"The government in Syria came to differentiate between political dissent and the civil society activism in which the new generation plays a vital role thanks to the use of social media. Unable to control the burst of online activity, Damascus was forced to focus on monitoring key dissenters and human rights activists rather than wasting time and resources on monitoring thousands of youth and civil society activists who are turning to web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook and Twitter to promote change and development. Online social media, which virtually anyone can use from home, played a central role in the Syrian uprising and helped break the decades-old government media monopoly. But it helped the Syrian government crack down on activists." (Page 1)