Arab Spring: Social movements supported by social media in the Middle East - examples of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya

Although it has been 12 years since the end of the new social movements in the Middle East and North African countries, which are described as the Arab Spring, this case still attracts global interest and attention. It is sociologically important to understand and explain the role of social media in the emergence of new social movements in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, which are the research subjects because these events may come up again for almost any society where similar authoritarian regimes continue to exist. The Arab Spring, which is one of the most striking examples of the new social movements that emerged as a result of social interactions have also been a model sociological case in the evaluation of social media in terms of "Resource Mobilization Theory" which is included in the definition of social networks that Castells (2012) referred to in his "Network Society Theory", as platforms where users who transcend time and space connect by producing content and unite their practices. In this research, in the context of "Network Society" and "Resource Mobilization Theories", the new social movements that took place in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were analyzed with the qualitative content analysis method in the light of the posts made on the social media platforms in the relevant countries during the protests aimed to reveal the social media function on the formation and spread of the new social movements that are described as the Arab Spring.