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An Egyptian father has proudly named his daughter “facebook”. According to Al-Ahram(one of the most popular newspapers in Egypt), he did so in tribute to the role the social media service played in organizing the protests in Tahrir Square and beyond.

Wael Ghonim, “We Are Khaled Said” Facebook page showed up within 5 days of Said’s death in June and served as a hub for dissidence against Egyptian police brutality and anti-government protests until Mubarak’s resignation. Other activist pages like “Tahrir Square” cropped up shortly afterward. There are five million Facebook users in Egypt, more so than any other country in the Middle East/North Africa region. Facebook itself has reported an increase in Egyptian users in the past month, with 32,000 Facebook groups and 14,000 pages created in the two weeks after January 25th .

Facebook has become the umbrella symbol for how social media can spread the message of freedom. There was a graffiti in Cairo that said “Thank you Facebook” as a protest sign and Wael Ghonim himself personally expressed his gratitude to Mark Zuckerberg on CNN.

Related Articles

• To Celebrate The #Jan25 Revolution, Egyptian Names His Firstborn “Facebook” (techcrunch.com)
• Egyptian Names Baby ‘Facebook’ (abcnews.go.com)
• Egyptian Baby Girl Named ‘Facebook’ After Revolution (allfacebook.com)
• Wael Ghonim: If You Want To Liberate A Government, Give Them The Internet (techcrunch.com)
• Egyptian man reportedly names daughter ‘Facebook’ in wake of revolution (inquisitr.com)
• Report: Egyptian dad names child ‘Facebook’ (cnn.com)
• “Egyptians Name Their Daughter “Facebook— and related posts (uncoached.com)
• First Tunisia, Now Egypt, What’s Next? Wael Ghonim Says “Ask Facebook” (mediaite.com)
• Egyptian Man Names Daughter “Facebook” To Celebrate The Revolution (businessinsider.com)
• Subtitled Video of Wael Ghonim’s Emotional TV Interview (thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)