A Page and Its Politics: Situating Kullinā Khālid Saʿīd in Egypt’s Ideological Landscape at the Time of Revolution
| Author(s) |
Robbert Woltering, Rasha Abdulla, Thomas Poell, Bernhard Rieder, Liesbeth Zack |
| Contact |
Robbert Woltering, U. of Amsterdam, Spuistraat 134, 1012 VB Amsterdam, Netherlands. E-mail: r.a.f.l.woltering@uva.nl |
| Issue |
CyberOrient, Vol. 9, Iss. 2, 2015, pp. 65-83 |
| Published |
November 10, 2015 |
| Type |
Article |
| Abstract |
In discussions concerning the importance of social media in the 25January revolution, a central role is given to the “Kullinā Khālid Saʿīd“ [We’re all Khaled Said] Facebook page. Using an advanced data collection and extraction application called Netvizz, a research team consisting of Arabists and Media studies specialists has collected and analysed all of the posts and comments exchanged through the page. This data set allows for a systematic analysis of the page. This article offers an outline of the ideological nature of “Kullinā Khālid Saʿīd“, with particular emphasis on the “revolutionary” period between 1 January – 11 February 2011. It argues that the page shows no evidence of political bias in the sense of explicit favoring of a political group. Rather, the page constituted a community of users who abstained from using politically factional language. Reflecting the mood and concerns of the revolution’s grassroots masses, it clearly illustrates the disinclination to engage with formal politics. |
| Keywords |
activism, cyberactivism, democracy, Internet studies, social media, internet, Arab Spring, Egypt
|
