Wael Ghonim, one of the key the leaders of the social media campaign seen as instrumental during the Arab Spring, will be speaking at this year’s Dublin Web Summit, the organisers confirmed today.
Ghonim (@Ghonim | Google+), a former marketer for Google, founded the “Kullena Khaled Said” Facebook page, named in honour of the 28-year-old from Alexandria who was beaten to death by Egyptian police on June 6, 2010.
Described by the New York Times as an “accidental activist” Ghonim’s Facebook page became the rallying point for individuals in Egypt and beyond. Ghonim is Nobel Peace Prize nominee and was named as one of Time’s 100 most influential people in 2011.
The Dublin Web Summit’s Paddy Cosgrave described the continuing impact of the Egyptian revolution;
“The Egyptian revolution was the first popular revolt that relied heavily on social media for its success. The web is revolutionising how politics is conducted across the world.” He added that Ghonim’s address will be part of a wider look at the influence social media is having on political events.
“We are also holding a special workshop on the Future of Political Communication and Governance in Europe at the Web Summit. Joe Greene, co-founder of NationBuilder will host the workshop and outline how NationBuilder is providing state-of-the-art digital organising technology to political campaigns around the world.”
The announcement comes a day after Twitter released an update to its promoted tweets system allowing political campaign managers to more accurately target users.
The Dublin Web Summit takes place on October 17 and 18.
