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Wael Ghonim      

Google executive Wael Ghonim began a Facebook page that galvanized protest in Egypt's democratic revolution.

Wael Ghonim is an Internet activist and computer engineer, Google’s Middle East and North Africa Marketing Manager. As "ElShaheeed," he started up an influential Facebook page that galvanized voices of protest in Egypt. In early 2011, he was detained by the Egyptian government for 11 days -- when freed after international pressure, he revealed his identity, and became a leading fugure in the youth revolution that forced Hosni Mubarak from power.

    ""Our revolution is like Wikipedia, okay? Everyone is contributing content, [but] you don't know the names of the people contributing the content. This is exactly what happened. Revolution 2.0 in Egypt was exactly the same. Everyone contributing small pieces, bits and pieces. We drew this whole picture of a revolution. And no one is the hero in that picture.""

Warl Ghonim on 60 Minutes

News


Quora’s first acquisition is Arab Spring instigator’s Q&A site Parlio
“Ex-con” isn’t normally something you find on a founder’s resume. But Google employee Wael Ghonim went to jail for sparking the Egyptian Revolution. Now he might be wearing some golden handcuffs instead, as his startup Parlio just became Quora‘s first acquisition. Parlio’s goal was to spread knowledge — a similar objective to Quora. But rather than focusing on canonical answers like its acquirer, Parlio sought to host civil discussions that let people hear both sides of an argument and come to their own conclusions.
Egypt's New Hero: Can Geek-Activist Wael Ghonim Overthrow Mubarak?

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