Finding the Truth Amongst the Fakes

Another research study, the Arab Social Media Report (2015) 32 , shows similar
findings: around a quarter of internet users in the Arab World are active in social
media. This general number, however, is slightly misleading as the range from
country to country is wide. 75 percent of internet users, for instance, in Qatar
are active on social media, compared to an apparent 5 percent in Somalia.
Notably, also, these figures are not disaggregated by gender, age, rural and
urban users, and other variables that would give us more information about
user demographics in the region and what kind of stories to expect, and equally
important, to tell.
Internet World Stats (IWS) (stat 7, 2016) corroborates these numbers as well,
giving 26 percent of users with active social media accounts. This report goes
on to note that Arabic is the fourth most used language on the global internet. 33
IWS (stat 5, 2016) also noted that by the end of 2015, internet penetration in the
Middle East was at 52.2 percent - above the global average of 46.4 percent. 34
Social Media Perception, Usage and Popularity: A Description of the
Arab Social Media Report
The Arab Social Media Report (2015) is a comprehensive study that describes
perception, usage and impact of social media in 18 countries of the Arab
World. 35 Below we describe the most relevant conclusions of the study for a
journalist.
32
TNS (2015). Arab Social Media Report. Arab Social Media Influencers Summit and DMC.
Retrieved from: http://dmc.ae/img/pdf/white-papers/ArabSocialMediaReport-2015.pdf
33
Miniwatts Marketing Group (2016) Internet World Stats-Usage and Populations Statistics.
Internet World Stats. Retrieved from: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm
34
Miniwatts Marketing Group (2016) Internet World Stats-Usage and Populations Statistics.
Internet World Stats. Retrieved from: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm#links
35
These countries are: United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan,
Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. TNS (2015). Ibid.
Finding the Truth Amongst the Fakes
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