Awareness of Social Media-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: Examine a social awareness or social/political campaign that began on social media and whether it made it to mainstream news outlets or not. Why did it gain popularity on mainstream channels? Or why not? Answer: Egyptian Revolution The Egyptian Revolution commenced on social media to opposed the police brutality following the cruel death of Khaled Said at the hands of police officers. Khalid was merely 28 years and a computer engineering student. He was beaten to death by police officers who entered an internet caf, supposedly for uploading a video on the internet. The revolution was successful as it managed to topple President Hosni Mubarak (Osman, 2012). However, it never gained popularity in the mainstream media. This is because both state and private media fought the social media. The revolution failed to make it to the authoritarian mainstream news outlets. The state was controlling the mainstream media in their best interest. Social Media and Speaking against Governments Social media played a central role in the Egyptian January 25th revolution by providing a new avenue for critical views expression, challenging established media organization, and organizing people against the government. The commonplaceness of how the protest begins was swiftly made known to individual crossways Egypt and the globe at large via media and also via networking of social media. This was a tangible influence on Twitter and Facebook, instead of organizational role. It allowed them stress that revolution and demonstration were done by conventional folks, elucidating the course. For example, Asma Mahfouz posted a video on Facebook seven days ahead of the 25th January protest. She urged people to participate in the 25th demonstration. This video went viral while its strongest aspect was that Asma was never afraid to showcase her face and even identify herself. The courage of Asmas act as she spoke out with force despite being a woman, motivated several others to begin posting their pictures online. Many joined the uprising merely because of these posts on social media. Social media was also useful during the 25th January that coincided with Egypts National Police Day. Massive protests exploded in Suez. Cairo, and Alexandrias streets because of social media mobilization. The primary rationale for the protests was the unwarranted police force brutality, notably, in Khaleds case. Protesters requested for the resignation of Police Minister, fair minimum wage re-establishment, emergency law abolishment, alongside mandating limitations for President (Wedemen, 2010). Social media was valid because protesters planned the first protest of January 25th via online communication, especially We Are All Khaled Facebook page and Twitter accounts. The primary aim of these posts was to surge the protesters' number as numbers in the cities as much as feasible, particularly, mobilizing citizens on more impoverished regions deprived of internet and PC and bar police cordons (Nunns, Idle Soueif, 2011). The police officers stood aware of the planned protests, but only anticipated less number of demonstrators as occurred in previous demonstrations six years ago. Nevertheless, the police officers were stunned after seeing a large number of activists gathered in Tahiri Square (El-Bendary, 2013). This scenario shows the influence of social media and internet use in Egypt resulting in extensive digital connectivity. Social Media and Passing Messages The social media has empowered everyday people to get their message across and write perceived wrongs. In Egypt, social networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter stood as the primary actors in the provision of communication between the activists and protesters. Both social medias role alongside use in Egyptian Revolution has gained a considerate amount of interest globally (Osman, 2013). It enabled the conveyance of main motive that triggered the enormous Egyptian outrage then which was mainly the brutality of police thereby leading to Khaled Said. The video showed police officers sharing the drugs they had seized. Social media was used to have the photo of Khaleds body in mortuary snapped by his brother using a cellphone go viral on social media causing a considerable uproar in public opinion. According to HRW, the picture circulated on the internet, showcased a splintered skull, broken nose, displaced jaw, alongside many other signs of trauma (Castells, 2009). It was at this point that the outrage and shock of Khaleds cruel death triggered the establishment of We Are All Khaled Said, Facebook page to convey the messages to the public (Bbc.co.uk, 2011). This page became dominant in the future demonstrations organization in the year 2011. Such a page instantly congregated more than four-sixty thousand users that blew out around internet. The Khaleds image of mutilated body alongside YouTube video that contrasted Khaleds healthy life images. We Are All Khaled Said established an event on Facebook the date the then Tunisian president, Albidines administration was overthrown. It declared revolution in Egypt. About five-hundred thousand members stood invited in Facebook only, to the January 25 demonstration, and would hint attendance by clicking No, Yes or Maybe. References Bbc.co.uk, (2011).BBC World Service - Programmes - Egypt: "We are all Khaled Said". Castells, M. (2009).Communication power. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. El-Bendary, M. (2013).The Egyptian Revolution. Nunns, A., Idle, N. Soueif, A. (2011).Tweets from Tahrir. New York: OR Books. Osman, T. (2012).The Fall of Hosni Mubarak. [Online] Aucegypt.edu. Osman, T. (2013).from Nasser to the Muslim Brotherhood. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. Wedemen, B. (2010).Demonstrators in Egypt rail against brutality, man's death - CNN.co