Probably my favourite topic from this year, the analysis of a social networking revolution is a fascinating thing. The events taking place in the Middle East from 2010 to the present day are unheard of. Before the Arab Spring, many people, myself included thought that social networking was a bit of a joke, really only a tool used to keep in contact with friends and find pictures of cats. Nevertheless, I was proven wrong, when on the 19th of December 2012, the Arab Spring took off after a shop keeper burned himself to death in protest of authorities confiscating his products. The outrage felt both by civilians in the Middle East as well as the Western World was intense, and the topic became one of the major trending articles on Twitter at the time. While social media wasn’t the cause of the revolutions that took place in Egypt, Syria and Tunisia, it was used as a platform for disgruntled citizens to communicate quickly and efficiently, and organise the mass protests that eventually achieved the social action they so desired.
Media platforms also gave rise to the ability for the west to finally understand some of the social issues that were taking place in a world outside their own. Visual mediums such as YouTube allowed for us to see the carnage that was taking place in the Middle East, and further encourage the change.
Jack Morningside 