Very proud of what Ghonim did in Egypt: Google CEO

BOSTON: Google CEO Eric Schmidt said his company is "very proud" of its young executive Wael Ghonim, who through social media helped trigger the anti-government protests in Egypt that saw the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

"We are very, very proud of what Wael Ghonim was able to do in Egypt," Schmidt said.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Schmidt said, in the future, technology will help make the world a better place for the masses because they will have access to more information than they ever had.

"Ghonim and others were able to use a set of technologies that included Facebook, Twitter and number of others to really express the voice of the people. And that is a good example of transparency. And we wish them very much the best. I have talked to him. We are very, very proud of what he has done," the Google boss said in a webcast keynote presentation.

Ghonim, the internet giant's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, had through a Facebook page helped spark the uprising that saw 18 days of protests by the Egyptian people. The uprising brought an end to Mubarak's 30-year-old regime.

The young executive was reported missing as the protests began and was kept in secret detention by the Egyptian police for over 10 days.

Google had earlier refrained from commenting on Ghonim's involvement in the protests and had only said it was a "huge relief" when Ghonim was released from detention.

The company had expressed concern for his safety when he had gone missing.

After being released, Ghonim had said the protests would not have happened without online social networks like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Google.

"If there was no social networks it would have never been sparked," he had said.