The Impact of Social Media on World Events

Today, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military. The revolution that has taken place has been at the forefront of world news since January. Although I do not wish to comment on the events themselves, there has been an interesting element to this revolution that is unique, but I think it shows the future of political and global happenings.

Social media and technology had a major impact on the revolution in Egypt. The protest movement had leveraged social media’s powerful marketing to educate the world, facilitate demonstrations and help the world follow what’s happening in Egypt. It is amazing how networks such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook were able to spread the word of what was happening. The constant stream of updates, images, messages, etc that was flowing through the internet expressed the passion that protesters are feeling. I think that this is the first event that utilized social media to spread the event like wildfire, and I’m sure it will not be the last.

I think this goes to show how much of an impact social media and technology have on our lives. It will be interesting to see what the future holds.