Social Media and Change in the Arab World
A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2016) | Viewed by 223
Special Issue Editor
Interests: Journalism cultures; war reporting; mediating conflict; representation of ethnic minorities; Journalism ethics; Citizen Jouranlism and social media and politics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
December 2010 recorded the first of many social and political revolts that swept the Arab world aided by an alternative media tool—a platform collectively identified as social media. Arab youths were able to seize the potential of virtual media spaces to communicate common knowledge about political and social issues and problems that were directly affecting their lives. Facebook was the favourite, Twitter followed, and YouTube has become their common denominator. It has been argued that in the Arab revolts, mainly those of Tunisia and Egypt in 2010 and 2011, the usage of social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, changed markedly, shifting from being merely social in nature to becoming rapidly and primarily political, not only among Arab users in the Arab world, but also throughout the Arabian diaspora.
However, the social media effect has been contested and undermined by several scholars since the protesters in Tunisia succeeded in toppling Zien Al Abeddine bin Ali and the Egyptian protestors in Tahrir succeeded in toppling Hosni Mubarak.
The constructive role of social media in facilitating political and social change was also scrutinised when Arab governments, post 2011 revolts, commanded the virtual public space and used it to counter collective acts of social and political protests and rebellion.
Social media platforms later became the tool of communication that groups, such as the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), depended on in order to disseminate their hatred and recruit more young people to their organisations.
This Special Issue aims to make a contribution towards the growing scholarship on the impact of social media on political and social change.
Contributors are therefore invited to submit papers that critically address (not necessarily limited to):
- Social Media and political and social change
- Social media and social movementes
- New media in conservative societies
- Social Media as propaganda tool
- Social Media and censorship
- Social Media and development
- Social Media and minorities
- Citizen journalism
- Social media and conflict reporting
- Traditional media versus social media
Dr. Zahera Harb
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Social media
- New media
- Internet
- Political change
- Social change
- Social inclusion
- Censorship
- Citizen journalism
- Conflict reporting
- Arab world
- Arab revolts
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