What is textual evidence and why is it used?

Read the excerpt from "the role of social media in the arab uprisings" by heather brown, emily guskin, and amy mitchell. in july 2012 a report was published by the united states institute of peace. . . . the study suggests that the importance of social media was in communicating to the rest of the world what was happening on the ground during 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. how do the authors use statistics to support their claim? to include ideas about how social media can authoritarian regimes remain in power to emphasize that egyptians, even those who are highly educated, mistrust social media to illustrate that social media motivated average egyptians to take part in the uprisings to show that even though social media use was limited, it was often directly connected to politics