Previous studies have shown that social media use among participants in the 25 January Egyptian uprising was high and that protesters indicate that social media were important in their decision to join the protests (Tufekci & Wilson, 2012; Wilson & Dunn, 2011). Other studies suggest that the attitudes toward the regime and toward democracy in general prior to the uprising were no different from non-users (Norris, 2012). So far, no direct comparison has been made between protesters and a equivalent group of non-protesters in terms of their social media use. In this paper, we use data that have been gathered by Vote Compass Egypt, an online voting tool, to compare protesters and non-protesters in how important they rate different sources of political information. The results show that participants in the 25 January uprising rely more on Facebook and Twitter to get political information, and less on mass media (radio and TV). The association between protest participation and social media use is mediated by higher optimism about the future of the country, more democratic attitudes and less trust in government. Use of mass media is associated with less protest participation through more trust in government.

1. Social media use and participation in
the January 25 Egyptian uprising
Peter Kerkhof
Andre Krouwel
Jacquelien van Stekelenburg
Bert Klandermans
VU University Amsterdam
The Netherlands
http://acsm-vu.nl

5. Social media & protest
 Four functions of social media (Norris, 2011)
1. informational (spreading knowledge, awareness, and
news)
2. networking (coordinating collective actions and
organizing movements)
3. cultural (strengthening democratic aspirations and
critical evaluations of regime performance)
4. behavioral (reinforcing the propensity for citizens to
engage in protest acts challenging the regime)
 Did social media play this role in the Egyptian uprising?

6. Survey evidence so far
 Norris (2011)
 2007 data:
 Political activism in Egypt related to
 media use (and especially) internet use
 2010 data:
 social media considered helpful for becoming involved in
politics for 25-33% of population
 in 2010 Egyptian social media users were…..
 more hopeful about the future of Egypt
 more positive about the economy
 as (un)democratic as non-users of social media

7. Survey evidence so far
 Tahrir data set (Wilson & Dunn, 2011; Tufekci and Wilson,
2012)
 Interviews with 1200 protesters at Tahrir square
 End of February 2011 (2 weeks after Mubarak resignation)
 High internet use, high use of social media
 Social media information most important motivator for
participation
 1st day participation related to social media use

8. Survey evidence so far
 No comparison groups
 Do protesters rely more on social media for political
information than (otherwise equal) non-protesters?
 No underlying processes
 How are social media use and attitudes (e.g. democratic
attitudes) related to protest participation?
 Our study:
 Relate social media use to protest participation
 Study of underlying processes

9. Our study

10. Our study
 Vote Compass Egypt
 Egyptian parliamentary elections
 Data collection nov-dec 2011
 80.000 respondents
 1152 Egyptians (and living in Egypt), answered all additional
questions
 46% participated in street protests, 16% participated on January 25th
 Av. 34 years old, 79% male
 Highly educated: 86% university degree (Wilson & Dunn, 2011: 77%)
 98.4% Arab language
 57% Cairo, 14% Alexandria, 5% Giza

11. Measures
 Political information sources:
 How important are the following sources for you to get
information about politics ?
 television, radio, internet news sites, newspapers, word-of mouth
from family /friends, prayers & meetings at mosque /church,
place of work, organized meetings, SMS, pamphlets and signs,
and Facebook/Twitter
 Democratic attitudes
 There should be no restrictions on the right to demonstrate
 There should be absolute freedom to report on social and
political issues
 The state should give up all its media ownership
 There should be some restrictions on the content of books and
films

12. Measures
 Optimism about the future:
 How do you think the situation of the country will be in five
years? (1=much better, 2=somewhat better, 3=somewhat
worse, 4=much worse), reverse coded
 Trust in government:
 How much do you trust the following institutions: police,
government, judiciary, and state run media (1=a lot, 2=a
little, 3=not really, 4=not at all), reverse coded

13. Results

14. Results

15. Results
Democratic
attitudes
.148 .406
(.031) (.068)
.239
Use (.070) Participation
Facebook in street
/Twitter .346
protest
.089
(.026) (.081)
Optimism
-.081 -.317
(.022) (.096)
Trust in
government

16. Results
Democratic
attitudes
+ +
Use + Participation
Facebook in street
/Twitter protest
+ +
Optimism
- -
Trust in
government

17. Results
Democratic
attitudes
+
Use + Participation
organized in street
meetings protest
+ +
Optimism
-
Trust in
government

18. Results
Democratic
attitudes
+
Participation
Use radio /TV in street
protest
+
Optimism
+ -
Trust in
government

19. To conclude
 Social media use is related to protest participation
 Other media are related as well, but in other ways
 Mediation partly by democratic attitudes, distrust in
government and optimism about Egypt’s future
 Limitations:
 Self selected sample
 Not entirely representative of protesters
 Not at all representative of Egyptian population
 Correlation ≠ causation (but it’s a start)
 TV: state-run or satellite?