Use of Social Media in the Middle East

Social media is one of the most gripping source through which the information is disseminated amongst the mass. Arab countries have been using social media differently depending upon the requirement of the country. Tunisia is famous for using twitter most, while in Egypt Tv works best. Nowadays the use of tablet has been high in the Arab Gulf.

Social media is used round the globe and nowadays every work is done through the internet and online mode. The purpose of this study is to analyze the usage of the social media in the Arab countries to access useful information. This research survey was done through Northwestern University in Qatar, which has been successful in revealing the true picture of each country in terms of the social media usage.

According to the latest research, Arab countries now have meticulously got into accessing the information and they identify and rate the information along with the usage of the social media. The Northwestern University in Qatar held a survey to compare the usage of social media in eight Arab countries: Tunisia, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudia Arabia, Lebanon, UAE and Jordan. The result of it are as follows:

The Egalitarianism Report

According to the research Harris did a survey through face-to-face interaction and telephonic interviews with the 9,693 grownups aging 18 and above. In the survey variant questions were asked from participants about the social media usage. Various questions were asked about the purpose of using newspaper, the usage of books, television, blogs, gaming, and online banking. In Arab countries, with the span of two years the response was very positive upon the usage of the social media.

No matter what the sources get revealed, television is still the most vital source in terms of gaining information. There are gulf countries who are not much dependent upon television like Qatar and Bahrain. Rendering to the research Qatar is reported to have the most tablet usage in alliance to its population. In Egypt, internet usage is lowest and has remained stagnant since two years.

Consistency

When it comes to gaining information through the media, Tunisia and Egypt lack behind in it while Qataris, Lebanese and Bahrainis are more prone to using Newspapers, TV and internet for the information access. Defendants in the UAE, horde to an extensive range of provincial outlets and western enterprises, such as BBC, CNBC, Rolling Stone, Forbes, and Forbes and they find all the media sources consistent. The social media is prominent in 5 major Arab countries: Jordan, Saudia Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. In Tunisia and Bahrain internet users are maximum and rigorously make use of the social media, approximately 4.1 hours daily.

According to the statistics: Above 90% of Internet users in all the Arab countries use the social networking websites, while Egypt and Qatar are at 74 and 86 %. Qatar is not only the country with largest tablet holders but it also tops in wireless users.

Social networks

As social media is used extensively in European and Asian countries, so is it now used in the Arab countries as well. Facebook tops the ranking with 94%, while twitter tops second and google+ comes third. LinkedIn is least used in the Arab countries because of the difference in the professional norms, still face-to-face meetings are preferred.

Freedom to Express

All the seven Arab countries unanimously agreed that social media should be used for the freedom of expression is for all and all keep the right to say what they feel like saying. In the Survey, the most politically up rest countries, such as Libya, Syria, and Palestine were not included. In the survey all the Arab inhabitants were surveyed in detail and the results were composed after analyzing in detail the social media usage frequencies.

The survey had successfully represented the comprehensive study from the seven Arab countries, explaining in details the percentages and ratios about how the social media is used in each country to access the useful information. In Lebanon blogging is used mostly, where as in Egypt twitter is more successful and in Saudia the channels are viewed mostly online.

The above information is based on the accurate findings rather just the assumptions.