Web 2.0 tools and the uprising in Egypt

After the uprising in Egypt, I’ve come to see the web 2.0 on a whole new level. The new media are tools of empowerment for the humans all over the world, especially for the marginalized and oppressed. I experienced first- hand how the new media and the web 2.0 tools can be used to organize country wide protests and topple a regime that had been ruling for over thirty years. The strength and power these tools bring have shifted the perception of millions of people of the new media from being just tools for social networking and into empowering tools that can bring about social change and justice.

Web 2.0 are innovative tools, and if used correctly could have a major social impact in connecting the world. Imagine a young person tweeting about her life from a small village in the Middle East and having her followers at the other side of the world being able to get a glimpse of her daily life. Web 2.0 turns the world into a global village where people can easily follow news from all over the world.

For me, web 2.0 has been an empowering tool since it allowed me to communicate with others in a better way. I’ve always been better in communicating my thoughts in writing than in speaking, and so I find complete joy in communicating my thoughts, values and ideas through the new written media than through speaking. It also allowed me to have rich relationships with people from diverse backgrounds, which deepened my understanding on different issues. Also, I’ve been using the web 2.0 tools to communicate with my community when I traveled for my fellowship this year, and being connected to your community when you’re away is definitely a bliss that the web 2.0 tools have brought to our generation.