How the Facebook Arabic Page “We Are All Khaled Said” Helped Promote the Egyptian Revolution

Abstract

This study analyzes how the owner of the Facebook Arabic page “We Are All Khaled Said” both catalyzed and took advantage of opportunities in the Egyptian political climate in order to help promote the country’s 2011 revolution. Using a content analysis of posts on the Facebook page before and throughout the Egyptian revolution, the case study finds that the owner of the page, Wael Ghonim, served as a long-term trainer or coach, educating his online followers about the abuses of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime and helping them gradually become more comfortable with political activism, so that when a triggering event—the Tunisian revolution—occurred, he was able to move his followers into the streets to protest. Two other particularly successful tactics were utilized by Ghonim: He capitalized on a powerful personal story—that of a young man brutally killed by the police—in order to elicit emotion and help others identify with the cause, and he used lofty rhetoric to convince his followers that their actions could actually make a difference. The case study disproves Gladwell’s (2010) claim that social media is a platform for shallow and networked interactions, finding both that the grievances and ideas shared on this page were remarkably substantive and that the movement was not a network but rather a hierarchy, led by Ghonim until his imprisonment. The study suggests that social media is a more powerful platform for promoting political change than previously appreciated and offers important lessons for political activists.

Social Media, Networked Protest, and the March for Science

“…Researchers could also conduct in-depth interviews and participant observation to develop more nuanced understandings of how and why participants in networked protests use a range of social media and other communication channels before, during, and after networked protest events (see, for example, Costanza-Chock, 2014; Gawerc, 2015;Murthy, 2018;Rohlinger & Bunnage, 2015. Relatedly, researchers could conduct textual and content analyses of social media pages, groups, and hashtags to analyze the ways in which individuals participate in different social media sites as part of their online and offline engagement for different purposes and at different points in time (see, for example, Alaimo, 2015;Carney, 2016;Cowart et al, 2016). Finally, researchers could use the results here as starting points for exploring similarities and differences in social media uses and effects across multiple networked protests (e.g., Tufekci, 2017).…”

“…By highlighting the central role that social media have played in fueling networked protests, Tufekci (2017) counters the argument made by some scholars and activists that online political action tends to encourage "slacktivism" (Gladwell, 2010;Morozov, 2009)-i.e., quick, easy forms of "microactivism" (Schuster, 2013) such as signing online petitions, making online donations, writing posts, and sharing articles-while doing little to facilitate substantive change. Whereas some skeptics of online activism tend to privilege face-to-face activism as being more effective and valuable (see, for example, Gladwell, 2010;Schuster, 2013), Tufekci emphasizes not only the significant role that online actions can play in facilitating social and political change but also the ways in which online and offline actions often intertwine (see also Alaimo, 2015;Costanza-Chock, 2014;Gerbaudo, 2012;Murthy, 2018). At the same time, Tufekci acknowledges one of the key challenges facing social media-driven networked protests: that of sustaining action beyond the initial protest.…”

Watchdogs in the Social Network: A Polarized Perception?

“…between "How the Facebook Arabic Page 'We Are All Khaled Said' Helped Promote the Egyptian Revolution" (Alaimo, 2015) and "Data Critique and Analytical Opportunities for Very Large Facebook Pages: Lessons Learned from Exploring 'We are all Khaled Said'" (Rieder et al, 2015) is revealing. As the latter paper warns, "For many projects studying online activity, in particular those following a classic waterfall-type research protocol where the inquiry starts with a precise research question and methods are designed in accordance, data collection through APIs will thus not be a workable option, or at least not without additional data gathered through other means such as questionnaires.…”

Rethinking the circuit of culture: How participatory culture has transformed cross-cultural communication

“…Jenkins (2009) defines participatory culture as "a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one's creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices" (p.3). As a part of this culture, participants act no longer as consumers, but actively contribute to and create content (prosumers) (Alaimo, 2015;H. Jenkins, 2006).…”