ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the role of social media in creating political openings within Egyptian public and political space that eventually allowed for the mass mobilisation that toppled Mubarak. Social media has played a central role in creating new spaces for activism and dissent. The use of social media has clearly functioned as a threat to the control of public and private space exercised by the Egyptian regime. Labour strikes represented one of the most important social and political challenges to the Egyptian state in the years leading up to the revolution. The proliferation of satellite television in particular has had dramatic effects on Egyptian audiences. A group of liberal and westernised young Egyptians was able to influence global opinion through Twitter and Facebook. The number of social media users in Egypt is surprisingly low for a country that has been the centre of attention in debates about social media and social movements.
