Arab Spring, social movements and social media: Tunusia and Egypt

The rebels began in Tunisia, in 2011, spread to other Arab countries in time. Oppressive regimes and financial difficulties triggered the revolts and the whole Middle East was affected. However, the reasons behind these revolts depend upon back in history. The attractive point in the revolts in the last 3 years is the concept of social media which accelarated the people's getting together. Within this study, the events in Tunisia and Egypt in the scope of Arab Spring will be dealt with; and the effects of social media will be analyzed. The social media should not be seen as a trigger to start or provoke the revolts but as a tool which helped people coming together in the streets. Counting the social media concept as a reason behind the Arab Spring would be a superficial analaysis since the revolts of the people resulted from the limited freedoms, rights and financial problems but not the social media messages.