Egypt, Jordan discuss boosting agricultural cooperation    UK inflation accelerates in June on transport costs    Egypt rejects Gaza tent city proposals    Egypt condemns Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Syria    Al-Sisi reviews Egypt's food security, strategic commodity reserves    Egypt signs strategic agreements to attract global investment in gold, mineral exploration    Syria says it will defend its territory after Israeli strikes in Suwayda    Tut Group launches its operations in Egyptian market for exporting Egyptian products    China's urban jobless rate eases in June '25    Egypt's Health Minister reviews drug authority cooperation with WHO    Egypt urges EU support for Gaza ceasefire, reconstruction at Brussels talks    Pakistan names Qatari royal as brand ambassador after 'Killer Mountain' climb    Health Ministry denies claims of meningitis-related deaths among siblings    Egypt, Mexico explore joint action on environment, sustainability    Egypt, Mexico discuss environmental cooperation, combating desertification    Needle-spiking attacks in France prompt government warning, public fear    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    CIB finances Giza Pyramids Sound and Light Show redevelopment with EGP 963m loan    Egypt's PM urges BRICS to prioritise peace    Greco-Roman tombs with hieroglyphic inscriptions discovered in Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Follow the leader: Social media at the Sawy Culture Wheel
Published in Almasry Alyoum on 07 - 11 - 2010

On Friday, Cairo has its first Young Leaders Social Media Café, a meeting of the leaders of the new digital generation of young Egyptians. After the success achieved by the same initiative in Beirut, Lebanon and Amman, Egypt's social media leaders launched the café at the Sawy Culture Wheel.
As Wael Abbas, award-winning Egyptan blogger and human rights activist and one of the organizers of the project, explained to Al-Masry Al-Youm, “The idea was brought up during the Young Leader Visitor Program (YLVP),” and started in 2008 by the Swedish Institute and the Intercultural Leadership Program, with the aim to support the expression of young opinion makers through a combination of personal experience and practical growth. “Establishing a long-lasting relationship between Sweden, the Middle East and North Africa by connecting and strengthening influential voices,” is the main goal, as stated on the website.
Two Egyptian (Abbas and Engy Ghozlan) and Swedish speakers (Jockem Jandenberg and Heidi Harman) tackled different themes related to the power social media has in shaping public opinion and improving life. Jandenberg, social media expert and one of the organizers of YLVP, gave a presentation on the power of social media, focusing on the incredible growth of Facebook during the recent years, reaching “about 500 million users in both Sweden and Egypt.” However, as Jandenberg explained, “The European country has about 9 million people, while Egypt registers a population of about 79 million, decreasing the percentage of the Internet users to 5 percent in comparison to the 50 percent of the Swedish population which was first acquainted with the Internet at the age of four.”
In the new era, where “we're no longer looking for the news, but the news looks for us,” social media seems to be an indispensable part of our everyday life. But not all the effects are positive. According to Jandenberg, one of the steps toward becoming a social media user is “building our identity online, rather than carrying our existing identity [in the digital world].”
Do we, in the process, lose our identity? “This is definitely a downside of social media, which is probably clearer in Western countries than in Egypt. We still haven't reached that point. Here, social media focuses on making changes because the society needs improvement. Some problems are maybe already here, but they're still limited; the positive side is right now bigger than the negative one.”
The “I share, therefore I am” philosophy, for which the content loses its importance in the face of our insatiable desire to be part of the global conversation, has created knowledge. Remembering all the information is useless when we can confirm things online in a matter of moments. How can we create our background in this new digital world? Will we lose the ability to stimulate our memory?
Social media has had some positive effects so far, like trying to tackle sexual harassment, a social evil that is dangerously spreading among the youngest population, as some participants suggested. Harassmap.org, an user-generated project that allows women to report cases of street harassment by SMS, is a map that shows the “hot-spots” of sexual harassment, trying to both give a voice to women and be a reliable tool for the police. The map will be operative in the next two weeks, and in the pilot phase for six months.
The issue was deepened by Abbas through the screenings of some of videos, shot by him, which witness cases of harassment and abuse in Egypt. As the bloggers said, “Sexual harassment was a taboo only a few years ago; many Egyptians used to say that it didn't happen.” Unfortunately, the situation is still worrying, “because of the way women are perceived of as inferior creatures, and of wrong religious and cultural beliefs. These ideas are being spread by religious channels and websites that claim that women shouldn't mix with men, and should only stay at home and raise kids.”
According to Abbas, the situation is changing thanks to social media, even though “change requires time. We're tightly monitored and controlled; besides, we're not as powerful as TV satellite, which can be watched by millions of people.” The audience at Sawy Culture Wheel responded positively to the event, and were enlivened by enjoyable intermezzi from the Swedish singer Rebekka Karijord. According to Sara al-Demerdash, presenter and organizer of the event, the gathering will be repeated soon with different themes each time, organized, naturally, on Facebook.


Clic here to read the story from its source.