There are over 27.7 million Facebook users and 1.1 million Twitter users in the Arab world, according to the second Arab Social Media Report. Produced by the Governance and Innovation Program at the Dubai School of Government, the report revealed a “substantial shift in the use of social media from social purposes towards civic and political action.” Egypt saw the greatest overall increase among Arab countries in the number of Facebook users during the first quarter of 2011, adding close to two million Facebook users – around 2.5 percent of Egypt's total population, and almost 10 percent of all Egyptians with access to the internet. Egypt wasn't the only country with substantial growth in Facebook users: reaching 27.7 million users total in the Arab world by the end of April means there was a 30 percent increase since the beginning of the year. Regarding Twitter, the report found that 1.1 million Twitter users in the Arab world tweet at least once every two weeks and those active twitter users tweeted 22.7 million tweets during the first four months of 2011. Regional Twitter trends focused primarily on the Arab uprisings, and the most popular hashtags were Egypt, Jan25, Libya, Bahrain, and Protest. The UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Lebanon remain the leading users of social media in terms of the percent of Facebook and Twitter users, but the report found social media growth was fastest in countries experiencing unrest. The report also found that young people continue to dominate social media in the Arab world: around 70 percent of Arab Facebook users are between the ages of 15 and 29. Only one third of users are women. “The growth of social media and the shifts in usage trends have played a critical role in mobilizing, empowering, shaping opinions and influencing change among the youth in the Arab world,” said Fadi Salem, director of the Dubai School of Government's Governance and Innovation Program. That “critical mass” of young people have an influential role, he said, adding that they “lead the shift of usage trends from social into political nature across the region.” It is certainly true that social media has become a prime means of promoting political and social activities and news. According to a poll of Facebook users conducted in coordination with the report, only 12 percent of Facebook usage by Egyptians during the first quarter of 2011 was for entertainment. In Tunisia, only 10 percent of respondents said they had used Facebook for entertainment. The Facebook poll revealed that 85 percent of respondents though social media usage during their respective uprisings was “mainly for organizing people, disseminating information and raising awareness about the social movements.” Also interesting is that 71 percent of Egyptian Facebook users said they were more likely to vote for a political candidate who used social media to interact with citizens. The relationship between the government and social media, however, has not always been productive – particularly from the government's point of view. The report's survey of Facebook users in Tunisia and Egypt found that six out of 10 respondents in both countries found their governments' attempts to block internet access actually increased the protest movements, “spurring protesters to more decisive and creative action.” In Egypt, the largest numbers of demonstrators came out after the internet – as well as mobile phone services – had been cut. Yet as Racha Mourtada, lead author of the report, said, “Governments in the region have responded to the rise of social media in a variety of ways. While some have tried to block it, others have used social media to engage directly with their citizens.” Egypt after the fall of Hosni Mubarak is a prime example of the latter: the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has been charged with Egypt's administration since Mubarak's ouster, publishes all of its communiqués on its Facebook page. Popular committees, set up by citizens to protect their neighborhoods after the police withdrew from the streets during the revolution, are also using Facebook to get in touch with citizens in their governorates. And Egyptian youth have launched countless initiatives on Facebook, from campaigns to clean the streets and beautify their neighborhoods to saving water to ousting thugs from their towns and cities.
