The power of Internet Social Networks

The world has witnessed many changes in this month. The value of the dollar is going down, while the prices of oil and food are going up. In nations where the economy is stagnant, that means life just got a little tougher on them. People in Haiti and Egypt went out to the streets to voice their agony to their governments.

But, I find the Egyptian protest more interesting. This strike , which became a full blown protest was not just an out burst of agony, but a preplanned event. Egypt is a nation where as more than half of the population is in poverty. Egypt is nation in which doctors with 20 years of experience earn $80 per month. Which means the textile factory workers earn much less. April 6^th was supposed to be a strike against the law wages and the high food costs. But instead the strike has turned into a huge protests, where more than 200 people were arrested. These include those on the street and those who got the word out to mobilize the people to be a part of the strike. This includes bloggers, and social Internet groups’ administrators on sites like Facebook. One of those arrested was Ersa Fattah. Her Facebook group attracted more than 64,000 Facebook members.

Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube are changing the way we communicate and mobilize people to create social change, voice their opinion, or just simply hang out with friends. Even though computers are unfordable by most people; they are widely available to people though out the world at schools, universities, or Internet cafes. That is why youth around the world are using these social networks and other as well to get the word out. Even though not all Egyptian youth own computers, they are able to communicate with each other though voice (Skypecasts), words (email, blogs, Facebook, MySpace), images (flicker, YouTube). Before the April 6^th strike, there was an on line campaign though emails, blog postings, Facebook groups, and videos on YouTube. The result family and friends of the youth heard about the strike. The result was panic by the government, which lead to massive arrests of more than 200 people.

Esra Fattah was doing what she thought her right. She was simply speaking her mind, then before she knew 64,000 people joined her group. As a result, as she sat in the Internet café, she was arrested. After her mother pleaded to the government, the government released her. But that is not the case of others who were arrested for the same reason, of speaking their minds.

I just have the below video as an example. As you can see the video uses pictures that show unity amount the Egyptian people. It is not a call for violence, but a peaceful strike to stay at home and not buying anything for the day, to say that the low wages and the high cost of living is too much to bare. But as you can see in the other video the intended peaceful strike became a full fledged protest and civil disobedience.

I am not writing this to make you afraid from speaking what is on your mind and calling the people to act. The point is, social network groups on the Internet are very powerful, if you aim your call to the right crowd with the right message. Not to mention social online networking can also save your life. Twitter helped to sav e James Karl Buck’s life. He texted to Twitter “arrested” by Egyptian Police. Soon those who follow his Twitter page contacted the US Embassy for release. The next day he was released. But his Egyptian translator is still in jail, so he is currently on a hunger strike until he his Translator Mohamed is released. You can check on the updates your self if you go to his page.

Also, even though the strike did not go as planned, Egyptians are not discouraged. They are planning for another strike on the president Mubark’s birthday on May 4th. A new Facebook group is up and currently has over 21,000 members calling Egyptians to stay at home again. They hope the strike will be more effective.

Already, the president Mubarak said yesterday that the salary of the government workers will be increased by 30% this month. That proves my point, that your voice can be heard, if you are loud enough. At least that is what the government has said through its newspapers like Al-Ahram.

I am just curious to know if you are a member of any social networks. What kind of activities are taking place online did you notice that call for social change? what are they trying to change? Did they succeed in anyway?

~ by practical4ever on May 1, 2008.