Wael Ghonim: Let's design social media that drives real change
Wael Ghonim: Diseñemos medios sociales que impulsen un cambio real
Wael Ghonim believes that the Internet can be the most powerful platform for connecting humanity, if we can bring civility and thoughtful conversations back to it. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
que había creado anónimamente,
la revolución egipcia.
social media's greatest potential,
el gran poder de los medios sociales,
its greatest shortcomings.
to topple dictators
para derrocar dictadores,
in using social media for activism,
en las redes sociales y el activismo
a los que me enfrenté,
I have personally faced
buscando oportunidades
de la gente del mundo,
of the people around the globe,
frustrante realidad política
political realities
I was completely apolitical until 2009.
apolítico hasta el 2009.
into social media,
en los medios sociales,
en el país.
in the country.
of a tortured, dead body
de un cadáver torturado,
who was killed by police.
que la policía había matado.
and I decided to do something.
y decidí hacer algo.
had over 100,000 people,
más de 100 000 seguidores,
la misma preocupación.
the same concern.
tenía que parar.
AbdelRahman Mansour.
AbdelRahman Mansour.
ideas from the people.
no quería que los egipcios supieran.
did not want Egyptians to know.
de comunicación oficiales
media organizations
contra su régimen.
against his regime.
se estaban preguntando:
on Facebook and called it
la injusticia y la dictadura".
Injustice and Dictatorship."
of the page at the time:
que tenía en ese momento la página:
a las calles de El Cairo,
to the streets of Cairo,
reached over a million people,
llegado a más de un millón de personas,
su asistencia.
confirmed attendance.
for this campaign.
para esta campaña.
del movimiento.
de que no estaban solos
that they were not alone.
for the regime to stop it.
que el régimen lo parara.
even understand it.
the streets of Cairo and other cities,
las calles de El Cairo y otras ciudades,
the Internet and telecommunications,
Internet y las telecomunicaciones,
una calle oscura de El Cairo,
in Cairo, around midnight.
a massacre tomorrow."
una masacre mañana".
me rodeaban.
and the others paralyzed me.
me sujetó.
by state security.
la seguridad nacional.
e incluso morgues.
and even morgues.
era el administrador de la página
I was the admin of the page
my connection with that page,
con la página,
by state security.
la seguridad nacional.
a search campaign trying to find me,
de búsqueda tratando de encontrarme
exigieron mi liberación.
demanded my release.
and empowering moment of my life.
y fortalecedor de mi vida.
during the revolution.
durante 18 días de revolución.
juntos pese a nuestras diferencias,
despite our differences,
sería para todos.
were like a punch in the gut.
fueron como una patada en el estómago.
led to intense polarization.
un aumento de la polarización.
amplificaron esta situación,
de informaciones falsas, rumores,
of misinformation, rumors,
filled with trolls, lies, hate speech.
de batalla lleno de trolls, mentiras, odio.
about the safety of my family.
por la seguridad de mi familia.
no se trataba solo de mí.
between the two main powers --
entre los dos grandes poderes:
y los islamistas.
egipcio elegido democráticamente,
democratically elected president,
que pedían su dimisión.
that demanded his resignation.
completo silencio.
durante más de dos años,
sobre todo lo que había pasado,
on everything that happened,
la polarización está conducida
is primarily driven
comportamiento y aumenta su impacto.
and magnifies its impact.
that is not based on a fact,
que no está basado en un hecho,
que no te gusta.
someone that you don't like.
is only one click away.
critical challenges
how to deal with rumors.
con los rumores.
los prejuicios de la gente
millones de personas.
among millions of people.
propias cámaras de eco.
with people that we agree with,
gente con quien estamos de acuerdo,
y bloquear a quien sea.
and block everybody else.
quickly descend into angry mobs.
a ser turbas enfurecidas rápidamente.
son personas reales
are actually real people
to change our opinions.
cambiar de opinión.
and brevity of social media,
de las redes sociales,
a sacar conclusiones
en 140 caracteres
it lives forever on the Internet,
vive para siempre en Internet,
nuestras opiniones,
to change these views,
this is the most critical --
el más importante,
are designed in a way
sociales están pensadas de un modo
sobre los compromisos,
sobre conversaciones profundas.
we are here to talk at each other
estamos aquí para hablar al otro
importantes retos agravaban
critical challenges contributed
Egyptian society,
in the whole world.
por todo el mundo.
para averiguar
parte de la solución,
part of the solution,
on how to combat online harassment
cómo combatir el ciber acoso
to design social media experiences
diseñar experiencias en redes sociales
y premien la meditación.
and reward thoughtfulness.
más sensacionalista,
that is more sensational,
con enojo y agresiva,
angry and aggressive,
vea esta publicación.
más en la calidad?
del mensaje,
of a post you write,
that read what you write?
incentives to engage in conversations,
incentivar a la gente a conversar,
constantemente opiniones?
opinions all the time?
that they disagree with?
con las que disienten?
that we change our minds,
socialmente cambiar de opinión?
how many people changed their minds,
cuántas personas han cambiado de opinión,
experiencia en la red?
of our social media experience?
personas que han cambiado de opinión,
are changing their minds,
thoughtfully, trying to do that,
más meditado, intentando hacerlo
que ya está de acuerdo conmigo
who already agree with me
acabo de confirmar sus prejuicios.
confirmed their biases.
crowdsourcing mechanisms,
mecanismos efectivos de colaboración,
difundida en línea,
online information,
que participe en esto.
today's social media ecosystem
ecosistema actual de los medios sociales
el civismo y la comprensión mutua.
and mutual understanding.
I teamed up with a few friends,
me he unido con unos cuantos amigos,
y explorando nuevas posibilidades.
and explore possibilities.
media platform for conversations.
plataforma social para conversaciones.
that promote mutual understanding
promueven el entendimiento mutuo
el intercambio de opiniones.
with different discussions
con distintas discusiones
el debate sobre los refugiados,
the refugee debate,
y el terrorismo.
people on the planet
personas en el planeta
is being held captive
del comportamiento humano.
of our human behavior.
to liberate society,
liberar a la sociedad
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Wael Ghonim - Internet activist and computer engineerWael Ghonim believes that the Internet can be the most powerful platform for connecting humanity, if we can bring civility and thoughtful conversations back to it.
Why you should listen
Wael Ghonim is a computer engineer, an Internet activist, and a social entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Parlio, a new media platform for public conversations that rewards civility, which has been acquired by Quora. Wael is a senior fellow at Ash Center for Democratic Governance at Harvard University.
Wael spent 6 years at Google during which he used to head up Marketing and Product in the MENA region responsible of driving the growth of Google's products across the region and evangelizing the use of the Internet and growing the Arabic content in the region.
In 2011, Wael was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was named one of Time 100's most influential and received JFK Profile in Courage Award. Coined the "keyboard freedom fighter," he used the power of the internet and social media to fight for social justice, democracy and human rights in Egypt.
He is the founder of "Tahrir Academy", a nonprofit online knowledge sharing platform for Arab youth. Wael received his Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from Cairo University and earned an MBA from the American University in Cairo.
Wael Ghonim | Speaker | TED.com