Arab Spring: How has Facebook changed the world? Documentary Notes

Task One
Quotes on Tunisia

• The first country which the Arab Spring occurred in December 2010
• "The internet revolution has tipped the balance of power"
• The incident started with a citizen called Mohammed who was treated harshly by the Tunisia police force. He was stamped and spitted on. Thus, Mohammed made a complain to the Town Hall, however the government Ben Ali did listen to him. As a result, Mohammed burnt himself alive infront of the Town Hall which began a conflict amongst the Tunisia citizens against the regime.
• Ben Ali was a dictator as he did not listen to his citizens, thus society was a police state which made citizens furious that there was no democracy.
• Mobile phones was a toll to show what was happening in Tunisia. This is because, press was censored and therefore citizens would capture footage on their phones to show the outside world that Tunisia has become corrupted.
• Activist Slim Amamou stated that "were are not animals so why are we being ignored". He was frustrated that citizens could not speak freely in their own countries. 
• More than 5 years individuals shared their feelings and messages on to blogs about their hatred towards their dictators.
• 25% of homes had broadband
• 90% of individuals had mobile phones. However, if citizens were caught using one they would be tortured by the police force.
• 2 million Facebook users (25%) which highlights a high lever of penetration.
• The footage of protests went viral and was picked up the Tunisia news channel Al Jazeera. As a result, this led to copy cat demonstration in other countries.
• The union was on the side of the government but the activists overcome this by jacking the union website and telling people they are going to protest.
• Warnings on the routes the policies was taking on the day of the protest was announced on Twitter.
• Live mobile streaming was available to make sure people saw what was happening. Thus, this generated an unstoppable force which led to a downfall in hierarchy.
• Ben Ali conducted his own public relation campaign revealing that there would be more democracy. However, this was a fail as he promoted it through traditional media which is no longer effective.
• On the 14th July Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia. He was ruling for 24 years.
• On the 15th July there was a fall in the regime - it took 28 days for Tunisia to become more democratic, thus highlighting the impact of new/digital media.

Task Two

Would the revolution in Tunisia happen without Facebook?

It can be argued that the revolution in Tunisia would not of happened without  Facebook as that was the source to generate awareness of the corruption occurring in the society. The government Ben Ali was a dictator and censored the press and therefore people was unaware if there was conflict between citizens or the police force. Thus, this establishes the under the regime of Ben Ali Tunisia was not a democratic society as citizens did not have the opportunity to express their views, instead they had to conform to the government orders. However, the social networking site Facebook gave citizens the opportunity to challenge the power of the heirachy by posting up messages and forming an activist group. Notably citizens were able to capture the footage of protests or incidents and publically post on to the Facebook, allowing people across the world to view it. Thus, this generated an unstoppable awareness which led more people to challenge the power of the regime and this led to copycat demonstrations in other countries associated with the Arab Spring. As a result, this highlights the concept of user-generated content which gathered millions of Tunisian's to protest against the regime in order to fulfill their goal by having a democratic society and being treated equally. According to a Pluralist perspective, the revolution of new/digital media illustrates that individuals are no longer passive users of media texts, instead they are challenging or rejecting the hegemonic values of society. This refers to the Arab Spring as citizens are actively challenging Ben Ali values and distribution their own media products (citizen journalism) to provide an awareness of the corruption taking place in their country  Ultimately, the illustrates the impact new/digital media has on the Arab Spring as social media gave activists the opportunity to protest against the dominate ideologies of Ben Ali which shifted the balance of power. 

Task 3

Quotes which support the argument for/against

Against

• A study conducted by Juergen Pfeffer and Kathleen Carley at Carnegie Mellon University found that, “the pattern of spread of the revolutions was not related to the pattern of social media usage. In other words, the social media did not cause the revolutions". http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/10/debate-flares-over-impact-of-social-media-on-arab-spring-and-other-revolutions/

For

• In Phillip Howard book 'Democracy's Forth Wave" him and colleagues stated that digital media was "consistently one of the most important sufficient and necessary conditions" for the Arab Spring movements. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=57426

• Phillip Howard revealed that new media has made a difference as it "has so fundamentally changed the way people think about their options." http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=57426