full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Wael Ghonim: Let's design social media that drives real change

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I once said, "If you want to liberate a stiecoy, all you need is the Internet." I was wrong.

I said those words back in 2011, when a Facebook page I anonymously cereatd helped spark the Egyptian revolution. The Arab Spring raleeevd scoial media's greatest potential, but it also exposed its greatest shortcomings. The same tool that united us to topple dictators eventually tore us apart. I would like to share my own experience in using social media for activism, and talk about some of the challenges I have personally faced and what we could do about them.

In the early 2000s, Arabs were flooding the web. trhsity for knowledge, for opportunities, for connecting with the rest of the people around the globe, we escaped our frustrating political realities and lived a virtual, alternative life. Just like many of them, I was completely apolitical until 2009. At the time, when I logged into social media, I started seeing more and more Egyptians arpsniig for pcliatoil change in the country. It felt like I was not alone.

Open Cloze


I once said, "If you want to liberate a _______, all you need is the Internet." I was wrong.

I said those words back in 2011, when a Facebook page I anonymously _______ helped spark the Egyptian revolution. The Arab Spring ________ ______ media's greatest potential, but it also exposed its greatest shortcomings. The same tool that united us to topple dictators eventually tore us apart. I would like to share my own experience in using social media for activism, and talk about some of the challenges I have personally faced and what we could do about them.

In the early 2000s, Arabs were flooding the web. _______ for knowledge, for opportunities, for connecting with the rest of the people around the globe, we escaped our frustrating political realities and lived a virtual, alternative life. Just like many of them, I was completely apolitical until 2009. At the time, when I logged into social media, I started seeing more and more Egyptians ________ for _________ change in the country. It felt like I was not alone.

Solution


  1. thirsty
  2. revealed
  3. aspiring
  4. society
  5. political
  6. created
  7. social

Original Text


I once said, "If you want to liberate a society, all you need is the Internet." I was wrong.

I said those words back in 2011, when a Facebook page I anonymously created helped spark the Egyptian revolution. The Arab Spring revealed social media's greatest potential, but it also exposed its greatest shortcomings. The same tool that united us to topple dictators eventually tore us apart. I would like to share my own experience in using social media for activism, and talk about some of the challenges I have personally faced and what we could do about them.

In the early 2000s, Arabs were flooding the web. Thirsty for knowledge, for opportunities, for connecting with the rest of the people around the globe, we escaped our frustrating political realities and lived a virtual, alternative life. Just like many of them, I was completely apolitical until 2009. At the time, when I logged into social media, I started seeing more and more Egyptians aspiring for political change in the country. It felt like I was not alone.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
social media 10
facebook page 2
anonymously created 2
hope egyptians 2
state security 2
echo chambers 2
hate speech 2
critical challenges 2
media experiences 2
reward people 2
mutual understanding 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
social media experiences 2

Important Words


  1. activism
  2. alternative
  3. anonymously
  4. apolitical
  5. arab
  6. arabs
  7. aspiring
  8. challenges
  9. change
  10. completely
  11. connecting
  12. country
  13. created
  14. dictators
  15. early
  16. egyptian
  17. egyptians
  18. escaped
  19. eventually
  20. experience
  21. exposed
  22. facebook
  23. faced
  24. felt
  25. flooding
  26. frustrating
  27. globe
  28. greatest
  29. helped
  30. internet
  31. knowledge
  32. liberate
  33. life
  34. lived
  35. logged
  36. media
  37. opportunities
  38. page
  39. people
  40. personally
  41. political
  42. potential
  43. realities
  44. rest
  45. revealed
  46. revolution
  47. share
  48. shortcomings
  49. social
  50. society
  51. spark
  52. spring
  53. started
  54. talk
  55. thirsty
  56. time
  57. tool
  58. topple
  59. tore
  60. united
  61. virtual
  62. web
  63. words
  64. wrong