The Arab Spring in Egypt: the Role of Social Media

Social media platforms are tools, which are not just utilized for entertainment,but also serve as a multiple purposed tool in other areas,including politics. Egyptians have utilized these tools to communicate, coordinate, and bring about mass protests, since 2010.Social media sites have turned into a public space for various groups to undertake online political activism.They also bring like-minded people together to communicate reciprocal issues and interests.The new media platform possesses several features which can be applied in socio-political communication.Drawing on the theoretical concepts of the public sphere and communicative action of Habermas, along with the new public sphere and network society by M.Castells,this work examines the role of social network platforms, specifically Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flicker, and even Mobile Phone during the Arab Spring in Egypt.The social media has been utilized as a real public sphere for most of Egyptians. The two main arguments on the role of electronic media are firstly,to consider the digital media as a cause of the Arab Spring, while the other sees these tools as a vehicle to communicate with,organize,and mobilize the public.