There has been a common thread in the recent political upheaval in Tunisia and Egypt: Social media has played a role in both influencing the protests and reporting on them.
"Social media is key to the revolution taking place in North Africa, and this may actually be the first time a government leader has lost power because of social media," said Darrell West, the vice president for governance studies at the Brookings Institution, referring to the ousting of former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
However, social media isn't strictly a tool for those with a gripe with their government. Governments themselves have shown a willingness to use websites like Twitter for their own means in the wake of unrest, according to James Carafano, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
"In the Iranian election protests of 2009, government people would put their own information on Twitter, sometimes disinformation to try and confuse people, saying this person is a government informant and things like that," Carafano said.
Government controls on social media have not been foolproof. In Egypt, CNN's Ben Wedeman said, young people are very internet savvy and have found ways to get around government blocks.
Social media at the front line in Egypt
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Urgent: The internet is down in Egypt now.
Does this mean that you support this creep Mubarak? I sincerely hope not!!!
I don't believe that the social media played as big of a roll as some people claim. The same thing happened in France in 1789 when there was no such thing.
The two witnesses from revelation chapter 11 are here. Meet the last days witness today please call 800 613 9494 or log onto http://www.Yahweh.com or log onto http://www.Facebook.com/wefoundthem
Who is Mubarak? What Cesar are you???
Are trying to make me look like a complete fool? Of course,anybody with a high school education knows who Hosni Mubarak is!!!
Uh...social unrest is a completly different thing than social media. Thought you might understand that the Guillotine is a whole different animal than Twitter and Facebook. You are, after all, the Majorityofone.
hey witness guy : puh-leees e already !
@raven:
He's just playing Spamalot, and eventually CNN catches up. Similar to the celeb411 spammies that show up a lot. They ARE annoying as all h3ll, though, aren't they?
@Cesar 10:04, you are a fool, fool.
Banasay..... Sorry i must disagree withyour statement about the majorityofone. I believe you shoul have stated majorityofnone..Thank You....... Hey Cesar, you were a litle hard on the Cesar last night.
Sorry....should* have stated.....Where is my coffee?