© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This article seeks to review the impact of the new media on political mobilization in the Arab Spring of 2011. The article examines the relationship between the information communication technology, especially the new media and its consequences - both intended and unintended - on social movement in the Middle East and North Africa region. Tracing the various arguments in social science literature and taking into account the political developments in the region, the article concludes that on the one hand new media played a critical role in political mobilization culminating in the Arab Spring and on the other hand, the new media can also be used as repressive tools by the authoritarian rulers to their advantage.