Social Media Will Test Regimes

The use of technology in political upheaval isn’t new. The fax machine played a critical role in 1989 in spreading information among dissidents during the fall of the former-Soviet bloc countries. Organizers of the 1979 Iranian Revolution relied to a degree on smuggled cassette tapes of inspirational speeches from opposition leaders. Twitter and Facebook are just the latest tools, albeit exponentially more powerful than anything before. That increased the impact on the Egyptian opposition from the recent ouster of the Tunisian leader.