Omani Twitter users generate about 500,000 to 600,000 tweets a day, a new Arab social media report indicated.

The report included 22 Arab countries, and surveyed the use of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. It attempts to analyse trends in demographic, gender and language usage. 

The report also highlighted that Oman has the highest percentage of Twitter access through mobile devices, as opposed to any other devices in the Arab world.

Oman residents appear to access Twitter on their phones about 90 per cent of the time, with only 5 per cent accessing the platform on their laptops. Other Gulf Cooperation Council countries trail closely regarding access to Twitter on mobile, at around 80 per cent.

Facebook

According to the report, Facebook seems to be the most popular platform in the Arab world, as the number of accounts has almost doubled in the last three years.

The majority of Facebook users in Oman are between the ages of 15 and 29, at 60 per cent. Only 40 per cent are 30 years and older. Additionally, Oman appears to have the highest gender gap regarding users. Almost 80 per cent of the users are male, while only 1 in five users is female.

Gender gap

However, male users seem to constitute a majority for all surveyed Arab countries. Palestine has the least gender gap, but still clocks in at 55 per cent male users, to 45 per cent female users.

Oman has also experienced a decrease with regards to Facebook use in Arabic, as 40 per cent of Arabic users dropped to almost 20 per cent by 2016. This percentage of Arabic users is still higher than those in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, implying that the rise in expats in the country may be a major contributor to this decline.

Public opinion

The report also explored the internet’s ability in influencing public opinion around the Arab world, as well as potential economic growth in the region, for better governance and development.

The Arab Social Media report series was initiated in 2011. The 2017 report is the 7th edition, and was penned by Fadi Salem from the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai.

Source: Timesofoman