8/3/2019 The Role of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) in the January 25th Revolution of Egypt ... Dr. Essam Mansour ... SLIS,

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The Role of Social Networking Sites (SNSs)in the January 25 th Revolution of Egypt

In Tunisia and Egypt, we have witnessed a new genre of revolution whose distinguishing feature lies in its organizationby networks and particularly in social networks, which played an important informational and organizational role.

Allagui and Kuebler, (2011).

Library Review2012, Vol: 61, Iss.: 2

Dr. Essam Mansour*Assistant professor

dr.essamman@yahoo.com

The Department of Library & Information ScienceThe Faculty of Arts, South Valley University (Qena, Egypt)

Keywords:Social Networking Sites, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Youtube, Internet, Web2 Egypt, theEgyptian Revolution, Arab World, Focus groups.

AbstractThe purpose of this research is to highlight the important role played by Social NetworkingSites (SNSs) in the January 25 th Revolution of Egypt, and how they worked in unison todeliver the voice of the Egyptian protesters to the whole world. This research is based onmaterial from two focus groups with individuals who participated in the January 25 th Revolution of Egypt regarding how they perceive the potential role of SNSs in this revolution.

Nineteen individuals aged between -20-40+ were interviewed in depth on their SNSs use and perception about their role played in this revolution. Questions relating to demographiccharacteristics, use and role of SNSs were asked. Regarding the findings of this study, thedemographic characteristics showed that the users of SNSs in the Egyptian revolution weremore likely to be male, younger than 30 years old and educated. University professorsfollowed by engineers, lawyers, teachers and students were the most professions using SNSsin this revolution with a monthly income of more than E.P 1300 ($220). Participants weremore likely also to not be new users of SNSs, where more than have of them had been usingthem for about two years, and the highest use of these networks among them was between 1-3hours a day, and almost two-third of them was logging to SNSs at least several times a day.The study showed also that most participants had from 101-150 friends. To communicatewith friends and to keep in contact with existing friends were the most very significantreasons why participants spend time on SNSs. Almost all participants confirmed that the roleof SNSs in the Egyptian revolution was very significant to them. They indicated also thatSNSs, especially Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, and Twitter respectively, have played a major

role in connecting demonstrators and coordinating their efforts against the regime. All participants indicated that they highly used SNSs in the Egyptian revolution as being vital platforms for mobilizing. They indicated also that they used some other networks, such asFillker and Hi5, but not much as the other four networks at which they had at least one

profile, and some of them have more than one. The key value of this research lies in exploringnew use and role for SNSs in the political and social change taking the Egyptian revolution asa real and unique example!

P h. D in Library & Information Science, the University of P ittsburgh ( P A, USA). MLIS in the same major, the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (WI, USA). B A in Library & Information Science, Cairo University (Egypt).