I've read a lot of sort of abstract analysis of how social media is impacting revolution or protest in various countries including Egypt, Libya, and the United States, and had a lot of discussion both socially and academically about the effect is can have and is having on such demonstrations, but for the most part it is in a general sense. I've certainly seen specific examples of social media causing change, but mostly it is as a result of things happening after the fact—a story or video of protest or violence going viral and reaching people through the use of social media. This book is interesting because it details the "before": how Ghonim and his fellow protestors were inspired by an "after" (the death of Kahled Said, whose story went viral) and used social media, mainly facebook to organize protest throughout Egypt. The book is definitely a memoir rather than a historical account—some of the personal details Ghonim includes have little connection to the events he is documenting, at least to this reader—but this helps to capture the thoughts and emotions he was feeling at the time as both a key figure in the protests but also as a husband and father who feared for his own safety and that of his family. Having followed the Egyptian revolution in the news when it occurred, I feel I know many of the basic facts of it so anything lacking on this front didn't much matter to me, and the insider's view was invaluable in providing an account of the protesters' perspectives, although I also liked that Ghonim tried to be largely unbiased in his reporting, not demonising even those in power but just promoting the message of peace and change. It is an inspiring story, and an important one in an age when digital communication is becoming more and more prevalent and powerful.

The Arab Spring is widely held as heralding many protests around the world, including Occupy Wall Street. This book, written by the man who was instrumental in organizing the protests in Egypt, is fascinating for its explanation of how social networking has changed world revolution.

Egypt in 2007, which is where Ghonim's story begins, was poised on a political knife edge. The regime feared the people and sought to vanquish dissidents, while the people themselves sought more political rights and civil liberties. At the time, Ghonim was working for Google and had recently married an American woman. In 2010, they moved to Dubai, but returned frequently to Egypt.

On April 6, 2008, the workers at Al-Mahalla Textiles called for a strike due to economic conditions. Activists started Facebook pages in support of the strike, one of which had 70,000 followers. This was at a time when most demonstrations attracted a few hundred protesters at best. On the day of the strike, there was some limited street activity, and an unknown number of people stayed home from work in protest. However, this action sent out a clear signal that the internet could be a new force in Egyptian politics.

In February of 2010, Ghonim created a Facebook page in support of Mohamed ElBaradei, a political moderate who was running against Mubarak for President of Egypt. He enlisted the aid of AbdelRahman Mansour as co-administrator. The page grew in "likes" exponentially as word of it spread. Additionally, Ghonim used Google Moderator to hold an event where voters could ask ElBaradei questions. People from the 150,000 members of his Facebook page posted 1,300 questions that received 60,000 votes. Needless to say, the event was a great success.

On June 8, 2010, while browsing a friend's Facebook page, Ghonim saw a photograph of a twenty-eight year old man from Alexandria who had been beaten to death by two police officers on June 6. "For me," Ghonim wrote, "Khaled Said's image offered a terrible symbol of Egypt's condition." Ghonim decided to create a Facebook page called "Kullena Khaled Said" - "We are all Khaled Said." His first post read, "Today they killed Khaled. If I don't act for his sake, tomorrow they will kill me." In the next two minutes, his page garnered three hundred members.

The strategy of the Facebook page was ultimately to mobilize public support in favor of political, social, and economic justice in Egypt. First by reading the posts; second by interacting with the content by writing comments and pressing the "like" button; third to get them to participate in the page's online campaigns and to contribute content themselves; fourth by taking their activism to the street: this was Ghonim's plan for involving the readers of Khaled's page.

The first actions that took place in the street were called Silent Stands. Each person held hands with the person on either side and prayed. The intent was to show opposition through non-violent action. The turnout for the first one on June 18, 2010 was huge, with Silent Stands being held in Cairo and Alexandria. Every photo sent to the admins was posted on Facebook.

The next day, five thousand people participated in a survey about the first Silent Stand. Input from this and other surveys was used to plan other protests, and to instantly respond to the needs of the Facebook page's members. For example, some people critized the formation of an English language version of Kullena Khaled Said. Ghonim took a poll, and of those answering, 78% were in favor of an English language version. Mohamed Ibrahim, an Egyptian living in the UK, set the page up immediately.

Two more Silent Stands took place. The following Friday, July 23, 2010, was the date of the 1952 Egyptian revolution. The two suspects accused of murdering Khaled Said would be tried in the following week. Ghonim posted that the next Silent Stand would be July 23, and called it, "The Revolution of Silence."

Ghonim cut out a scene from one of his favorite movies, V for Vendetta, and posted it on Khaled's page. Other clips from the movie followed, translated from English for Egyptian viewers.

The July 23 action was not as well attended as had been hoped, but something changed during this protest. Protesters decided to march to the home of Khaled Said's mother. A number of protestors in this group as well as other places were harassed and arrested. Ghonim and many others in the nascent movement were adamant that only non-violent tactics be used. Given the fact that, as the crowds grew in size, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups were joining in the protests, it became necessary to reach out to people in the other groups and to try to find a consensus on how to act in the streets.

September, 2010, the Facebook suspended the Khaled Said page. Since the page had been set up with fake accounts to protect the identities of its admins, Facebook felt justified in taking this step. It also said that numerous complaints had been made. When two people agreed to use their real names as admins, the page was reopened. Because of all this bother, and the fact that the Silent Stands were beginning to lose their effectiveness, Ghonim felt discouraged and thought that perhaps the time to protest was at an end. At the end of the year, the 2010 parliamentary elections in Egypt were the most corrupted in history. That did nothing for his morale.

What happened next could not have been more of a surprise. Ahmed Maher, the cofounder of the April 6 Youth Movement, and AbdelRahman Mansour, Khaled Said admin, suggested to Ghonim in separate conversations that Police Day, January 25, 2011, should be the day of a special demonstration. They would call on activists to "celebrate" the police's transgressions against Egyptian citizens with Silent Stands, an art campaign, a wall of fame that honored noble policemen, and a wall of shame that exposed criminals in uniform.

While the January 25 protest was being planned, the Arab Spring gained its first martyr. On December 10, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, an unlicensed vegetable cart operator in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, had his cart confiscated, and when he complained, he was slapped by a policewoman, humiliating him in public. He went to the police station to complain, but the officers refused to see him. At 11:30 that morning, he went back to the police station and set himself on fire as a protest. He did not die immediately, but lived until January 4, 2011. Protesters gathered at the police headquarters, where they were met with violence and tear gas. News of the protests grew and protests reached the capitol of Tunis by late December.

The Khaled Said Facebook page posted one article about the subject, but decided that they needed to concentrate on Egypt instead. Abuses by Egyptian police were seen as the chain around necks of the people: if the police could be neutralized, the regime would be neutralized. In the meantime, several Egyptians set themselves on fire following the example of Bouazizi. Security forces skirmished with activists in the streets. Pressure was building.

Locations for the January 25 action were not announced until hours before the protests began, in order to give Mubarak's forces less time to prepare. A number of locations were given so that people could join in the nearest one. Everything culminated in Tahrir Square, where security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to force demonstrators from the square for the night. The turnout for January 25 was phenomenal. Even though the protesters had been evicted from the Tahrir Square for the night, it was certain that even bigger numbers were poised to join the movement. Ghonim's burning question was: "Where is all this going?"

The demonstrations continued to grow. On the evening of January 27, Ghonim was arrested by state security forces after having dinner with Google colleagues in a quiet restaurant. He was blindfolded, thrown into a car and taken to a building where he would be interrogated. Ghomim immediately told them that he was the admin of the Khaled Said Facebook page, and that he was one of the organizers of the demonstrations that were surging through the streets. His interrogators did not believe most of what he said. They thought he was an instigator of a foreign plot. How could demonstrations be formulated a carried out by a bunch of people who did not know each other? It didn't make any sense!

Ghonim was tortured, intimidated and confined until Sunday, February 6. At that time , he was told that they had determined that he was not acting as a foreign agent, and he would be released. Meanwhile, the revolution continued to surge outside on the streets. Ghonim was unaware of all that had been happening.

After he was released, he worked as a part of the group that brokered Mubarak's removal from office. Mubarak sought to remain in Egypt with his Vice President in power. When people in Tahrir Square were informed of this, they started chanting, "Leave means go, in case you did not know!" Ghonim tried to put an online poll in place to survey the people's desires, but the server for the poll service crashed as thousands of people tried to access it. A group of political activists drew up a list of demands, ranging from Mubarak's leaving and the dissolution of his National Democratic Party, to new rounds of parliamentary elections, the arrest of all political prisoners from detainment, and the re-creation of the security apparatus. These demands were realized, beginning with Mubarak stepping down.

Change in Egypt is far from over. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood now head up the elected government, and time will tell if demonstrations will be needed again to make adjustments in the political order. Wael Ghonim is currently the administrator of another Facebook page, We Are All Hamza Alkhateeb, which seeks to publicize the atrocities that are occurring in Syria. He is on leave from Google.

Among the lessons learned from Egypt and the Arab Spring, I think the most important is that a better world is possible. When people unite to fight a common enemy, they are unstoppable. While leaders naturally emerge in any situation, the Arab Spring was essentially a leaderless movement. One my favorite slogans from Occupy Wall Street is, "Be the leader you seek." Each one of us has the ability and the drive to be that one guy with a computer and a group of like-minded friends who can go out and change the world. Now all we need is the will.