Friday, February 18, 2011

INTERNET: Facebook, friend of Egyptian and Tunisian authorities

Use rather than censor. This, it seems, the new approach that the military authorities in charge of the transition in Egypt have decided to adopt towards social networks. On Thursday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (AFSC) has opened its own page on Facebook where all Egyptians are invited to speak. Will stand out from the previous regime or simple phone communication?

"We ask the children of Egypt to ask their questions here and we will reply within 48 hours," reads the new page. Customers Egyptian, Arabic and more generally, have jumped at the chance. In one night, nearly 4,000 comments have been posted.

Besides messages of congratulation to the new strongman of Cairo, the main applications concern the release of prisoners and the preservation of the achievements of the revolution. Others may even make suggestions for the less original, as the surfer who moved its candidate for the post of Minister of Economy because, he says, is "a true nationalist and a good expert in economics" .

This gesture of opening 2.0 of the army intervenes while Amnesty International has made public Thursday, a new report accusing the authorities in Cairo to always use force against prisoners.The International Organization for Defense of Human Rights ensures even have proof that the past weekend, two inmates were killed as a result of abuse.

Light year Digital

Whether in Egypt or Tunisia, communicating via social networks have become indispensable for the new custodians of power.

In Tunis, the new ministers have mounted one after the other their Facebook page. First to have taken the plunge, February 8, the Ministry of Industry and Technology currently has more than 15,000 "fans" on his page.

But the member of the government's most popular social network is, ironically, the new interior minister, who managed to mobilize more than 115 000 "fans" in less than a week. Like his colleagues, however, that man does not publish official announcements. This Friday, the Prime Minister inaugurated, in turn, their Twitter account.

The examples of Egypt and Tunisia are certainly light years digital situation faced by other Arab states plagued by protests. Libya, Yemen and Algeria have none - or almost - official presence on Facebook or Twitter.Only Bahrain appears to be doing the game

The Ministry of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid Al Khalifa, have an account on the microblogging network. If, on the wire, the Bahraini chief diplomat recalls the events that stir his country, to better distinguish them from the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.

More pragmatically, the Interior Ministry made a regular item on the traffic situation in the capital Manama, where protests disrupt traffic on certain routes.