Social Media in the Middle East : The Story of 2015

This report is the fourth in a series of annual reports designed to capture some of the key developments in the world of social media -­ within the Middle East -­ during the past twelve months. Interest in this field, which was first unlocked by the Arab Spring, continues to attract researchers, marketers and businesses. The reasons for this are multiple: the region’s “youth bulge” makes the market attractive for anyone seeking to attract a young tech-­‐savvy audience, meanwhile the growth of ISIS - and their use of social media - continues to pose challenging questions for policy makers and freedom of speech advocates. These developments play out against a diverse backdrop, and this diversity results in wide variances in usage of social media and other digital technologies; with particular differences between the Gulf region and North Africa. In aggregate, regional usage of social media continues to be behind the global average