Can social media impact social movements?

Wow! I realized I haven't updated this blog in over year. Time sure does fly I must say. But a lot has happened over the past year; some good and some bad. One good thing: I graduated SUNY Oneonta with a degree with a Bachelors in communications and a minor in public relations. But one bad thing: trying to find a job in this economy has not been easy.
But lately I've been addicted to the HBO TV hit show called The Newsroom. One episode did remind me of a blog post I wrote for my new media class regarding social media and social movements. It was the fifth episode of the first season. The action begins on February 10, 2011, while News Night is covering unrest in Egypt following President Mubarak’s refusal to resign.
This episode reminds me that in our society there are many ways for people to communicate with one another. The truth is social networking sites have become a much more popular way for people to communicate with another. The use of these social networking websites has increased as well over the past decade. People not only used social networking websites to communicate with one another, they can connect to network professionally, and to spread awareness and news for social movements. One example is if social networking sites being used in social movements is in Egypt when a revolution broke out. The country was able to gather their support for what they believed in on Facebook. They rallied together online for support to make their point. Time Magazine published an article January 24, 2011 titled "Is Egypt About to Have a Facebook Revolution?." The article talks about a campaign of non-violence and civil resistance, which featured a series of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, and labor strikes discusses how several Facebook groups were created. This resulted with the Egyptian government shuingt down internet access for most of the country. While this was done to cripple one of the main organizational tools, it impeded the flow of news and people. This showed how one whole country could unify through new media, Egypt was able to show the entire world that new media such as Facebook is able to connect and unify people in different places.