A young man in his twenties wanted to express his gratitude about the victories the youth of 25th of January have achieved and chose to express it in the form of naming his firstborn girl “Facebook” Jamal Ibrahim (his name.) The girl’s family, friends, and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. “Facebook” received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name. A name [Facebook] that shocked the entire world.
There are five million Facebook users in Egypt, more so than any other country in the Middle East/North Africa region. Facebook itself has reported an increase in Egyptian users in the past month, with 32,000 Facebook groups and 14,000 pages created in the two weeks after January 25th.
While the baby girl could just have easily been called “YouTube,” “Twitter” “Google” or even “Cellphone Camera,” it seems like Facebook has become the umbrella symbol for how social media can spread the message of freedom. There are countless manefestation of this, the above graffiti in Cairo, “Thank you Facebook” protest sign, and Wael Ghonim himself personally expressing his gratitude to Mark Zuckerberg on CNN.
Imagine walking into your first floor apartment , at 5 in the morning, after an eleven hour shift waiting tables in 6-inch heels to a butt naked stranger sitting on your sofa. What would be your first reaction? Well, a 21 year old Old Dominion student was frozen in disbelief when she got home early Sunday morning. She immediately called police and reported an intruder in her home. The victim, who will remain nameless, had never seen the perpetrator before so she asked him who he was and who he was there to see. In return, he gave her no answer. Instead, he asked where his maintenance key was, put his pants on and walked out the door. He vandalized the victims room, stole the cash out of her wallet and took her roommate’s spare car key. A police report has been filed. There was no proof of forced entry, so how the delusional man got into the apartment is still unclear.
