How Facebook Toppled Hosni Mubarak

In a battle with the dictator of the largest nation in the Middle East, it took Facebook 18 days to help topple the Mubarak regime in Egypt.

On Friday, the Egyptian military, the 10th largest such force in the world, moved to restore peaceful order after Hosni Mubarak quit after 30 years in power and retreated to a resort town far from Cairo.

The significance of social media isn't lost among political and military observers, as Facebook served as the key tool used by protesters to organize huge, effective protests.

Droves of well-organized peaceful protesters forced the hand of the Egyptian military as Mubarak left power under mysterious circumstances. Many think the military had a hand in Mubarak's departure, as it decided to side with the protesters.

The combination of Facebook, Twitter and mobile phones left Mubarak and his security forces powerless to stop the protests.

Also on Friday, the man seen as the focal point of the revolution, Google executive Wael Ghonim, said he wanted to meet Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and thank him personally for making the revolution possible.

Ghonim's Facebook page became the key organizing tool for the protesters, and Twitter was the key means of telling protesters to use nonviolent resistance.

Ghonim had a conversation with old-media icon Wolf Blitzer of CNN on how social media brought democracy, at least for now, to Egypt.

"First Tunisia, now Egypt, what's next?" Blitzer asked Ghonim.

"Ask Facebook," Ghonim replied.  "I want to meet Mark Zuckerberg one day and thank him, actually."

Fireworks burst over Tahrir Square and Egypt after pro-democracy protesters brought down Mubarak on Friday.

The Mubarak regime couldn't understand what social media was and how to shut it down. After some brief efforts to curb Internet access, mobile phones remained active through weeks of protest.

What comes next outside in the region bears watching.

Middle East regimes pro- and anti-U.S. could not help but worry about similar upheaval. Several of the region's authoritarian rulers have made pre-emptive gestures of democratic reform to avert their own protest movements.

One country closing watching the events in Egypt will be Iran, which also has a large, young population more in tune with the West than with old-line clerics.