Fighting Together for #Egypt #Freedom

In April 2008 a student "tweeted" his way out of an Egyptian jail. James Karl Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley was arrested during his visit in Mahalla, Egypt.

He and his translator were both participating in an anti-government protest when the police arrested them and took them to the police station. Buck, being a tech-savy guy took his chances and used his cell phone to send a message to Twitter with only one short word, "arrested". After this message he managed to send new updates every few hours.

His only luck was that somehow the police let him keep his phone. Among many others one Cairo-based blogger from UC Berkeley started to write posts on his blog based on Bucks' tweets to get the information to the public regarding his whereabouts. One thing led to the other and it all ended up with Bucks' university hiring a lawyer and getting him out of jail.

Let's mention what Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said about this story.

"James' case is particularly compelling to us because of the simplicity of his message -one word, 'arrested' - and the speed with which the whole scene played out. It highlights the simplicity and value of a real-time communication network that follows you wherever you go."

It all happened back in 2008 when Twitter was only 2 years old, this year being a real breakthrough for the communication channel. This story is much bigger than only one man, one case or one startup and our habits in communication changed with the rise of what we call "social media."

Now let's jump to present-day. I bet you have all heard about the unrest in Egypt. The spheres of the net are full of rich and even exotic content like this interview with one of the most vigorous tweeters from Tahrir Square. It was 7 PM on February 2nd, 2011 and according to BBC's Live Coverage:

"The BBC's Paul Adams in Cairo describes the atmosphere in Tahrir Square as a bit like a rock concert before the band comes on stage."

We all remember how It's started...the biggest moment of the crisis for me and for the people who care about Cairo happened when we heard about the Egyptian government blocking social media sites, mobile phone networks and finally cutting off internet service. It's not that easy to freeze all communication channels nowadays because when it comes to technology you can always find another way... and they did.

Just imagine being stuck at Tahrir Square without any tools for communication or getting your message to the world. Sometimes It's hard to imagine how we could live without cell phones, Facebook or even internet. Now we all have witnessed the search giant Google siding with Twitter to provide free service to the protesters of Egypt. It was "an online voicemail service, providing a link to each message, sent out on Twitter with the "#egypt" hashtag."

Such stories prove that channels such as Twitter aren't just meaningless tools for overly-bored people and when it comes to real needs they can be far more than useful. We're facing each day of new applications, platforms, and startups rising from nothing and they all want our attention and time. You can hate them or love them but what Google and Twitter did for protesters in Egypt is something I call "the real power of social media".

We all must heed this: social media consist of tools that benefit people using technology and if anyone tries to restrict their freedom of speech they will fight back using these tools. You can't cut people from any communication form anymore no matter how hard you try.

[UPDATE] 11. 02. 2012. Mubarak has resigned.