The passages of this question are missing. Here are the passages:
Read the excerpt from "The Role of Social Media in the
Arab Uprisings" by Heather Brown, Emily Guskin, and
Amy Mitchell
:
Now, research is emerging that reexamines in a more detailed way the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings.
In July 2012 a report was published by the United States Institute of Peace based on an extensive content analysis of bit ly links from the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Bahrain. Bit ly links, or short URLs, are predominantly used in social media such as Twitter. The authors came to some conclusions that countered the initial assumption that social media was a causal mechanism in the uprisings.
Data from the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project at least somewhat supports this conclusion with its findings that the majority of Egyptians are not online. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the total population do not use the internet. When looking specifically at those with a college education, use of social media for obtaining political information is more prevalent than in other segments of the population. Though most of the country is disconnected from the internet, 84% of those who are online say they visit social networking sites for news about Egypt’s political situation. These findings point to social media’s important role in spreading information, but do not necessarily indicate that social media was a mobilizing force in the uprisings.
Answer:
The correct answer is option C) The first passage provides more effective evidence because it has data and statistics from research reports, while the second passage uses titles of articles and authors' names as evidence.
Explanation:
Both passages belong to <em>"The Role of Social Media in the Arab Uprising"</em>.
As we can see, the first passage offers reliable content and specific data. They talk about an extensive analysis made by an institute, on specific dates and about the conclusions reached by its researchers.
While the second passage gives less specific information, and does not name authors as the first passage does.
Given this information we can say that the correct answer is option C.
