This document discusses Arab youth and their use of social media. It first questions whether there is a single definition of "Arab youth" considering geographic, cultural, socioeconomic, and educational diversity. It then examines how media theories suggest social media could change Arab youth behaviors regarding political, cultural and consumer activism. Specifically, it explores how social media allows for empowered self-expression but within boundaries unlike real life. Several Arab social media sites are also outlined that mimic Western platforms like Twitter, YouTube and eBay but target Arab audiences. Trends among Arab social media users show tendencies towards political discussions, conservative views, and empowerment through online expression.

1. Arab Youth And Social Media
Abeer Najjar (PhD)
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Mass Communication-
American University of Sharjah

2. Grouping and Classification
Is there Arab youth?
1. Geography
2. Culture
3. Socioeconomic
4. Consumption
5. Education (literacy, bilingual, …)

3. a fantasy or empowerment
according to media theories what are the possible changes
on the youth behavior regarding social/ political / cultural
and consumer activism
functions and purposes /liability to be influenced
room for proactiveness when it comes to their own lives
how does this translate when it comes to real life as in
relation to
the pleasure they can get online (space, function, lack of
accountability and choice)
comparing to their lives where they have to live within the
boundaries of accepted behavior and social appropriateness

4. The sky is the limit
Users are empowered to
create and add a large number of applications
express their opinions without being liable for
accountability
make connections that are not monitored by
family & friends
construct a desired self image (unattainable in life)
explore options and self potentials

5. Arab Social Sites
Arab company The Social Media it mimics Language Country of Origin No. of Posts/comments/ hits Possible Marketing Applications
WatWet Twitter- 12,266 members Arabic Jordan 25,000 users mostly in Jordan with a It allows you to link your account to
Started 2007 in the Arab world growth rate of 25% since March. twitter+fb+receive smses
NaqaTube YouTube Arabic Saudi Arabia 5,000 to 6,000 posts within the first two Politically and socially clean version of
2009 months according to the site's youtube
moderator
TamTem Fmylife.com Arabic Jordan Daily Pageview-5963; Daily Ads
2009 Revenue-$17.89;daily
Wizards MMOG-Online gaming Arabic Jordan 94,400 registered player Games are free
Productions over 30 million page views and 500,000 Prepaid cards for upgrade
March 2009 visits Viral marketing through giving points to
players once they invite their friends
Shop Gates Ebay Arabic
Souq.com Ecommerce English UAE and sells to 45,000 users the Gold ‘UAE Web Award’ in the ‘Best e-
2005 Saudi and Jordan commerce website’ category
Nahel Ebay B2C selling English Dubai,UAE not enough information not enough information
July 09
CashU Online credit card English UAE cashU is now available in 28 countries not enough information
July 02 payments around the world
Azharna Order flowers online English Jordan not enough information not enough information
Shawshara community project English + Arabic Palestinian based in 51,000 hits Use of advertisements on website
09 documenting Arabic music USA
lyrics. Anyone can edit this
information

6. Rose Desert‐Facebook

7. Khaliha Tsaddi (Leave it to
Rust)
Saudi youngmen
It was against a decision by car agents in KSA to raise
the car prices by 12% at the beginning of the finacial
crisis
journalist Muhammad bin Abdellatif al Sheikh asked
the Saudi customers to stop car purchasing and delay
it for 6 months
The slogan of the campaign is (Khaliha tsadi)
The campaign was taken to face book

8. Khaliha t3anes campaign‐Spinster

10. Oral to visual culture

11. Religiosity to social liberation

12. Role models and loyalty

13. Twitter
12,266 members in the Arab world (Spot PR 09)
Iranian elections
Metro Dubai
Users are focused in the GCC especially UAE where
40% of the Arab users reside

14. Watwet‐the Arab Twitter

15. Tamtem‐the Arabic copy of Fmylife

16. Naqa Tube‐ the religious version of
You Tube

17. Blogsphere
Diary style‐personal
Local news‐criticism against leaders
International news‐negative
One topic of focus significance across countries is
Palestine (Israel war on Gaza)
Differences across nationality
Arab bloggers are generally, young and male
Arab blogsphere is organized around countries
Arab bloggers (Egypt, KSA & Kuwait)
English Bridge (Levant & Iraq)
Maghrib/French Bridge (relevant to religion focused group)
Islam focus (various countries)

18. Trends‐ Arab users of social media
Male biased users (i.e., twitter, face book, social media
production, blogging)
Empowerment in expression and creating impression
Conservatism, religiosity
Politically oriented (alsheikh al Shatri) fans of al skeikh /
marawaa sherbini case (june 09)
More political courage than social : anonymity and power
things happening on social media are not communicated
in reality
Language and ideology