This dissertation examines tweet content from key periods of the uprisings in Egypt and Syria of 2011 and 2012, generally known as the “Arab Spring”. Some authors and the main-stream media have suggested that these uprisings were significantly influenced and organised by Twitter and subsequently referred to them as “Twitter Revolution”. Other authors have strongly opposed this idea and attributed it to self-deception in the light of marvellous inventions of the Western World. They have suggested Twitter was predominantly used as an information-sharing network. In an effort to contribute data to this debate, this dissertation analyses tweet content from three different observation periods; two tweet datasets were collected from other academics and third one was crawled from the Twitter API; this process made use of the crawling tool cURL and the database software mongoDB.
The combined tweet dataset contained about 1.9 million tweets out of which a sample of 1945 tweets was drawn. This sample was then evaluated in a quantitative content analysis according to a coding manual. These codes were entered into the statistical analysis software SPSS, in which they were also processed.
This study found that in the context of these uprisings, Twitter was indeed used more as an information-sharing tool and only to a relatively small fraction for organisational purposes. This result does not negate the possibility of a mobilising effect of that small fraction. A further, central result is that almost every second tweet contained a hyperlink and that most of these lead to visual stimuli.
Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION
2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND DISCUSSION
2.1 TWITTER IN A NUTSHELL
2.2 TWITTER REVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION BY THE PEOPLE?
2.3 QUANTITATIVE STUDIES
2.4 GOVERNMENT RESPONSES TO SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE-ACTIVISM
2.5 CONCLUSION
3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES
4 METHODOLOGY
4.1 CONTENT ANALYSIS
4.2 DATA COLLECTION AND SAMPLING
4.2.1 CRAWLING TWEET DATA
4.3 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
4.4 METHODOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS
5 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
6 CONCLUSIONS
Research Objectives and Themes
This dissertation aims to provide empirical data on the actual usage of Twitter during the uprisings in Egypt and Syria, testing whether the platform served primarily as an organizational tool for mobilization or as a network for information sharing. The research seeks to fill the gap in current literature by conducting a quantitative content analysis of tweet metadata and text to clarify the role of social media in the so-called "Arab Spring."
- Quantitative content analysis of 1,945 sampled tweets.
- Comparative analysis across three distinct observation periods (2011 and 2012).
- Investigation of tweet content types and their correlations with sentiment and tone.
- Evaluation of the role of hyperlinks and visual stimuli in political communication.
- Assessment of government influence and Twitter usage patterns over time.
Excerpt from the Book
1 Introduction
A wave of democracy has swept through Northern Africa and the Near East. While the uproar and consequent toppling of their respective dictators was concluded within weeks in Tunisia and Egypt, Syrians are still fighting, bleeding and dying to this day. The media have labelled this recent wave of social uproar with the catchy phrase “Arab Spring”. In many publications and certainly in the mainstream media the term Arab Spring often goes hand in hand with another term: “Twitter Revolution” (Sabadello 2011: 11). This expression first emerged during the civil unrest in Moldova and the presidential election in Iran of 2009 and ascribed Twitter a role of growing importance in online and on-the-ground activism; this role was mainly propagated by mainstream media and bloggers (e.g. Stone and Cohen 2009).
The British author and blogger Andrew Sullivan, who tirelessly twittered about the 2009 protests in Iran, became one of the frontrunners of the Twitter Revolution advocates; Evgeny Morozov, renowned for his scepticism towards social media’s organisational capabilities, calls him the godfather of Iran’s Twitter Revolution (2009: 1). It was thus probably inevitable that Twitter’s role in the political subversions would become subject of sociological study.
Summary of Chapters
1 INTRODUCTION: Outlines the socio-political context of the Arab Spring and the debate surrounding the role of Twitter as a catalyst for political change.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND DISCUSSION: Reviews existing studies on social media's impact on revolutionary movements, discussing the "cyber-utopian" versus skeptic perspectives and government responses to digital activism.
3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES: Defines the core research questions and formulates testable hypotheses regarding the informational, organizational, and emotional content of tweets.
4 METHODOLOGY: Details the empirical approach, including sampling, the crawling of tweet data, coding procedures, and the verification of reliability and validity.
5 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: Presents and interprets the statistical results regarding tweet content, tone, link usage, and language evolution across the three observation periods.
6 CONCLUSIONS: Summarizes the study's findings, arguing that Twitter functioned primarily as an information-sharing network rather than an organizational tool, and suggests directions for future research.
Keywords
Arab Spring, Twitter, Social Media, Uprisings, Content Analysis, Information Sharing, Egypt, Syria, Political Activism, Digital Communication, Twitter Revolution, Hyperlinks, Sentiment Analysis, Mobile Technology, Empirical Research
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The study focuses on analyzing the actual content of tweets sent during the Arab Spring to determine if Twitter functioned more as an information-sharing network or as a tool for mobilizing and organizing protestors.
What are the primary themes addressed in the dissertation?
Key themes include the role of social media in revolutionary events, the contrast between informational and organizational tweets, the tone of political discourse on Twitter, and the influence of government internet blockades.
What is the central research question?
The central question is: "What are tweets concerning the Arab Spring and specifically the uprisings in Egypt and Syria about?"
Which methodology was employed to conduct this study?
The author conducted a quantitative content analysis, evaluating a sample of 1,945 tweets drawn from three different observation periods using specific coding categories entered into SPSS.
What does the main body of the work examine?
The main body examines the literature on the "Twitter Revolution" narrative, details the technical and systematic methodology, and presents a comprehensive analysis of findings concerning tweet content, sentiment, language, and the role of hyperlinks.
Which keywords characterize this work?
The work is characterized by terms such as Arab Spring, Content Analysis, Twitter, Digital Activism, and Political Uprisings.
How did the author handle Arabic tweets in the sample?
The author utilized two separate translation engines (Google Translate and Microsoft Bing Translator) and ensured the validity of the coding process by incorporating a second, native Arabic-speaking coder to verify the accuracy of the interpretation.
What was the result regarding the "Twitter Revolution" hypothesis?
The findings suggest that Twitter was used predominantly as an information-sharing tool rather than an organizational tool, leading the author to conclude that the label "Twitter Revolution" is heavily overstated in mainstream discourse.
- Quote paper
- Johannes Sieben (Author), 2012, Twittering the #ArabSpring?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/205832
