Egyptians ignore Facebook call
Egyptians largely ignored a call by online activists for a general strike to protest against the government on President Hosni Mubarak's 80th birthday.
Analysts said the failure showed the limited influence of activists organising on social networking site Facebook after their successful strike last month generated enthusiasm that a new form of political protest was emerging in the Arab world's largest nation.
Veteran political analyst Mohammed Sayyed Said sees the networking sites as excellent tools for political discussion, but he said the "total failure" of this strike showed their inability to connect with the common people.
"The advantages were very clear," he said. "Several thousand people were debating an issue, which is extraordinary by any standards... but when it comes to touching cause with the public, it's a different story," said Mr Said, who is also editor of the independent Badeel newspaper.
Only 8% of Egyptians use the internet, according to the International Telecommunications Union.
Egypt's so-called "Facebook party" burst onto the political scene in March when a group set up on the site called for a nationwide strike on April 6 in solidarity with nation's dissatisfied workers. It quickly garnered 60,000 members.
The lack of traffic and nearly empty schools and universities on that day suggested that the online advocacy had convinced many Egyptians to express their dissatisfaction over low wages and rising prices.
But the response may have had more to do with the fact that workers at the country's largest textile factory in Mahalla el-Kobra had already decided to strike that day and they had popular sympathy.
Buoyed by their success, the Facebook group called a second strike to coincide with the president's 80th birthday. They are demanding legislation to raise wages, control prices and battle corruption.
But in the capital Cairo it was business as usual with snarled traffic and busy commuters filling the streets despite the strike call.
