As the world watched, the disillusioned, disaffacted and unhappy people of Egypt protested against the long reigning despot Hosni Mubarak and in the process, brought Egypt to a standstill. What began as another hopeful attempt at change, snowballed in the desert sands into a full blown uprising. The pattern has been followed across the region. By the time Big Brother Mubarak stopped his denials and realized that his days were numbered, he took the unprecedented step of all cutting all communications in and out of the country. Needless to say, this only created further animosity and suspicion for both the people of Egypt and the outside world. Little did he expect that the telecoms rubberband would backfire so spectacularly in his authoritarian eye, ending his welloverstayed presidency. A husband that blocks his wife off Facebook only creates more suspicion. Multiply that by 82 million and you have an Egypt full of unhappy suspicious couples, all up for nasty fight, and in this case, a bitter and acrimonious divorce. Indeed, both Facebook and twitter played a pivotal role in the protests and eventual overthrow of Mr. Mubarak. Approximately 5 million Egyptians with active Facebook accounts used the social network to start a revolution..…when the now ex-president agreed to re-connect the country to the outside world. Al Jazeera reported that even the Egyptian Army had set up a Facebook page to further assist communications between the people of Egypt and the government. This is indeed a true sign of the times. There is no doubting the awesome power of the social network which clearly had the power to aid in such an historic event. All the more reason it might, just might, deserve a show of extreme gratitiude. Enter little Ms. Ibrahim or should we call her by her first name, Facebook. The world was, and remains in shock to hear the news of an Egyptian man named Jamal Ibrahim who recently named his newly born daughter ‘Facebook’ in honor of the social networking service. What’s next? Will the people of Libya give us the world’s first Twitter baby. Twitter Sennussi. It would only be fair. There are many children named Apple, and who knows whether this leaves them believing they are named after a fruit or a computer. With such a choice, most doting parents would probably never admit its because daddy was still besotted with his new ipad. Nevertheless, the events in Egypt and facebook’s and twitter’s role in the struggle, have shown the world what is possible and what incredible things can be done with the tools at our fingertips. For little Facebook Ibrahim, lets hope that Egypt’s Facebook revolution is not easily forgotten and that little Facebook does not bare the brutal teasing that may be expected from unforgiving young children. The playground can be a cruel and unjust place, with the echo of teasing, mockery and ridicule ringing in the poor child’s ears for years to come. For me, I’ll stick with Blackberry, after the fruit of course. Well, it’s better than Android Theron?
