Today social media has been widely used as a powerful tool to bring social, economic, cultural and political change in many parts of the world (Cruz, 2011). As new technology and politic become more interlaced, many activists has started using this new online tool to make their voices heard to the world for political reform.
An article 'How Social Media Is Keeping the Egyptian Revolution Alive' showed how social media, citizen journalism and crowdsourcing have kept the Egyptian revolution to succeed in removing the President Hosni Mubarak in power despite the army effects to remove social networking sites and block the Internet access.
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| (Source from: cyg-x-1.deviantart) |
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| (Source: mideast. foreignpolicy) |
According to Habermas, the normative notion of the public sphere are developed as part of social life where citizens can discuss and exchange views on important issues such as political matters in order to form public opinion and achieve common good (Thornton, 1996). Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have contributed to the success of the Egyptian revolution as it allowed activists to plan campaigns against the army and authorities. It is clear that the social media plays a role in the democracy process within the participation of public sphere.
Besides, citizen journalism has been a growing phenomenon that allows the masses to post and share pictures or articles about politics and current event globally in minutes, keeping the government transparent. As a result, Twitter has worked in the Egypt society to reveal the wrongdoings of their government. This can be called a form of crowdsourcing, which is ‘a way to harness collective intelligence for journalism, as readers’ donations accumulates into judgments about the issues that need to be covered’ (Aitamurto, 2011, p. 429).
In conclusion, social media has been taking over the role of conventional media in delivering news and messages to wider audiences. The dispute in Egypt has displayed the strength of Twitter and Facebook for both informing and organizing people. Blogging and citizen journalism for social justice has brought in online activists to strive for freedom and democracy in the Egyptian Revolution. Indeed, social media make it possible to find out what was going on in Egypt to its citizens and other part of the world.
References
Aitamurto, T 2010, The Impact Of Crowdfunding on journalism,online, viewed 14 November 2011, < http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/09/how-social-media-is-keeping-the-egyptian-revolution-alive256.html>.
Aitamurto, T 2011, ‘The Impact of Crowdfunding on Journalism’, Journalism Practice, vol. 5, no 4, pp. 429-445.
Cruz, T 2011, Notes on social media and political change, viewed 14 November 2011,
Cruz, T 2011, Notes on social media and political change, viewed 14 November 2011,
Thornton, A. 1996, Does Internet create democracy, viewed 14 November 2011, <http://www.zipworld.com.au/~athornto/thesis2.htm>.
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