Today, was one of the most important days in the Egyptian history. Today, the people of Egypt finally decided to take their fate in their own hands. The popularity of the current government had been on the decline for quite some time but today was the day when the people, the power of Egypt, took to the streets to demand the oust of the 30 year-old corrupt and unpopular Mubarak regime. That’s enough about the politics of the matter on a technology blog. But read on to see what happened on the technology front.

This, along with the revolution in Tunisia has given us new perspective about the power of social media. It would not be wrong to say that Social Media was the prime catalyst in Revolution. Twitter and Facebook not only sped up these movements but also helped in organizing the protests. If you just take a look at the Egypt Revolution Facebook page or the Twitter tags #jan25 and #egypt , you would get some idea about the revolutionary potential of Social Media. The youth, being avid users of social media utilized this medium to recruit, organize and quick mass communication. What we thought of as mere fun socializing tools, or aggressive marketing tools at the most, have been used as weapons in a fight for their rights.

The power of social media, was in fact, too much, to handle for the government. And thus in a panicked move, the Mubarak regime ordered a full out Communication Blackout. It started with a ban on social media sites and in a matter of hours Internet was completely shutdown in the whole of Egypt. If this was not enough, cellular networks were also blocked. The following graph from arbor networks shows the dead tone of Internet traffic from Egypt.

The total Communications Blackout, however, did not stop Egypt from trending on Twitter. The international online community gathered to show support with tweets and even to help directly in whatever way they could.

Another interesting aspect of this whole saga was the use of Twitter as a news medium. Yes, it is true. I was monitoring the whole situation (ball to ball, as they say in cricket), and I found Twitter to be the quickest source of information, not the most authentic though. Information had to be self-filtered for rumors, but there very many reliable sources as Twitter accounts of news correspondents and news channels as well. Interestingly, news channels were even collecting information via social media, by prodding people on ground to share their pictures and experiences of the whole ordeal.

By the end of this whole saga, one thing is for sure, Social Media is here to stay and as time demands, it will be used in new and many innovative ways to serve a variety of purposes. Facebook and Twitter are no more just websites, but they have found a way into our lives and the intricate fabric of our society, such that, now, even our political movements and revolutions need Social Media.