Twitter and Egypt

It does make think how instrumental are social tools like Twitter or Facebook in organizing groups of people around the world.

If you think to Egypt, but not only, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan and other places where peaceful protests and less peaceful riots are happening, it strike how the way for people to organize in groups has changed over the last 10/15 years.

Groups can form and disassemble very rapidly involving people form all over the places, not just the close neighborhoods. Where you needed to have access to broadcast media to organize people, now you just need a mobile phone, an internet connection (that’s why internet access has been allegedly stopped in Egypt) and a twitter client (or some other social tool) available.

Voices spread around fast and loud, meeting points are set on the fly, people broadcast updates and even more people would eventually join for the right cause.

This has completely changed the dynamics of interaction between state and people, allowing for things that a few years ago would have not been conceivable.

To follow what’s going on there, check #Egypt or #25Jan out on your twitter account.