The effect of social media on Arab spring Research Proposal

The effect of social media on Arab spring - Research Proposal Example Social media diffuse social, economic, political, and cultural barriers within the society (Qualman 8). The speedy propagation and adoption of technology has fueled the use of social media as a tool for activism. The Arab Spring in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Yemen demonstrate this potential. During the Arab Spring, social media played a critical role in spreading information and unifying the protesters. Social media can be defined as online media content created and shared by individuals on the cyberspace using freely and easily accessible websites. The websites employ interfaces that enable people to generate and post images, videos, as well as chat and text information. The created information can be shared with a select group of friends or the entire public domain. Social media incorporate blogs, wikis, forums, content communities, micro blogs, social networking sites, and podcasts. Social media detail characteristics such as participation, whereby individuals make contributions and receive feedback from the target groups. Similarly, it also incorporates openness, whereby social media encourage participation and feedback from all through voting, commenting, and sharing of information. Thirdly, it involves conversation, whereby social media is two-way contrasting broadcast oriented traditional media. The community aspect arises from allowing people to mutually share universal interests such as art and politics. Lastly, social media enhance connectedness by linking people, sites, locations, and resources. To a large extent, social media enhance democratization of information; transforming users from content readers to content publishers (Al-Deen & Hendricks 205). Social media effects can be classified into behavioural, attitudinal, cognitive, and emotional. Social media play a key role in the learning and social