The Internet and the (Relative) Opening of Communication channels in Arab World

I came across a BBC news article whose news was not surprising but nonetheless a snapshot of a very interesting development currently ongoing in the Arab World: relative liberalization (opening) of communication channels to share news and information, expand personal contacts, and for entertainment purposes.

I have chosen to regard the opening as relative for the obvious, and maybe not-so-obvious, reasons. Of course, the obvious reasons include whether the promise of opening can resist any challenges by the state and its authorities, such as the technical (e.g. the blocking of IP addresses of websites) and non-technical (e.g. arrests and harassments of bloggers). But, the second-to-last paragraph in the BBC article struck me as significant as its headline, perhaps implicitly raising a question into what seem as less obvious dynamics associated with the online expansion:

"But the survey does not provide a detailed breakdown of how it is used in Arab countries - for example how much of it is for chatting and making friends and how much is for political and social campaigning."

I took this question and extended it into further pondering: whether, and what to extent, non-political challenges exist from within non-state elements.

One should champion the extension and expansion of freedom in the press and other communication media, but would hope that such freedom would be accompanied by meaningful pursuits/usage---to balance out any time misspent frivolously and merely as a tool for entertainment where it could have been put to better use. So I view the liberalization of communication provided by internet applications to young Arabs with guarded optimism. It is too early to decisively and definitively tell whether, and to what extent, the opportunities found in the expansion of non-traditional communication technology will be meaningfully exploited. [Nonetheless, we should champion the expansion of such technology as a matter of principle---as a *potential* (if not yet fully realized) vehicle for fostering and preserving vibrant interaction.]

In the Arab World, there is evidence of efforts towards using technologies such as Facebook as vehicles for change, sharing of meaningful information, etc. But, for now, such efforts appear to have little appeal or reach beyond small core groups. I doubt that more broader segments of their societies--the people they most need to engage--have access to activities and interactions of the small groups. Maybe this disconnect is related to the state and political restrictions on communication, but maybe it is also related to socio-economic, sub-cultural and/or other differences and factors that could influence uncertainty in the willingness and ability of various societal segments to engage with one another and that could influence prioritizing over how cyberspace social networking and similar applications will be effectively used.