Critical Evaluation of the Role of Social Media in the Emergence of New Social Movement; A Case Study of the Developments in Egypt

The embrace of the developments in Arab World that began with the uprisings of the Tunisian who urged for their political, economic and social demands quickly encompassed different social groups as well as other countries in Middle East and North of Africa including Egypt.
In general, these developments not only changed some of the political systems in the region, but also affected the existing regional order and the benefits of the powers in the Middle East and their approaches. Revolts and uprisings in Arab World can be considered as a historical phase for the region and for the rest of the world. The main question this paper attempts to address is that by bearing the developments of the Middle East and North of Africa and Egypt in particular, what role did the social media play in these uprisings? The researcher has also tried to examine the Egyptian Movement from a sociological perspective by employing Alberto Melucci’s theory of the New Social Movement and his interactive actions and identity-centered ideology. The findings indicate that social media acted as a platform for the emergence of the collective identity among Egyptian protesters and facilitated the financial, ethical and humane unification over the shared values and goals. It is also addressed that social media by bridging the virtual and real spaces, provided the conditions for organizing and leading the protests in Egypt. In terms of method, the current paper has benefited from a descriptive-analytical method and in terms of objective, this research can be considered a pragmatic study.