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From tribe to facebook : the transformational role of social networks / Jamal Sanad Al-Suwaidi. Suwaidi, Jamal S., author.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates : Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2013.
165 pages : color illustrations ; 22 cm + 1 computer disc (2 1/2 x 3 in.)
The effects of online social networking have been transformed at a global level and nowhere more so than in the Arab world. Influencing politics, economics, society, security and the media, these online networks have become a means for people to voice their opinion, meet others with similar views and often organize themselves into coherent groups (whether activist or not). Jamal Al-Suwaidi argues that social networks have led to a societal shift from a tribal mentality to that of a Facebook group mentality. Within the architecture of social networks, each group of users had its own common orientation and outlook - effectively forming an allegiance of its own. These 'virtual' allegiances combine with 'real' ones in order to characterize the new social structures of the twenty-first century. From Tribe to Facebook charts the impact of this trend in order to explore and analyze the potential outcomes of the accelerated development of social networks.