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odies started to reach out to Tunisians and Egyptians through Facebook.<br />
Although the e-Government applications are very well developed in these two<br />
countries, and each ministry and organisation have web sites, they created<br />
pages on Facebook, YouTube and opened accounts on Twitter to communicate<br />
their messages and try to engage the population in discussion and interaction<br />
inside the country and abroad. Even in a non-conflict situation, the United<br />
Arab Emirates (UAE) government built its profile on Facebook due to the<br />
presence of 45% of its population on that network. The government of the UAE<br />
is encouraging its employees to use social media to interact with citizens. It<br />
has trained some of them on the responsible usage and risk of Facebook, and<br />
offered a policy guidelines document for government entities 66 .<br />
Types of Social Media Usage in Arab Countries<br />
Given the demographic of the population of the Arab countries (around 30% are<br />
young people between 19 and 25 years old), the political and economic situations,<br />
Facebook is being used in a wide variety of ways: “whether to rally people<br />
around social causes and political campaigns, boost citizen journalism and civic<br />
participation, create a forum for debate and interaction between governments<br />
and their communities, or to enhance innovation and collaboration within<br />
government.” 67 However, the main usage of Facebook was and is still the social<br />
networking among individuals and groups of buddies as intended by its creators.<br />
Despite the censorship and blocking by authorities, Facebook is the networking<br />
tool by excellence for those young people who want to communicate, meet each<br />
other, share hobbies and dreams, and endorse celebrities.<br />
The first quarter of 2011 witnessed a dramatic change in the role and perception<br />
of Facebook in Arab countries, due to the cyber-activism and the revolts in the<br />
streets. Curiously, blocking Facebook and Internet in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya,<br />
and Syria, gave these tools more credibility and impact, and increased demand,<br />
then their usage.<br />
As quickly observed in Egypt since January 2011, social media are used by<br />
cyber-activists for mobilising people and demonstrators, preparing political<br />
activities and movements, sharing instructions and hints, and informing<br />
the international communities about the local events. YouTube and similar<br />
networks are used to document and share the events, ranging from calls for<br />
meetings to demonstrations, attacks and massacres. Dated videos permitted<br />
the protestors to prove the pacifist character of their actions and the brutality<br />
of the authorities such as in Syria (April 2011), Libya or Bahrain. Twitter is the<br />
communication channel for rally, SOS, quick instructions, feeding and receiving<br />
66<br />
Guidelines by the government of the UAE in arabic, http://www.emiratesegov.ae/web/guest/83.<br />
67<br />
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/dsg/unpan044212.pdf, page 1.<br />
160