MARY KALDOR: "Nineteen eighty-nine brought an end to the Cold War. I think what twenty-eleven did was to sideline the war on terror. It marginalized al-Qaida. Osama bin Laden may have been physically killed in Pakistan, but he’s been politically killed by the demonstrations in the Middle East."

The protests in the Arab world might never have amounted to much without the use of social media to help organize protests.

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The Pearl Roundabout traffic circle in Manama became Bahrain’s own version of Tahrir Square. Protesters, mostly Shi’ite Muslims, set up camp and demanded reforms. Bahrain's minority Sunni government, with military help from neighboring nations, violently suppressed the uprising.

A crowd in Bahrain shouts anti-government statements at a funeral in April.

Today, many Bahrainis say they are afraid to use social media. Abdulnabi Alekry is chairman of the Bahrain Transparency Society. He says the government's use of social media to help identify opponents has pushed the country’s Sunnis and Shi’ites farther apart.

ABDULNABI ALEKRY: "It is causing a lot of damage to the national unity and it is causing even suspicion between people who work together or live together or are in the same society or club. It is a source of concern."

Al-Jazeera television recently showed how a Facebook page helped lead officials to a twenty-year-old Shi’ite woman. Visitors to the page were asked to identify her "and let the government take care of the rest." She was reportedly arrested and tortured.