Social Media in the Syrian Revolution

Abstract

In 2010, Tunisia saw the beginning of a wave of protests that quickly spread
throughout nearly the entire Arab world. With this wave of rebellion, the Middle East region,
particularly the Arab countries, entered a period of change and instability. The “Syrian Revolution”
or “Syrian Civil War” started in March 2011 in the Syrian city of Der’a after the rebellion movements,
which also reached Syria, spread to the entire nation. Because of the ongoing civil war, which
has not yet been completely ended, Syria remains unstable. This investigation aims to show how
social media, in particular, has impacted the Syrian conflict. Through an examination of the “media addiction theory,” the study in this context discusses the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive effects
of communication tools on the general public. It has been attempted to provide a new understanding
of the role of social media in the Syrian revolution with a descriptive approach focusing on nonrandom samples by emphasizing the connection of social media use with social studies. The study
also sought to assess the circumstances surrounding the hypothetical phenomena’ emergence, as well
as the function of the aforementioned tools in the process, as well as their effects and experiences.