Facebook versus State Control The Role of Social Media as Political Infrastructure in Egypt: An Assessment

  This study investigated that Egypt throughout its history, has cast  its media  in central roles in the political system as mobilizing forces and as instruments of the  government. It showed that all the time there are many political restrictions and limitations  of the freedom of expression in Egypt.  However, the  Egyptian political bloggers have brought attention to issues of public interest that the traditional media have long ignored. Within the Egyptian context, bloggers have set the agenda on other important issues ignored by mainstream news media, and have helped to uncover silent truth not covered by the state media. They have also provided platforms for the Egyptian people to speak out on political matters and have their voices heard.
The study assured that the beginning of the Egyptian revolution was catalyzed through online social media before the physical activism commenced on January 25, 2011. Through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media has allowed citizens to  engage in a public sphere that would have otherwise been unreachable to them due to harsh domination. As a result,  the revolution moved from the virtual world to the real world. And after having lived under an oppressive regime for thirty years, the people themselves in an 18-day peaceful revolution, forced Mubarak to resign. It confirmed that The increasingly  widespread  use of the internet and the rise in social media, despite the frequent attempts by the SCAF to disrupt their progress and shut down those websites that provide a platform for dissent and criticism, are adding greater impetus to  the forces for change. Finally, social networking alone cannot be expected to bring direct political change. It's the long-term impact, the development of new political and civil society engagement, and individual and institutional competencies on which analysts are focusing.