Social media will play a much bigger role in the coming year. We have seen how it help Arab Spring gain momentum and spread.
After analyzing more than three million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts, a new study has concluded that the Arab Spring truly was fueled by social media.
"Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising,” says Philip Howard, an associate professor in communication at the University of Washington.
"People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom."
During the week before Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, for example, the total rate of tweets about political change in Egypt ballooned ten-fold.
And videos featuring protest and political commentary went viral, with the top 23 receiving nearly five and a half million views. The amount of content produced online by opposition groups, in Facebook and political blogs, increased dramatically.
As for Egypt, in the two weeks after Mubarak’s resignation, there was an average of 2,400 tweets a day from people in neighboring countries about the political situation in Egypt. In Tunisia after Ben Ali’s resignation, there were about 2,200 tweets a day.
Watch an interesting video clip here, Social Media = Power to the People ?
During the last US presidential election, the use of social media in political campaigns was revolutionized. The Obama campaign gathered followers through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Today, all candidates have learned the organizing power of social media. However, a “Like” on Facebook, a YouTube view or a re-blog on Tumblr may not directly affect the ballot box. Each campaign must answer an important question: How do we turn a digital following into real-world volunteers?
Enjoy these posters designed by Aaron Wood.
After analyzing more than three million tweets, gigabytes of YouTube content and thousands of blog posts, a new study has concluded that the Arab Spring truly was fueled by social media.
"Our evidence suggests that social media carried a cascade of messages about freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East, and helped raise expectations for the success of political uprising,” says Philip Howard, an associate professor in communication at the University of Washington.
"People who shared interest in democracy built extensive social networks and organized political action. Social media became a critical part of the toolkit for greater freedom."
During the week before Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, for example, the total rate of tweets about political change in Egypt ballooned ten-fold.
And videos featuring protest and political commentary went viral, with the top 23 receiving nearly five and a half million views. The amount of content produced online by opposition groups, in Facebook and political blogs, increased dramatically.
As for Egypt, in the two weeks after Mubarak’s resignation, there was an average of 2,400 tweets a day from people in neighboring countries about the political situation in Egypt. In Tunisia after Ben Ali’s resignation, there were about 2,200 tweets a day.
Watch an interesting video clip here, Social Media = Power to the People ?
During the last US presidential election, the use of social media in political campaigns was revolutionized. The Obama campaign gathered followers through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Today, all candidates have learned the organizing power of social media. However, a “Like” on Facebook, a YouTube view or a re-blog on Tumblr may not directly affect the ballot box. Each campaign must answer an important question: How do we turn a digital following into real-world volunteers?
Enjoy these posters designed by Aaron Wood.
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