Updated: Nov 24, 2024
“Social Media in the Middle East: 2019 in review” is the eighth annual study on social network use in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) written by Professor Damian Radcliffe, and the first co-written with University of Oregon PhD student HadilAbuhmaid.
Press Release
A new white paper from Damian Radcliffe and HadilAbuhmaid at the University of Oregon comprehensively analyzes how the Middle East uses social media.
10 key findings
Arab Youth: Over 90% of young Arabs engage with social media in the Middle East daily, though platform preferences vary regionally. Approximately 52% of Arab youth now source their daily news from Facebook, surpassing other channels like online portals (41%), TV (32%), and newspapers (3%).
Facebook: Facebook remains the dominant social network in the MENA region with 190 million active monthly users. Egypt continues to be its largest market, hosting 39 million daily users and 42 million monthly users.
Twitter: Twitter usage among Arab nationals has declined, now half of what it was in 2013. However, Saudi Arabia and Turkey remain significant global markets for Twitter, with 11 million users in Saudi Arabia and 8.5 million in Turkey.
Instagram: Instagram's user base in the Middle East has grown to over 65 million. Turkey maintains its position as the sixth-largest global market with 38 million users. High penetration rates are also noted in Kuwait (55%) and Bahrain (52%).
YouTube: YouTube's popularity continues, particularly among millennials in MENA, with 78% of Egyptian millennials viewing content daily.
Snapchat: Saudi Arabia ranks as the fourth largest global market for Snapchat, boasting over 16 million users. Turkey's user base has increased to 7.6 million, making it the ninth-largest market.
Manipulation: In response to manipulation, Facebook has removed 265 accounts, 108 pages, 7 groups, and 20 Instagram accounts. Twitter has suspended over 4,700 accounts in the region for platform manipulation and state-backed information campaigns.
Digital Parenting: Over half of all mothers in the Middle East now use YouTube for children's content, with parents increasingly using the platform for bonding and educational purposes.
WhatsApp: WhatsApp remains the most popular Facebook-owned service in the region with a penetration rate of 77%. Meanwhile, other messaging services like Viber maintain popularity in specific areas.
Ramadan: During Ramadan, social media use spikes with users spending approximately 60 million more hours on Facebook throughout the month, a significant increase. YouTube sees a 155% rise in viewership for TV dramas and soap operas during this period.
Damian Radcliffe said:
“This year’s report highlights the growing role played by social media in the Middle East in meeting the information needs lives of Arab Youth and young parents, as well as the prominent role that social networks play in the media habits of the region during Ramadan.
Social media usage continues to evolve. Twitter, for example, once the poster child for social networks in the region, has declined in usage outside of Saudi Arabia and Turkey; which are the fifth and sixth largest markets for Twitter in the world.
Meanwhile, greater scrutiny by platform owners resulted in Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram each closing hundreds of accounts in 2019 due to inappropriate use by state-sponsored actors and terrorist groups.”
Report co-author HadilAbuhmaid said:
“Alongside these trends, the importance of social video and visually-led social networks continued to grow.
In the last year, Snapchat introduced new advertising formats to the region, Google highlighted the importance of YouTube in supporting parents and parenting, and in major markets such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, Twitter has emerged as a leading platform for online video consumption.”
Drawing on data from a wide range of published sources including industry announcements, news reporting from around the world, as well as data from Google, Northwestern University in Qatar, and the annual Arab Youth Survey, Social Media in the Middle East: 2019 in review offers a detailed 55-page analysis of the most important social media developments in the past year.
Looking ahead to the latest year, Damian Radcliffe said:
“The year ahead is likely to result in a continuation of many of the trends outlined in this report, but concerns about misinformation and manipulation are only going to increase.
As a result, it will be increasingly important for social media users to develop their ability to discern bias, the differences between news and opinion, and fact versus fiction.
Government, civil society, education providers, and social networks themselves all have a role to play in increasing media literacy among social networkers.”
The complete report is available to download, or view online, via the University of Oregon Scholars' Bank, Scribd, LinkedIn’s SlideShare, Academia.edu, and ResearchGate.
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About the Authors: Damian Radcliffe and HadilAbuhmaid
Damian Radcliffe is the Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, and a Professor of Practice, at the University of Oregon. In this role, he undertakes a wide range of teaching, research, and journalistic work, which includes writing a monthly column on technology in the Middle East for CBS Interactive’s ZDNet (which he has done since December 2013).
He has produced an annual report charting social media in the Middle East developments across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) since 2012. Between 2012 and 2014 he worked for Qatar’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ictQATAR) as an analyst and researcher. He joined the University of Oregon in 2015.
Damian is also an affiliate of the Department for Middle East and North African Studies at the University of Oregon, a Fellow of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture Studies, and a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). He tweets @damianradcliffe.
HadilAbuhmaid is a Media Studies PhD student and a Graduate Employee at the University of Oregon. Her primary area of research interest explores national identity and culture in Palestinian cinema.
Hadil earned a BS in Journalism and Political Science from Bir-Zeit University in Palestine and an MA in Nonprofit Management from the University of Oregon, with a focus on Arts Administration. She is the co-founder of Filmlab: Palestine, a nonprofit company based in Ramallah, that aims at developing the cinema industry in Palestine.
Through her research, Hadil aims to examine the formation and self-representation of the national identity in Palestinian feature films produced within the historical map of Palestine by researching their production, audience, and aesthetics. Her research interests include cinema studies, diasporic studies, representations, and national identity.
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While the social media in the Middle East offers exciting opportunities, there are also challenges that businesses and individuals need to consider:
Combating Misinformation: The spread of misinformation and fake news is a growing concern on social media platforms. Developing effective strategies to combat misinformation and promote media literacy is crucial for ensuring a healthy online ecosystem.
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