Integration v. polarisation among social media users: Perspectives through social capital theory on the recent Egyptian political landscape

Abstract

There has been a growing debate about the extent to which social media has influenced the Arab World's recent revolutions described as the "Arab Spring". Despite difference in views concerning this issue, the role that social media played in enacting socio-political change is undeniable, a matter which attracted the interest of academia. Here, the power of social media in widening and strengthening relationships renovated and reinforced the concept of "social capital", which could lead to integration or acculturation amongst affected societies.Underpinned by a social capital theory and the acculturation process, this commentary article adopts a critical approach and draws on historical events from the 2011 Egyptian revolution and beyond. We claim that, social media lead to social capital creation and integration when some fundamental associated factors exist namely: the bonding, bridging and linking factors. Social media adoption lead to political integration when these factors existed during the Egyptian revolution and lead to polarisation when there was no contextual triggering factor before the revolution and no access to resources after the revolution. We provide some insightful perspectives on the role of social media in social-political change.

Counteraction to information influence in social networking services by means of fuzzy logic system

“…In particular, it can lead to mass protests of citizens, the radicalization of the society based on religious, ethnic, national and political grounds. The examples of "Colorful Revolutions" in the CIS together with "The Arab Spring" in the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate that achieving a reduction in the level of radicalization of society using existing legal mechanisms is a very challenging task [14][15][16]. In most cases, such events led not only to civil protests but also to the overthrow of governments, their change, civil wars and armed conflicts.…”

Digital consumer culture and digital acculturation

“…The surge of extreme right and significant popularity of radical left political views across the West provide a plausible explanation for this trend. This phenomenon coincides with if not is co-constructed with the social media and digital technology led lifestyle that breaks barriers and enables people to have their voice and views heard (Ali et al 2019;Sorour and Dey, 2014), does not matter if it lacks political correctness and/or contravenes liberal ethos (Grover et al 2019;Jamal et al 2019). Social media at the same time divides and segregates people (Yen and , although popular norms suggest that it converges consumers and their cultures across the world.…”

Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and Audit Fee: Conflicting Evidence from Iran

“…Clearly, by having social media that can express one's thoughts and feelings, we can see the formation of subjective social norms that will surely improve the quality of social capital. In this regard, Ali et al (2019) proved that social media bring about social capital' creation. Habes et al (2021) also witnessed a positive relationship between the intensity of news personal sharing and social capital, bridging social capital, and self-esteem.…”