Article

It was a "Facebook revolution": Exploring the meme-like spread of narratives during the Egyptian protests

Abstract

Considering online social media’s importance in the Arab Spring, this study is a preliminary exploration of the spread of narratives via new media technologies. Via a textual analysis of Facebook comments and traditional news media stories during the 2011 Egyptian uprisings, this study uses the concept of “memes” to move beyond dominant social movement paradigms and suggest that the telling and re-telling, both online and offline, of the principal narrative of a “Facebook revolution” helped involve people in the protests.

Keywords

Activism, digital media, Egypt, social media, social movements.