Influence Of Social Media In Arab Countries
The Middle East (GCC) region remains one of the most important global social media giants, despite fierce competition from other platforms. According to user data, there are over 33 million users in the region. As a leading fast-growing social network, the GCC is at the forefront of social media trends.
Snap Ads is a new feature that is gaining traction for small businesses in the Middle East. In 2016, the company released a partner API for advertising the app called Partners. The API allows established brands such as Verizon and Warner to turn 10-second video ads into user stories.
According to Crowd Analyzer, a social media analytics firm, Snapchat, popular in Saudi Arabia, has 14 million active users, which is more than Instagram and Twitter. There has been a movement for the media company’s IPO with its so-called return.
Indeed, Saudi Arabia’s users, the most active in the region, have the highest proportion of people on YouTube and Twitter in the world relative to their number of Internet users (71% and 66%, respectively). Crowd Analyzer counts Saudis, who make up 9% of Snapchat users, which is impressive considering that they make up 0.44% of the world’s population. Internet users in Saudi Arabia use average 8.4% of all social media accounts compared to 10.5% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Facebook is the world’s most popular platform with 88 million users, matching the number of users in 2017. More than half of the Arab youth say that they receive their news daily via Facebook, while other channels such as online portals (39%), television (34%) and newspapers (4%) are far behind.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) consumers are the most active users of social media. The region has a large youth population and a high mobile penetration rate, making it an ideal market for companies like Instagram. But Facebook remains the dominant platform in the region with more than 180 million users up from 56 million five years ago. In a report by Crowd Analyzer, which analyzed more than 172 million interactions in its State of Social Media Report, social media users in the region have become more active and engaged in discussions about brands, businesses, services, fashion, politics, and religion.
The Middle East and North Africa young people are increasingly using social media platforms to access information, especially videos and leading social networks – a trend that is expected to increase in 2020, according to the eighth annual study of social networking use in the region, published in the U.S. of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.
Egypt is the biggest market for Facebook in MENA with 38 million daily and 40 million monthly users. The study also showed that Twitter use among MENA citizens has fallen by half since 2013. Half of Arab youth reported receiving news from Facebook and other channels like online portals (39%), television (34%) and newspapers (4%).
YouTube TV dramas and soap operas saw a 15.1% increase in viewers during Ramadan. Between 50 and 60 percent of Arab social media users prefer brand content. Western audiences, on the other hand, are less tolerant of sponsored content and have a low tolerance rate of 11 to 20 percent.
This is especially true when visual content is shared on popular mobile applications. With Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you can check in every day and stay up to date with friends and content. Users can view and select friends in 10 seconds, and content shared on a user’s Stories will self-destruct after 24 hours.
In recent months, Snapchat has unveiled a photo-messaging mobile app called Stories, which shows the lives of cities around the world. In April, the app added Middle Eastern cities to its Snapchat list, including Saudi capital Riyadh, which started in US cities such as Los Angeles, Nashville and New York. Via Stories, users donate photos, videos and mashes that are shared with millions of app users around the world.
The rise of TikTok signifies that the leading influencers of TikTok in the Gulf region raised their followers between February and August 2020 by an average of 65% and user engagement is highest in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
The Gulf region has the highest penetration of smartphones in the world with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp making up a significant part of daily life. The biggest trend is Saudi Arabia, whose users are the most active in the region. According to Crowd Analyzers State of Social Media 2018, Saudi Arabia has the most Instagram and Twitter users in the Gulf region.
This year’s report highlights the growing role of social media in meeting the needs and lives of Arab youth and young parents and the prominent role that social networks play in media habits in the region, especially during Ramadan. Twitter for example is the poster child for social networking in the Gulf Region despite declining usage in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the fifth biggest market for Twitter.
This year is likely to continue many of the trends outlined in this report, and concern about misinformation and manipulation will only increase. It is therefore important for social media users to develop their ability to recognize prejudice and the difference between news, opinions, facts and fiction.
Removing digital content is not as simple as deleting content from a phone, removing posts on social media or closing an account. Posts on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms are recoverable for a period of time, but authorities can ask social media companies to keep records if they get a court order to view them, said Adam Scott Wandt, professor of public policy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who trains law enforcement in cyber-related investigations.
