How Journalists Are Using Social Media to Report on the Egyptian Demonstrations

With the Internet still inaccessible for the majority of people in Egypt, much of the international community is relying on journalists with satellite phones for real-time updates on the violent protests calling for Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power.

The demonstrations are continuing despite the government’s attempts to block communications channels, including the Internet, SMS, TV broadcast by journalists, and mobile networks. Pundits have been weighing in on the role of social media in sparking the uprising, and whether it is a necessary ingredient in accelerating modern revolutions or simply an over-hyped notion.

In some respects, the attempt to block communication has done little to stifle reports coming out of the country. Though much of the citizenry isn’t able to broadcast themselves, their stories are being told and amplified by reporters. What’s interesting is that the information flowing out is a hybrid of the “old school” reliance on reports from journalists on location and “new school” amplification through the social web. 

Real Time Tweets

Journalists on location have been updating their Twitter accounts with 140-character stories. Ben Wedeman of CNN has been posting noteworthy updates. Sometimes they are quotes from sources he’s interviewing and other times he is simply commenting on his observations.

Though Twitter use by journalists for reporting isn’t anything new, what’s notable is that it has evolved and matured since the Iran elections, with more journalists using the tool for real-time updates. Also, several news organizations like NPR, CNN, The New York Times, Al-Jazeera English and others have curated Twitter lists of journalists and citizens tweeting from Egypt

Facebook Storytelling

 Journalists like Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times have not only utilized Twitter for short updates, but also Facebook Pages. Kristof has been posting rich and detailed updates to his Facebook Page based on his reporting. He’s not only including information about the demonstrations, but also his observations of and personal reactions to the tense situations on the streets of Cairo.

The challenge is that Facebook is often difficult to search through and the news feed shows posts based on an algorithm. However, it’s clear that information from journalists and citizens regarding the Egyptian demonstrations is being posted regularly on the platform.

Live Streaming & YouTube Videos

After having their Cairo bureau closed and press credentials revoked by Egyptian authorities, Al-Jazeera journalists continued to tweet and call in anonymously to report on the protests to the news organization’s live stream. Al-Jazeera English and other news organizations like Russia Today utilized YouTube to post updated video reports on the demonstrations.

Live Blogs

Journalists on the ground in Egypt and web producers of news organizations live blogged updates to their websites. The Washington Post’s live blog of the Egypt protests often curated information being posted across the social web, such as tweets and videos from journalists on location. Katharine Zaleski, executive producer and head of digital news products at The Post, said the social media team has been updating the blog with all relevant updates coming from Twitter, Facebook and other platforms since the protests began.

Other notable live blogs include The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, Guardian, BBC, and The Huffington Post.

Tumblr Curation

Utilizing its newly launched curated topic pages feature, Tumblr has created an Egypt page that is being curated and contributed to by journalists and news organizations like The Atlantic. Playing to the strengths of Tumblr, the page includes an array of short updates, videos and photos from Cairo, while crediting original sources.

The page enables you to sort based on curated, popular and real-time posts that include the #Egypt tag. Anthony De Rosa, a technologist at Reuters, is the top contributor to the page, updating his own Tumblr regularly with the latest and notable updates on Egypt.

Audioboo Updates

On top of opening up all of its content under creative commons, Al-Jazeera has been posting audio reports from its journalists to Audioboo, which makes it easy to record shareable audio recordings on-the-go from your mobile device and contextualizes that recording with the location, available photos and other information.

The report below, for example, came from an Al-Jazeera detained by Egyptian authorities. They were shortly released after, but their video equipment was confiscated. producer shortly after he and his colleagues were

 

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