How much did the Internet matter in Egypt?
The situation in Egypt is the largest uprising since the internet and social media became a major part of our world. Protesters used Twitter, Facebook, text messages, emails, all sorts of electronic means to co-ordinate their efforts and stay informed of where things stood. But when the government tried to unplug the Internet, the revolution continued.
On today’s show, we talk with Jillian York from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She also writes for Global Voices Online and has been following the situation in Egypt closely.
Jillian says the idea that the entire Internet was cut off was somewhat inaccurate. One Internet service provider was able to stay online throughout all the protests, although it’s unclear exactly why. But people have been piling on there as much as possible and also using dial-up connections.
Prior to the big shutoff, protesters used all sorts of methods to lay the groundwork for the movement. There were hashtags planned on Twitter, Google Documents backups of Facebook accounts, it was all in the cloud. So by the time the Internet was mostly taken down, the horse was already out of the barn.
Also in this show, the NFL has a new page that compiles Super Bowl-related tweets. They may be our football superiors, but the NFL has a long way to go in terms of web design.