Commentary: The impact of social networking tools on political change in Egypt’s “Revolution 2.0”

Social networking is a new driving force that has a significant global impact on political change. Few research studies have been published on the impact of social networking related to political change. This commentary discusses the impacts of social networking tools on the recent political changes in the eighteen-day Egyptian “Revolution 2.0” of 2011. We discuss a number of factors related to social networking that predisposed the people of Egypt to rise up in a revolt that stunned many observers, given its speed and dramatic outcome. Social network-related factors appear to have had a positive impact on Egyptians’ attitudes toward social change, which, in turn, supported their individual and aggregate behavior, leading to the revolution.