Social Media and Arab Revolts: An Appraisal

Abstract

As evidenced by terms like “Twitter Revolution” and “Facebook Revolution”, social media has emerged as a major theme in public discourse and scholarly literature discussing Arab Spring revolutions that have occurred across several Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) nations since 2010. Research literature discusses existing studies that examine social media’s role in giving rise to, sustaining, and ublicizing political revolts in numerous MENA countries, along with other key factors of Arab agitation, influencing political transformations in the region. In addition the current review paper sheds a light on the role of satellite television in the region and civic engagements of Arab’s youth by using cyber spaces in developing a global public sphere in Arab states that subsequently changed the political system of this region.