The role of social media in mobilizing political protest

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The Tunisian uprising that led to the ousting of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 was notable for its diverse support base. Contrary to the belief that a co-opted middle class underpins stability in authoritarian regimes, the revolution emerged from a coalition uniting an alienated intellectual elite, rural poor, and urban middle classes against the regime. While it's commonly assumed that modern communication technologies and social media were crucial to this coalition, the precise interaction of these tools with other contextual factors remains less clear. This analysis draws on evidence from the protests between December 2010 and January 2011, expert interviews with Tunisian bloggers, and a web survey of Tunisian Facebook users. It posits that social media played a vital role by (1) enabling a 'digital elite' to form networks and bypass national media restrictions, facilitating information flow to mainstream outlets; (2) addressing the 'free rider' problem in collective action by publicizing the scale of protests; and (3) fostering a national collective identity that transcended geographical and socio-economic divides, providing a shared emotional grievance that galvanized support for protest actions.