Facebook was started by nineteen-year-old Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. He was a computer genius and had an innate talent for programming. His goal to create a website that would allow one to, “access information about anyone, and be a means for anyone to share anything that they wanted,” has turned into something that Zuckerberg never dreamed of (Kirkpatrick 3). While Zuckerberg wanted to improve people’s lives socially, the extent to which he would eventually do so was never foreseen. Facebook currently has over five hundred million users and is the world’s, “second-most-visited site after Google” (Kirkpatrick 1). With the recent conflicts and protests in the Middle East, Facebook has become a means of social media that facilitates mass communication and organization. It has become a catalyst in political change in the Middle East and Senator John McCain has called Mark Zuckerberg, “the most popular man in the Middle East” (Summers). 
While Facebook has promoted individual empowerment and become a way for young adults and teenagers to stay connected, Middle Eastern governments worry because they fail to understand that Facebook is a means for political change, not the cause.
While Facebook has promoted individual empowerment and become a way for young adults and teenagers to stay connected, Middle Eastern governments worry because they fail to understand that Facebook is a means for political change, not the cause. The Internet has become integrated in the lives of people all over the world and is used to develop local economies and to create jobs. The Internet is a sign of progress and sophistication; less developed countries use the Internet as a way to relate to more highly developed countries because it can promote rapid change in the future (Pinhanez). Young adults and teens in most all countries that have grown up during the age of the Internet have become computer literate. Governments support this type of education because it will help the future of their country if their youth has the same technological education as youth in a more highly developed country (Pinhanez). While the Internet and Facebook is used by people of all ages, young adults and teens use the site as a way to define who they are. The youth create an identity online and their profiles are extended versions of themselves. What groups they join, what videos they upload, and what pictures they are tagged in represent what they stand for as a person. Facebook’s dominance and popularity has grown exponentially. The idea of a participatory culture allows teenagers and young adults, through social media, to have affiliations, collaboratively solve problems, and have a way to express themselves (Jenkins 11). As the number of Internet users in the Middle Eastern continues to increase and the Internet becomes an integral part of society, teenagers and young adults have found ways to use these new popular social media methods to influence politics.
Young adults and teens that have grown up during the age of computers have found ways to use the Internet to their advantage. Twenty per cent of the population in the Middle East is between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four (CBC). This youth bulge demonstrates the effectiveness of organizing through Facebook. Since people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four are computer literate and most all are using Facebook, the Internet is a vital tool to rally a group. While the protestors in the Middle East consisted of all ages and both genders, the instigators of the protests were the youth (Mousa). Young adults and teens have discovered ways to use Facebook effectively. When a journalist asked a teenager what he was filming in Tunisia he replied, “Ourselves. Our revolution. We put it on Facebook. It’s how we tell the world what is happening” (Beaumont). Every teen and young adult, the future leaders of the world, has a say and opinion through new social media sites like Facebook. No longer is the only voice to be heard through a newspaper article or on the radio. Every teenager can voice their thoughts and then share it with a thousand of their Facebook friends. Ideas can now be shared across oceans. There has been a switch in the way young adults are starting revolutions. Alica Ygarza from Penn Point magazine states, “In the past revolutions were fought with swords and cannons. Unlike those revolutions, the latest in the Middle East are being run by young adults and teens via Facebook.” New voices of opinion can now be heard through the Internet without being a journalist or activist. New developments in social media like Facebook allow not only activists and demonstrators, but virtually anyone with an opinion to become involved with political change. The idea of individual empowerment is the driving force behind why social media has been able to become so influential (Eltahawy). In these non-democratic regimes, Facebook makes everyone feel important, feel like their voice can be heard and that their opinion matters.
The reason Facebook has become so popular and become so heavily integrated in our culture is because of our need to stay connected. With the development of the Internet and new communication technologies, a new desire to be constantly in touch with everyone we meet has been formed. The fear of isolation is what drives Facebook and makes it so popular. In an interview with the Crimson, Zuckerberg said, “the nature of the site is that each user’s experience improves if they can get their friends to join it” (Kirkpatrick 7). Facebook is used so heavily because everyone that knows everyone uses the website as has become an increasingly, continuous trend. The movement away from a solitary culture to a more connected culture is the main reason that Facebook is so effective in starting mass revolts. For example a young man in Egypt states, “I can get two hundred thousand people in the square in two hours” (Summers). Facebook allows everyone to be more connected and instills a feeling of unity.
Facebook is a dominating force and Middle Eastern governments are weary as to how to proceed in controlling such an influential website. Middle Eastern governments already control the media and use propaganda, but they are becoming fearful that the people will soon become more powerful than the government. Lelia Hudson from Al Jazeera states, “The overall effect is the emergence of an interactive and dynamic transnational media infrastructure that is beyond the reach of most Middle East governments.” Facebook is an effective tool for the young adults and teenagers, not for governments as demonstrated thus far. The government, an older generation, while they use the Internet, do not use sites like Facebook in the way teenagers and young adults do, most likely because of the age gap. The government uses more transitional methods of creating political change (Beaumont). However, they are becoming fearful because it has been shown that the user of Facebook is the one that wields the power. In Egypt for example, the youth that used Facebook to organize their revolution and pressure Hosni Mubarak to step down from power were more influential than the government that did not use social media. In addition, President Obama during the 2008 elections advertised using Facebook where as McCain did not. Obama seemed to relate more to the youth and spread his ideas more rapidly than McCain did, who advertised in more traditional ways (Dalsgaard). Obama’s campaign represents a success in social networking, but also a success in younger generations becoming more involved in politics. The youth can share their opinions and become more interested in an election if it is right in front of them, on a site they visit five times a day. The website serves as a bridge between an untouchable future president and an average teenager. Future leaders are turning toward Facebook to gain popularity and followers.
The recent revolts and protests in Egypt and Saudi Arabi demonstrate that people’s opinion matter as they can create political change.
The ability for the people of the country to come together and organize in order to influence the stepping down of a president, as shown in Egypt, exemplify that the use of Facebook and social media is not something the government should take lightly. For example one method the government had to control Facebook was to shut down the Internet. In Egypt, the government turned off the switch, but in other cases the switch was never pulled, only considered as an option. Kaled Koubaa, president of the Internet Society in Tunisia, stated, “They wanted to close Facebook down in the first quarter of 2009, but it was very difficult. So many people were using it that it appears that the regime backed off because they thought banning it might actually cause more problems than leaving it” (Beaumont). Shutting down Facebook, as shown, is not a viable and effective option, but the government has yet to find an alternative way to control the flow of ideas through Facebook. Turing of the Internet switch exemplifies how fearful the government is in letting the rest of the world find out what is happening in their country (Etling). The Egyptian government, as shown in the video is taken drastic measures to control their people and exercise their authority by even killing innocent civilians. Egypt does not want the rest of the world to see them as killers or show how fearful they are in their people gaining power that the have succumbed to using barbaric measures. As Lelia Hudson from Al Jazeera vividly explains, “trying to kill the Internet and the mobile phone networks is like putting tanks on the street- it is a drastic move that tells everyone how threatened a government feels and is.” Middle Eastern governments have tried to shut down the Internet and have changed the passwords to people’s Facebook accounts, but nothing seems to be an effective end to the use of social media (Beaumont). Ethan Zuckerman from the New York Times states, “Authoritarian regimes cannot block political Facebook groups without blocking all the ‘American Idol’ fans and cat lovers as well. The government cannot imply shut down Facebook, because doing so would alert a large group of people who they can not afford to radicalize.” The Middle Eastern governments have not come up with an effective way to stop the monster they think Facebook has become. They have to become savvier in their means to shut down the use of Facebook or they have to be ready to accept their actions, for example the killing of citizen by the police that is posted on Facebook for the world to witness. The Middle Eastern governments have yet to understand that turning off the Internet switch fuels more young adults and teenagers to join the fight, instead of making them give up and be defeated (Eltahawy).
The Middle Eastern government fails to understand that their people want change. Citizens of these countries are tired of being oppressed are not going to become complacent, they plan to fight as demonstrated in Egypt. These new social media tools are the citizens’ weapons for this fight and they outnumber the government. Middle Eastern governments have yet to understand that the best way to stop the uprisings and extensive use of Facebook is to listen to their people and work with them on the path toward a democracy. The Egyptians are tired and want a change in their government from being a dictatorship to a democracy (Mousa). The sharing of ideas through Facebook allows the ideas of democracy to be introduced to people in countries with oppressive regimes. For example, Egyptians want political change because the feel they have oppressed for too long (for example the presence of the secret police) and denied basic rights like of freedom of speech and expression (the government censors the media and uses propaganda) and freedom of religion (Mousa). In an interview, Mona Elthahawy, a columnist and public speaker, states, “the Internet did not invent courage in Egypt. The Internet did not invent activism in Egypt. But what April 6 was trying to do was attract a generation who recognize that they have no future in the country, no political future, no economic future under the Mubarak regime” (PBS). Facebook was used as tool in this battle and the government has to understand that taking away one tool will just mean the people will find another way to fight. Facebook was a means to organize a revolt, but it did not spur political change, that came from the drive of the Egyptians. The government has to face their problems with their citizens and understand that Facebook was a weapon in the fight, not the reason for the revolution.
In my research, I have not come across any information stating where the company of Facebook stands on this issue. I believe it is because they want to remain unbiased. While they might promote freedom and the use of their website in order to create social change, by declaring what side they are on would deter some users and make some upset with what Facebook is associated with. Facebook is remaining neutral in these uprisings in order to maintain their status as solely a website to connect people with other people and not one that is associated with certain political views.
The future of Facebook is unknown. Zuckerberg never predicted it to become this powerful and in six years the site went from being a means to communicate and stay connected with other college students to a means to pressure a president to step down. The Middle East governments are most fearful of how to control Facebook at the rate it is growing. Since they have not succeeded, in the future they will try even harder to control the flow of ideas even more in attempt to demonstrate their power over their people (Etling). The government, if it were democratic, would support the general interest of the population. For example the United States does not use Facebook in the same way that people in Egypt do because protests of that size are not necessary when people have a voice in the government. As Facebook has proven to be effective, the people in, for example Egypt need to be cautious online as to not by manipulated by leaders that have their own agenda in mind. In addition, organizers through Facebook need to realize that Facebook is solely a tool for change and that human abilities/ desires and personal leadership are what drives change (Etling). In the future, while the aid of technology continuously improves, the idea of human skills should be remembered as the most important factor in creating political change. Cannons, nuclear weapons, Facebook are all tools used to fight, but without human leadership and a cause these weapons they would serve no useful purpose.
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