Facebook's influence in the Arab world is now a matter of fact, even as global media analysts and academics continue to debate how strong the ‘social glue' that holds online communities together is. The role of social networks in the ‘Arab Spring' has also been the topic of a great deal of debate, although the orchestrating and unifying effect of Facebook was first seen as a potent force for the movement and expression of opinion in the region when groups were formed both protesting and supporting the Lebanese army's action against the Nahr El Bared refugee camp in 2007. There is no doubt that social networks have built a powerful platform for the sharing of opinion and the organization of protest as Wael Ghonim's 400,000 member strong protest Facebook page attests. However, with a predominantly English speaking subscriber base, it has been hard to view Facebook's demographics as representative of the Arab consumer. At the same time, no homegrown social network has been successful in appealing to Arabic language Internet users in numbers and the region's Arabic language social media environment has remained a fragmented one. This is now changing: fast. The past year has seen Facebook's numbers in the Arab world swell from 15 million to 28 million subscribers and, critical to the platform's future success in the region, users of Facebook's Arabic interface grow from 3.5 million to 10 million. Facebook Arabic users have grown 175% over the past year and now represent 35% of the number of total Facebook users in the Arab world. At this pace, we can expect Facebook Arabic language users to account for more than half of the region's Facebook community in 2012 and to number in the tens of millions. As one might expect, Egypt and Saudi Arabia lead in the adoption of Facebook Arabic, with 51% and 61% of their respective Facebook communities choosing the Arabic platform. Saudi Arabia has more than doubled its Facebook Arabic subscriber base to 2.4 million users, out of a total of 3.9 million users in the Kingdom. In Egypt, 2.7 million new Arabic language users have joined Facebook since May 2010 – 1.7 million of these joining since January 2011 – bringing the country's total number of Facebook users to 7.6 million. Last year the number of Facebook subscribers surpassed the number of newspapers printed in the Arab world and Facebook subscribers now outstrip the region's printed newspaper circulations by 2:1. By the end of 2011, Facebook Arabic subscribers alone will surpass the number of daily newspapers printed. In Egypt, Facebook penetration is approaching one in ten members of the population. In Saudi Arabia, Facebook penetration is already one in seven. In the UAE, one in four residents are members of Facebook. Facebook is also becoming a powerful force in marketing with some of the region's largest consumer brands accumulating hundreds of thousands of Facebook fans (Vodafone Egypt, for example, now has just under 700,000 fans). In light of the Arabization of Facebook and the platform's seemingly unstoppable momentum in the Middle East and North Africa, Facebook looks set to remain the region's dominant social network for the foreseeable future. This is no small development for the region's Internet, particularly against the backdrop of new Internet services for Arabic search and Arabic content. Facebook now has the opportunity to become the one unifying platform of choice for sharing Arabic language content. This brings new opportunities and challenges for creators of Arabic content, the media and marketing organizations trying to reach audiences across the region. It also provides opportunities for Arab companies to participate in what has been termed ‘f- commerce'. For example, game developers now have access to a ten million Arabic social networkers via a single platform. No doubt some will see Facebook's preeminence as something that could stifle the development of other Arabic social networks. However, there is also a counter argument that Facebook's Arabic platform will help to introduce millions of Arab Internet users to social media activities that they otherwise may never have discovered, helping to enrich their online experience, pave the way for other Arabic social media and even create a more opportunity for new Arabic social networks. ** Carrington Malin is a Dubai-based communications and marketing consultant, managing director of Spot On PR and a founder member of the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA). BM
