Why 2011 Will Be Defined by Social Media Democracy

Image by Sean MacEntee via FlickrEkaterina Walter is a social media strategist at Intel. She is a part of Intel's Social Media Center of Excellence and is responsible for company-wide social media enablement and corporate social networking strategy. She was recently elected to serve on the board of directors of WOMMA. On Jan. 25, 2011 pictures and videos flooded out of Egypt as tens of thousands of anti-government protestors took to the streets in a "Day of Rage" protest over President Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Pro-democracy sympathizers across the world retweeted and shared the updates, even as the Egyptian government disabled cellphone towers and blocked Twitter in an attempt to censor the material. Reports indicated that households and businesses opened up their Wi-Fi networks to support the protesters and to allow the dissemination of information. The pictures and videos that continued to appear across YouTube and Facebook trended on Twitter worldwide, both inspiring and shocking international onlookers.
2011: The Year of Social Media Democracy
Social Media as a Tool of Change
Mob Rule: The Darker Side of Social MediaHuman Spirit Triumphs

Besides bank defaults and credit downgrades, 2011 will be remembered for the rise of social media democracy in countries traditionally ruled by autocratic governments — most notably, the Arab Spring. The wave of protests that began in Tunisia in December 2010 spread first to Egypt, then to Libya, Bahrain, Syria and Yeman, with protests of varying sizes across many more middle-Eastern countries.

In regions where official media has been heavily censored for years, the rise of personal access to the Internet and social networks has meant that populist movements now have a voice that can reach the outside world.

Before 2011, ad-hoc events organized by social media had largely been entertaining and quirky, often put together by arts groups such as Improv Everywhere, which staged flash mobs in Grand Central Station. And let's not forget the social media craze planking.Soon, however, Twitter hashtags, Facebook groups, YouTube videos and Flickr streams would be employed by the masses in countries where censorship had traditionally blocked anti-government voices. Representatives of populist discontent were able to adopt and adapt new methods of communication to reach each other and outside sympathizers, often at terrible risk to their own lives and the safety of their families. Social media democracy began to take on a new meaning; a collective voice was now able to document its struggle for the first time.

After opposition to Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi turned bloody, NATO intervened to lend rebels military support in the escalating civil war, and to help to protect civilians. On both sides of the struggle, the control of information became a major tool for encouraging or intimidating civilian uprisings. After Colonel Gadaffi's death, photographs flooded social media, a further triumph for social democracy and the fall of a despotic, censorious regime.

Yet Western issues of people-power and censorship would soon be tested, in what some viewed as the darker side of "mob rule." In Aug. 2011, London was rocked by four days of rioting. What started as a peaceful protest against the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan escalated into violence, arson and looting, mainly against the rioters' own communities, as well as against police. The violence soon detached itself from the original cause, and became an outlet for the tensions of an underclass hit hard by high unemployment and recent austerity measures. Rioting quickly spread to other towns.

Social media not only played a role in riot organization, but also in the prosecution of hundreds of participants who either incited violence via social media, or who were photographed and videoed taking part in such violence. Some in the UK government and press claimed social media had enabled the riots. However, people used the same tools to organize clean-up operations and to contribute community support.

As demonstrated by the countries affected by the Arab Spring and London riots, social media has been one of many important tools used by people to affect change. As with any strategy, social media lends itself to both moral and amoral uses – it is the intention behind it that matters. Social media cannot substitute for the incredible bravery and resilience of the people who stood up to oppressive regimes, at the risk and cost of their own lives. It was the passionate desire for change and human determination that drove the spirit of the uprisings, and what ultimately achieved success in overthrowing powerful military dictatorships. In the case of the Arab Spring, the rebels' adoption of new technologies such as social media gave voice to a powerful movement, despite the censorship of the official media. Ultimately, however, it was their courage and self-sacrifice that forced the change

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The sage of Orascom Telecom

Sitting on a stage at an entrepreneurship conference last November, Naguib Sawiris was surrounded by screens showing the live "tweets" of the audience.
Fadi Ghandour, the chief executive of Aramex, asked him for his definition of "change".
"Change would mean to me if everybody sitting here would overturn the governments we have," Mr Sawiris said without hesitation.

"It bothers me that there is disrespect for the rule of law and order," he said.
It was a prescient statement from the Egyptian billionaire in charge of Orascom Telecom just months before Tunisians overthrew their president and protesters in Egypt forced Hosni Mubarak to resign as president after three decades of rule.
Mr Sawiris, 56, long known for being outspoken and taking big risks in business, emerged as a stabilising factor during the recent protests in Egypt.
He was one of the so-called "wise men", a middle-ground group made up of businessmen and intellectuals, that helped to mediate between the opposition and the government.
One of the group's major victories was to put pressure on the government to release Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who helped lead the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to trigger the protests.
Meanwhile, other major businessmen in Egypt were either quietly waiting out the storm in their villas or being publicly attacked as corrupt. Dozens of businesses are under investigation because of their close ties to the Mubarak government.
"He's a different breed of businessman in the Arab world," Mr Ghandour said of Mr Sawiris this week. "It shows up that the business community is not necessarily always on the sidelines."
Mr Sawiris, the eldest of three sons in charge of Orascom companies, has always been one to speak his mind, but he has also walked a fine line. He came out publicly against Mr Mubarak stepping down, preferring that he keep a ceremonial role until elections this year.
"I was not an advocate that Mubarak had to go," he told the US television interviewer Charlie Rose last week. "I did not wish this end for him … He has done a lot of good in this country. We were a totally socialistic country. He opened the door for investment, infrastructure was built."
But he did not mince his words about Mr Mubarak's authoritarian ways, saying that fake charges could be brought against people who went a little far with their criticism of the government.
Indeed, at the entrepreneurship conference last November, in Dubai, Mr Sawiris avoided making direct statements about the government in his own country. But he is not an easy man to stifle.
Forbes listed him last year as the 374th richest person in the world, with a personal worth of US$2.5 billion (Dh9.18bn).
Orascom Telecom has some 500 million customers in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh and Canada, as well as investments in telecommunications companies in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Burundi.
"The size of his business gives him comfort to be able to be vocal and aggressive the way he is," Mr Ghandour says of Mr Sawiris.
Orascom Telecom has made a name for itself by going into challenging markets, often with leverage. It was among the first to set up in Iraq.
In the days leading up to January 25, the beginning of the Egyptian uprising, Mr Sawiris was in North Korea meeting Kim Jong-il, the country's leader, about a joint venture to build a 3G network there.
He later told Bloomberg TV there was a subtle political element to all telecommunications businesses.
"Even when people accuse me of doing business in countries like North Korea, I am there because I provided the people of North Korea with their right to speak," he said.
Mr Sawiris says he gets his drive for success and his willingness to fight from his father, Onsi Sawiris, and from his faith in God.
Onsi, the patriarch of the family, who is now in his late 70s, had to deal with two previous presidents of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser and his successor, Anwar Sadat.
Nasser nationalised the Sawiris construction business in the 1960s, leading the family to relocate to Libya. When trouble arose there, the family returned to Egypt. It was an important lesson about rising to the challenge, the son says.
"I saw how important it is to be persistent and a fighter," Mr Sawiris said in Dubai last November.
"Just keep on hammering and it will happen. If you yield at the first obstacle, then you are not an entrepreneur."
Eventually, the three sons were each given their start in the Orascom empire. Naguib, the eldest, took over the telecoms company, while Nassef, the youngest, led the construction business, and Samih became the head of the property and hotel development company. The three branches are now legally separate businesses, but the brothers remain close, Mr Sawiris says.
The family also has had to contend with being Coptic Christians in a predominantly Muslim country, a situation Mr Sawiris said inspired him to become rich.
"As a Christian, my chances of political life in Egypt are limited, but my ambitions have no limits," he said at the Dubai conference. "I thought maybe if I can become very rich, money is power and money can be used for some good stuff."
The family is involved in a range of charitable causes, including an initiative to send more than 100 young Egyptians abroad for university every year.
Lately, Mr Sawiris has said he would like to focus more on his philanthropic work.
He has been in talks with Russia's VimpelCom to sell $6.5bn of the Italian company Wind Telecom's assets and a more than 50 per cent stake in Orascom Telecom. If the deal goes through, it would amount to Mr Sawiris taking a step back and allowing others to be more involved.
One regret, he says, was not being able to be in Tahrir Square at the height of the protests.
"I was dying to go," he told Charlie Rose, but explained he could not be seen as partial while mediating between parties. "If I want to be an honest broker, I can't take sides too much."
Mr Sawiris appears to have no plans to take a political role in the new Egypt. After Mr Mubarak stepped down, the "wise men" disbanded.
His goal now is to keep making Egypt better.
"I want my kids to live here and hopefully die here like I'm hopefully going to live here and die here," he said.

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