NewsDude

Take it with a grain of salt, or many grains of sand, if you want, when the young volunteers say that every one of the 60 or 70 people helping to put on Wikipedia's annual convention (called Wikimania) is active on Facebook.
Not one exception? No. The young women in head scarves who patiently explain what can or cannot be done on Friday, according to Islam? Absolutely.
Then there is the young man who is part of the Facebook group devoted to the TV show "Friends." "Facebook for me is just a way to keep in touch with friends," said Yehia Hassaan, 18, a medical student. "Some of my friends, they are addicts. Always updating their status, changing their photos."
Ahmad Belal, a 23-year-old medical student who came from Cairo to attend the conference, is one of those particularly enthusiastic users with hundreds of friends.
"For Egyptians, the visa procedure for any country is very difficult," he said. "You need a visa to visit any country in the world. Facebook and Wikipedia connect us to the outside."
In the spring, a protest against rising food prices and the government took root on Facebook, with a page that had more than 75,000 members. The Facebook movement overlapped with a textile workers strike, and the government response was swift and severe.
The main organizer was arrested and, according to The Washington Post, said he was stripped and beaten by the security services in Cairo. Another organizer, Israa Abdel Fattah, a 27-year-old human resources administrator with no political experience who helped administer the Facebook page, was also arrested. A Free Israa group quickly emerged -- she was called the Facebook Girl -- with, at one time, tens of thousands joining up.
The young people at Wikimania were not afraid to talk about those recent events. Some said they...

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