The Importance Of Social Media In The Arab World

Introduction

Social media has undoubtedly carved a place for itself in the lives of people. Over the past decade, social media has grown exponentially in the way to impact people’s lives from perspective to politics. There have been countless examples of movements, protests and discussions online that have resulted in the toppling of governments, downfall of brands and celebrity meltdown etc. An important example of the use and influence of social media can be found at the beginning of what is now called the Arab Spring in 2010. In the North African country of Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old street vendor, set himself ablaze in public protesting against the censorship and repression in that country (Thone, 2011). The event gained momentum in social media platforms such as facebook and twitter. People gathered in huge numbers to protest and topple down the authoritative Tunisian government. Similar scenarios occurred across the Arab world.

Over the past few years even India has

This process, articulated in agenda-setting theory, suggests that consumers of media news learn what is important by the amount of information given in a news story, as well as its position in relation to other stories. Further, the hypothesis declares that mass media sets the agenda for political campaigns and influences the salience of attitudes toward political issues. The research that forms the basis of this theory is from the 1968 US presidential campaign. Investigating the media in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, McCombs and Shaw (1972) discover that campaign news devoted more discussion to analysis of the campaign itself than to the major issues affecting voters. The researchers also discover that the basic characteristics of various media differed, and that news media do have a point of view that is sometimes extreme. (Citation