Structured Response 6

            Social media is an increasingly popular way of spreading news. In the 2011 revolts, social media was used as a medium of spreading images, slogans, and events that had to do with the revolution. People were weakly tied to each other through social media because they all believed in a bigger purpose – democracy.

            However, people who call the Arab revolts of 2011 the “Twitter Revolution” seem to not have a grasp of the larger scale of the revolution. Rather, I believe that social media such as Facebook and Twitter were mediums that allowed social movements to take place, but were not the reasons themselves for the social movements. Though peoples weak ties to each other over social media sources certainly sped up the revolution process, these people were not the reason that revolution began in the first place. I think that the catalyst for revolutions, even in the Arab revolts, began with grass roots non-governmental organizations that worked towards the goal of democratization for years before the revolts actually occurred.

            Furthermore, I think that social media was not a factor necessary for revolution. Rather, I think that it helped to speed up the process of the revolts because of its widespread accessibility and its ability to spread news on a minute-to-minute basis. In this way, governments were unable to react as strongly or effectively as they could have because they were essentially taken by surprise. If social media had not been utilized as a method of spreading the word regarding specific protests, these protests would have taken more time to develop and may have been squashed by the governments. Even so, I still maintain that these revolts would have happened with or without social media, even if they had occurred more gradually if social media had not been a medium for communication among citizens.