SOCIAL MEDIA AND GLOBALIZATION: MEASURING THE IMPACT

The social process of globalization has been long debated during the past decades. The critics of globalization focus on the constraints imposed on governments by international markets and organisations and the limitations of the global civic society and social policies. This article argues that social media have altered the evolution of globalization and increased the process of civic and political participation, during the process of globalization. There are several effective ways of using the internet as a global tool of outreach. Social media and networking tools have been extremely effective towards political and social change, as evidenced by political unrest case studies in the Middle East. In this study, we will discuss how globalization has been enforced by the use and development of the internet. Furthermore, we will see how social media tools facilitated the process of democratization and how they affected political activism and challenged traditional societies in the Arab world. Arguably, the powerful impact of social media continues to challenge global politics. However, it remains to be seen whether they will become the, driving force. of globalization themselves.