is essential to

such a transformation. The changing methods of social media and engagement provide a way to

connect people with real human rights problems.” (76)​ Social media allowed crucial information

to reach a numerous amount of people instantaneously, effectively, and anonymously. “People

were relying mainly on the social media to find out about public demonstrations, gatherings
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places and information about corrupt leaders.” (Jamali, 31) Social media’s help in organizing and

coordinating is manifested in Egypt and Tunisia’s uprisings.

In Tunisia, social media was a fundamental tool in strategically planning and

coordinating the gathering of people to demonstrate the power of the people on the streets. As

the time, date, and location of gatherings and protests were posted, social media allowed active,

like-minded citizens to easily access the information. Al Jazeera revealed that, “​No​tices like,

‘Demonstration at 4pm, meet in town centre,’ have become common features of social activism

on Facebook pages. New media have proven effective and swift in circulating information

among tens of thousands of protesters who are unable to use other means of communication to

access the public en mass.” (Al Jazeera) Moveover, Lowrance adequately described a specific

example of a successful demonstration held in Tunisia as he stated that,

They organized a symbolic protest only a few hours before the protest was to occur. They

called for people to walk on Habib Bourguiba Avenue (the main street in downtown

Tunis) wearing a white shirt on May 22 at 3pm. The act was a difficult one for the regime

to crack down on, as wearing white shirts is not illegal and it is impossible to tell which

individuals wearing white were doing so as an act of protest, and which simply chose a

white shirt to wear that day...These activities are important because they exploit

weaknesses in the authoritarian regime. (Lowrance, 169)

It was through social media that this symbolic protest of wearing white shirts onto the street of

Habib Bourguiba Avenue was able to be arranged. The success of this demonstration revealed

the public’s steady rise in control, while also revealing the government’s lack of power. Along

with organizing protests, social media helped in organizing humanitarian efforts during tough
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times. Colin Delany from Huffington Post also revealed that, “Here again, social media channels

gave people a way to organize themselves to protect their neighborhoods and stop the spread of

destabilizing rumors. Some gathered on Facebook to form teams to clean up streets and shops,

others organized to ration out food and bread.” (Delany) All in all, social media has proven to

have helped organize the Tunisian community as a whole, essentially bringing people together.

Likewise, Egypt mirrored Tunisia as protesters also utilized social media to organize and

coordinate life-changing demonstrations. Tkacherva stated that, ​“It has been well documented

that the original call for the January 25 protest was posted on Facebook and...used social media

to communicate with other like-minded, cyber-connected Egyptians.” (52) Each idea, hashtag,

and outcry on the Internet came to life through the gathering of thousands on January 25, which

was only achievable through the help of social media. Lowrance also pointed out a particular

example of a protest in Egypt, similar to Tunisia’s, when he stated that,

The administrators of the Facebook page, ‘We are all Khaled Said,’ promoted a “silent

stand” to protest police brutality....people would stand silently along the corniche, facing

the sea (in Alexandria) or the Nile (in Cairo), silently reading the Qur’an or Bible...Much

like the white shirt day in Tunisia, participants were asked to wear a black shirt so that

their numbers would stand out...Messages on the page stressed citizenship, responsibility,

and nonpartisanship, as well as encouragement and inspiration. (Lowrance, 170)

Once again, social media must be credited to have helped organize this empowering gathering of

Egyptians. Each protest, riot, and demonstration exemplified the power shift from the traditional

system to the power switch to the bottom. Bishara reveals another example of social media being

utilized for organization and communication as he stated that,

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Young Egyptians had prepared multi-phased plans and backups that anticipated the

security forces responses. For instance, they calculated how long and how far from a

police station they needed to demonstrate in order to avoid arrest; how to maneuver in a

way that would destabilize the security forces; how to secure multiple entries and exits;

and how to devise a division of labor that would ensure that requirements from first aid to

blankets were secure for the long January nights. All of that was to be coordinated and

implemented online and on modest street corners. (Bishara, 89)

Social media allowed once impossible and unattainable movements to take place through the

instantaneous outreaching and widespread accessible qualities social media has.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when analyzing both Tunisia and Egypt’s uprisings, social media has

proven to have three fundamental roles. First, social media was the means which allowed the

popular opinion of the people to permeate. Second, it fostered national and international

unification by establishing a renewed national identity. And last, it helped with the

communication and organization of gatherings, movements, and demonstrations. Essentially,

these three essential roles reveal that social media is extremely important especially reviewing

how the power had shifted from the traditional top to bottom power system to a now bottom to

top power system. Furthermore, the impact and presence of social media will continue to

intensify, through the ongoing uprisings, as Internet users continue to increase in Tunisia and

Egypt.
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