The media essay of the Tunisian Revolution
The Tunisian uprising began as a spontaneous protest against unemployment and the shattered expectations of youth in an increasingly educated society and a growing middle class, says Ragui Assaad. However, Tunisia's million residents and two million foreign citizens are avid users of technology: 85 of the population have cell phones and five smartphones, and about two million of them are on Facebook. At the time of the revolution, Twitter had a much smaller footprint, with active users within the country's borders.