Social media played a significant role in many of the major news events in 2011. This week, The Globe examines the impact social media had on five of the year's biggest stories: Arab Spring, Charlie Sheen, B.C. riot, Occupy Wall Street and the "It gets better" campaign.
It began with a singular act of defiance. A 26-year-old fruit-seller in a Tunisian town set himself on fire to protest corruption.
Without social media, Mohamed Bouazizi’s suicide would have likely been a lone rebellion. Instead, it set off protests in previously silent capitals that morphed into million-man marches that ultimately led to the toppling of four dictators, dramatically reconfiguring the world in the space of a single year.
Among Twitter hashtags (the expressions, preceded by the # symbol, that are used to categorize posts on the message sharing service), the most-used worldwide in 2011 was #Egypt. The tenth most popular was #Jan25 – the hashtag used by those involved in or commenting on the key demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Cairo and Egypt topped the list of most popular topics in the category of places.
Some of the biggest newsmakers of the year – Mr. Bouazizi and Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who moonlighted as a pro-democracy activist – would have been unheard of without social media. Instead they became global heroes.
Arguably, without social media the Arab Spring wouldn’t have happened as quickly and as decisively as it did. “Social media quickened the pace of everything,” reflects Jillian York, director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. “Looking back now, I don’t think things would have kicked off in Syria and elsewhere had it not been for social media. It was fuel on the fire,” she said.
How the Arab Spring used social media
Dec. 18
People witnessing the fiery act of defiance and the street demonstrations that followed capture the scenes and post them on YouTube. In the Tunisia of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, public protest was strictly banned, yet now there is proof: videos of the protest in Sidi Bouzid that show hundreds of people on the streets, chanting Mr. Bouazizi's name in open defiance of President Ben Ali. The videos also show how violent the security force's response was.
Dec. 19
Slim Amamou, an influential Tunisian blogger, sees the video and posts it on Facebook. A middle-class university graduate living in Tunis, Mr. Amamou has little in common with a poor, rural fruit-seller other than hatred for the corrupt Ben Ali regime. After Mr. Amamou posts the video, it goes viral in the Arab World. Al-Jazeera broadcasts it, fuelling copycat demonstrations around the country.
Dec. 27
Protests reach the capital city of Tunis, with about 1,000 demonstrators taking to the streets. Once again, Tunisian activists rely on social media to spread their message. They publicize the protest by hacking into Tunisia's main labour union website, sending a message to its members to join them in the city's central Mohammad Ali square. The protesters use Twitter to route demonstrations, avoiding security forces in the streets. Mr. Amamou uses his cell phone to live-stream video of the massive turnout. Others capture and post video of protesters being shot dead on the streets.
Jan. 4, 2011
Mr. Bouazizi succumbs to his injuries, dying in a Tunisian hospital. By now, protests inspired by those in Sidi Bouzid have spread across the country.
Jan. 14
Ben Ali flees Tunisia for Saudi Arabia via Malta, ending his 24-year-long rule. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi takes over as interim president.
