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