Since the electoral campaigning period got underway in the Egyptian presidential elections, it has become clear that both candidates for the job, former army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, have resorted to unusual advertising avenues to advance their campaigns. In the past, election season in Egypt was synonymous with the spread of giant banners erected by the candidates along the streets, surrounded by posters carrying their pictures, or slogans plastered on city walls and supplemented by radio and television ads.

This form of traditional campaigning was further enhanced during the 2012 elections by public relations efforts on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in an attempt to keep up with the times and reach the younger generation. The youth proved the efficacy of these sites to effect change on the ground, when they used Facebook to light the spark for the January 25 Revolution.

Still, the campaigns of both candidates in the upcoming elections have undergone a sizeable and unprecedented expansion in the use of the Internet, never before seen in Egyptian political advertising. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, Sisi also opened accounts on Google+, Instagram as well as a channel on YouTube. All these came to supplement his official website, which was effectively launched when the electoral campaigning period began, and which contains all the information, photos, videos and news pertaining to the campaign.

Sabahi did not content himself with his pages on Facebook and Twitter either, and also launched an official website that contains news, the program of and everything relating to his electoral campaign. Sabahi’s campaign organizers did not overlook YouTube, and emulated Sisi by launching a dedicated channel of their own. But Sabahi, contrary to Sisi, did not bother to publish Instagram pictures of him with his guests. He preferred instead to publish and share audio clips that introduced the candidate, as well as the opinions of some celebrities about him, through a newly opened account on SoundCloud.