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Zeid Abdul-Hadi

Vice Chairman, HarCapital

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To what extent has social media contributed to the spreading of the People's revolutions and call for Freedom in Tunisia & Egypt?

The past month has seen unprecedented events in history in the Middle East that hasn't been possible to achieve in 30 years, and this is partly due to the rise of the internet and the new means of communication at the disposal of people, and in particular social media, such as Twitter & Facebook, which has allowed people to rally for a common cause in large numbers in a way that would've been impossible before. In addition, the rise of the use of the internet and social media has enabled people to see everything clearly and to know about everything from different media sources, so no government can fool its people anymore.

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  • Mark Meijer 100+

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    HostAssociate
    Feb 11 2011: Excellent topic. I think this effect of the internet is much broader than what formally constitutes social media, and what formally constitutes people's revolutions. Europe has also been somewhat tumultuous in terms of governmental instability, including (from the top of my head, don't quote me on this) The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, France, Italy, and even the EU itself. A larger unrest seems to be brewing on all continents, and I'm quite sure this has something to do with the internet, helping to connect people and shaking them out of their torpor.

    Vlad Fiscutean mentioned in a comment here the unreliability of social media being harmful. I'd like to mention the unreliability of all media. And what I think is harmful is not the media, but the propensity of people to soak it all up uncritically. In this sense, a very important lesson can be learned from the failures of media, including social media, and they could even be used to actively educate people about it. And actually, that too is already happening. I think this is very exciting indeed.
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      Vlad Fiscutean 500+

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      TED AttendeeTEDx OrganizerAssociate
      Feb 16 2011: I agree. Traditional media has editors. Social media has none. This can be a very great thing but it can turn into a harmfull one. People at least in some countries look at social media as more reliable. It could be the case in some countries but it's not the rule. I believe that It's easyer to fool 10 regular people then 10 old editors. It's clear that we need to have both as complementary.
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        Jeffrey Allen

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        Feb 20 2011: Perhaps one of the positives of social media becoming a global information source is that people generally recognize each YouTube video, blog post, or tweet for what it is -- one person's unverified, raw experience.

        Conversely, while much mainstream media has degenerated in recent years into little more than one person's unsubstantiated raw opinions (with the tacit support of the companies producing the media), the regular people consuming those tv shows and web articles often don't recognize them for what they've become.

        Social media may sometimes be a wolf and sometimes a sheep, but at least it's not dressed up in the other's clothing.
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      Zeid Abdul-Hadi 500+

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      TED AttendeeTEDx OrganizerAssociate
      Feb 22 2011: The events that are unfolding in LIbya over the last few days with complete media blackout and hardly any internet access for LIbyans with the outside world demonstrates that although socia media and the Internet can bring many groups together under one cause and can expose many truths which could otherwise be hidden, have proven that the power of oppressed masses to rally together united for freedom of tyranny far exceeds the power of the Internet and social media. The events in Libya hardly had any exposure on the Internet and social media compared to events Tunisia and Egypt.

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