Cairo - When news broke that president Hosni Mubarak might be about to step down, the mood among those who have charted Egypt's uprising on Twitter was jubilant.
“Mission accomplished. Thanks to all the brave young Egyptians,” Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who became an unlikely hero of the uprising, posted on his Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/Ghonim)
“People insanely cheerfull,” posted an Egyptian blogger known as Sandmonkey. “There isn't an empty inch in Tahrir.” (http://twitter.com/Sandmonkey)
But then came the doubts. The powerful military which has dominated Egypt since toppling the monarchy in 1952 was perhaps, they said, simply reasserting its authority by announcing it was taking control of the nation, while sacrificing Mubarak.
“Er .. coup?” journalist Issandr el-Amrani asked on his Twitter feed, (http://twitter.com/arabist), wondering aloud whether it was time to break open the champagne.
“Mubarak may be done, but the army is likely to hang on. It's a military dominated regime. Mubarak was their steward for the last 30 years,” Steven Cook from the Council on Foreign Relations commented. (http://twitter.com/stevenacook)
“This could create splits among the opposition, and that is probably what the army is hoping for,” wrote Michael Hanna from The Century Foundation. (http://twitter.com/mwhanna1)
In a measure of quite how influential social media have become, the tweets from Cairo became more questioning as the instant debate on Twitter gathered momentum.
“We didn't fight and sacrifice all of this, just to have the army, which is ruling us from 1952, remains in power!” wrote 3arabawy. (http://twitter.com/3arabawy)
“Dear Egyptian army, be like the Egyptian people and surprise everybody by choosing the civilian state choice,” wrote Zeinobia. (http://twitter.com/Zeinobia)
Then Mubarak spoke. He promised to hand over powers to his deputy, ex-intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, but said he would not stand down altogether.
The reaction after his speech was one of dismay and anger - a sign of how fast people are thinking in an uprising happening live on TV and on the internet.
“No champagne,” wrote Amrani on his “Arabist” feed with what appeared to be deliberate understatement. Then adding, “Crowds in Tahrir not happy.”
“People look mighty pissed off,” wrote Sandmonkey. “Saw a woman crying.”
“I'm not sure we should be terribly surprised at the game the armed forces has been playing. It is getting very dangerous, though,” wrote CFR's Cook. - Reuters