Inside Egypt's Facebook Bunker (Video)

The New York Times today has a video report about an apartment near Tahrir Square in Cairo that serves as a crash pad for 20 or so young activists who post photos and videos and information about the ongoing Egyptian uprising on Facebook.

Here’s the video about “Cairo’s Facebook flat.” (I had to squish it to fit our column, but you can go here to see the original.)

Commentators have questioned how online social media could have played a significant role in a revolution in a country with only 20 percent Internet penetration. However, the flat residents, described as students and children of Cairo’s elite, give social media full credit.

“Facebook and Twitter is what started this revolution,” said Yusuf Bagato, an art student. “So it’s the most important element we have here. Most of the youth in Egypt have Facebook accounts, so it’s the easiest way to get to them.”

Here’s what appears to be the Tahrir Square Facebook page maintained by the group. The page has fewer than 2,000 registered fans, but lots of fresh content and activity.

Wael Ghonim, the recently freed Google executive who has become a hero in the Egyptian movement, is the administrator of another Facebook page called We are all Khaled Said. That page continues to be maintained and seems to have attracted a large international audience.