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Can social media sway Egypt's youth vote?

The current presidential election campaigns in Egypt have witnessed an unprecedented use of the Internet and social media as a means of targeting young voters.
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Since the electoral campaigning period got underway in the Egyptian presidential elections, it has become clear that both candidates for the job, former army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, have resorted to unusual advertising avenues to advance their campaigns. In the past, election season in Egypt was synonymous with the spread of giant banners erected by the candidates along the streets, surrounded by posters carrying their pictures, or slogans plastered on city walls and supplemented by radio and television ads.

This form of traditional campaigning was further enhanced during the 2012 elections by public relations efforts on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in an attempt to keep up with the times and reach the younger generation. The youth proved the efficacy of these sites to effect change on the ground, when they used Facebook to light the spark for the January 25 Revolution.

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