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9BY: Mona Abdel-Fadil,Senior Researcher,Fafo Institute forApplied internationalstudies.Stencil tribute to the women who were beaten, dragged and stamped on by military forces in Egypt in December 2011.Photo reprinted with permission from Hossam el-Hamalawy, Flickr.Facebook Revolution?– The Role of Social Media in the Egyptian UprisingsDuring the winter of 2011, millions ofArab men and women demanded thefall of their political regimes and presidentialdictatorships. A wave of politicalprotests swept across the Middle Eastand North Africa (MENA), calling for anend to corruption, nepotism, poverty, andundemocratic rule. Populations in Tunisia,Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, andSaudi Arabia seized the opportunity toset the agenda while all eyes were turnedon them.Some protests such as the Tunisian andEgyptian were swiftly classified as asuccess and deemed revolutions. Otherprotests were stifled brutally – and civilwar like scenarios have been commonplacefor over two years in Syria. Yet, whatsparked this all? Did the protests comeout of the blue? And, what role did socialmedia really play in the interplay betweenpopulations and regimes? Is it accurate tospeak of a Facebook revolution?“Slacktivism”Despite the hype about the role of socialmedia in the uprisings, it is important tonote that using social media to expresspolitical views has suffered from a certaindegree of ridicule and stigma for being a“comfortable” type of activism – which isoften called: “slacktivism”!Slacktivists have been portrayed as individualswho enjoy the soft cushioning oftheir comfortable sofa, yet are willing tosupport a variety of political causes – at aminimal level of discomfort – and effort.The stereotype is of women and menlounging about clicking “like” and “dislike”about this or that political cause onFacebook, without having to back theseclicks up with any noteworthy commitments.The idea that they may have “contributed”to some important political cause throughthis minimal action, has also been madefun of. Slacktivism has been critiqued fornot only having no costs for the slacktivists,but also for having absolutely noeffect. Click “like” - it only takes a coupleof seconds – and you run minimal collateraldamage. Yet mass-demonstrationson the streets in MENA have proved thatmillions of Arab women and men arewilling to get off the sofa, and fight for acause – for real – and off Facebook. Inconsequence, it is now difficultto write off all Facebook activistsas slacktivists.