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Even though the authoritarian leadership of Egypt did everything in their power to completely block Internet access, protesters are still finding ways to post information on the current uprising in the country online. Social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and video sharing sites, such as You Tube, have been the main source for people around the world to follow the developments in Egypt in real time. Protesters were using these websites, as well as emails and text messages, to coordinate their efforts and spread information.

There is no doubt that social media networks are playing an important role in the latest uprising in Egypt. Just as Tunisians before them, Egyptian protesters are doing their part in capturing and disseminating the truth directly from the field. These armies of protesters are equipped with tools that allow them to become reporters, taking pictures from the scene and uploading them on social networks, posting comments about the most recent developments on the streets and giving the public the most raw and uncensored version of what is really going on. Journalists on the ground and protesters alike have been sending live updates on the protests via micro-blogging website Twitter.

This level of reporting is something that the traditional media channels in the country cannot compete with, looking at the speed in which new information is surfacing and finding its way to the Internet through smartphones and computers of the participants of this historic revolution in Egypt.

Disturbing videos of brutal treatment of protesters by the members of the law enforcement have been shared via Internet spreading the truth from the epicenter of Egyptian protests. The viral nature of these videos and the incredible volume and speed in which news on the recent events in Egypt are becoming available to the wider public and across country’s borders is what pushed Egyptian authorities to try and control the social media and attempt to cut off the Internet entirely.

Empowered with the new media tools, opponents of the Egyptian regime are accelerating the uprising, which Mubarak saw as a huge threat and resorted to cutting off Internet communications and trying to deactivate mobile towers. Since all the major Internet providers’ services were cut off last Friday, Egyptians turned to older and much slower technologies to keep the communication alive and started using fax machines and dial-up Internet connections. Monday night, the last remaining Internet provider in Egypt, The Noor Group, was taken offline.

As a response to this, search giant Google and the most popular micro-blogging site Twitter teamed up to launch a service that will allow Egyptians to send Tweeter messages by leaving a voicemail on a specific number. This means that they will still be able to tweet their messages without having the Internet connection. This service uses Google’s speech-to-text recognition to automatically translate a message left on the number, which will be sent out on Twitter with the “#egypt” hashtag. The three phone numbers for people to call to use the service are: +16504194196; +390662207294; and +97316199855.

When it comes to traditional media, latest to be shut down by the Egyptian government is the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, with their Cairo news hub being closed on Sunday. This was yet another attempt to censor and restrict information about the protest in the country and to control the distribution of information. Al-Jazeera has restlessly reported on the uprising against the regime of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and was criticized by government supporters for causing additional tension among the public.

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