Dubai, 26th Dec. 2011 (WAM) Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, continue to serve as primary mediums for raising awareness, disseminating information and mobilising the community during the historic transformations sweeping the Arab world. However, despite their active engagement in civic and political affairs, Arab womens use of social media remains low compared to men, according to the third Arab Social Media Report.

Generated by Dubai School of Governments (DSG) Governance and Innovation Programme this third report of the series is in collaboration with the Gender and Public Policy Programme. It is based on a regional study that targeted men and women to explore their perceptions on Arab womens use of social media, particularly as a tool for civic, political and economic empowerment.

According to the survey, Arab men and women increasingly view social media as an effective tool for women empowerment. However, a virtual gender gap prevails, as only one third of Facebook users in the Arab region are women in stark contrast to women being around half of the users globally.

Fadi Salem, Director of the Governance and Innovation Programme at DSG and co-author of the report, said: "There are significantly fewer Arab women using social media. However, 70 per cent of the active social media users in the Arab world are young women and men, which points out that a critical mass of young Arabs have embraced social media with the objective to effect change. The positive views shown in our survey coupled with the shift towards using social media in activism during the Arab popular movements, suggest that social media can also play an important role in better empowering Arab women in the near future." Racha Mourtada, Research Associate with the Governance and Innovation Programme at DSG and lead author of the report, said: "It is promising that a majority of male and female respondents perceive social media as an enabler for womens empowerment. However, the prevailing gap in Arab womens usage of social media compared to men and to the global average is primarily a result of perceived societal and cultural constraints Arab women continue to face in real life." Even though social media is largely viewed as a tool for empowerment that will give women access to and enable them to participate in entrepreneurial opportunities, social change, as well as civic and political action, 40 per cent of the respondents asserted that it may also present new concerns for womens civic participation. On the positive side, the report indicates that social media itself could be seen as a gender equalizer in the Arab world as responses of male and female social media users were primarily similar across the board.

Dr. May Al-Dabbagh, Director of the Gender and Public Policy Programme at DSG, said: "It is important to recognise and address the gender gap in access to opportunities and resources in the Arab world. Towards this end, the report marks an important contribution to our understanding of Arab womens engagement with technological advances of our globalized world." The study found that the number of Facebook users in the Arab world reached 36 million, registering an increase of 68 per cent since the beginning of 2011. While the percentage of female users increased from 32 per cent at the end of 2010 to 33.5 per cent at the end of 2011, it remained static throughout the past two quarters.

According to the report, the Arab uprisings continue to be the primary discussions on Twitter. For example, Bahrain, Egypt, and Syria were the top three most popular trending hashtags on Twitter across the Arab region in September 2011.

Nearly 652,333 active Twitter users in the Arab region are estimated to have generated close to 37 million tweets at the end of September 2011. Furthermore, the report revealed that Bahrain and Kuwait lead the way with around 3.5 per cent Twitter penetration in both countries, with Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia taking the remaining top slots. However, Egypt leads the way in the number of active Twitter users at 129,711, while Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain generated 70 per cent of the tweets in September 2011.

The Arab Social Media Report series aims to analyse social media usage trends across the Arab world. The study is part of a larger research initiative focused on social engagement through information and social networking technologies for better policy and social inclusion in Arab states. The full report can be accessed at www.arabsocialmediareport.com

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2011.