Attitudes of the Egyptian elite towards electronic public opinion and the role of social networking sites in shaping it

The study aimed to identify the nature of the Egyptian elite's attitudes towards electronic public opinion and the role of social networking sites in shaping it, and to determine the extent of the ability of electronic public opinion to influence both the media coverage of traditional media and government policy.
It turns out that the elite audience is an active audience in the use of social networking sites, and they emphasized its role in meeting their cognitive needs.
Most of the opinions agreed on the existence of positive trends towards the influence of electronic public opinion on media coverage of traditional media, as well as the existence of positive trends towards the influence of electronic public opinion on government policies.
It was found that the study sample does not always express its opinion on political and social issues, and the most communicative activities they practice on social networking sites are reading responses only and expressing feelings on comments, and the least communicative activities they do is posting comments on the personal page.
Social networking sites have provided an opportunity for users to express their opinions and communicate their ideas, and this is what has created influential personalities on social networking sites, who can influence the opinion of many members of society. Online public opinion as a rising social force can contribute to democratization and progress from the bottom up.