REVIEWING THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK IN EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION IN FEBRUARY 2011

The Main purpose of this study is to review the role of social media, Facebook in particular, in the Egyptian revolution in February. The main questions include: Has the development of social media, such as Facebook, been effective in the success of this revolution? Can this development lead to other changes or revolutions? Is it true that information technology had an effective role in this revolution? Reuters calls it "Revolution caused by Facebook" and Alec Ross, Hillary Clinton's chief advisor, calls Internet "the 21st Century Che Guevara", to what extent, are these statements true? Adopting the library-document research method, in response to these questions we must say Facebook and other social media had an effective role in directing the revolution through three roles: calling for protests, managing the gathering and movements of participants, and distributing news and information. The effect was so high that some call it an example of "Internet Revolution" which is great change in culture stemming from social media. Furthermore, considering the rapid development of modern communication tools and their usage in sociopolitical changes, more changes and revolutions are very likely. In fact, the Egyptian Revolution can be called a Facebook Revolution and 21st Century Che Guevara, because Facebook accelerated its developments.