You may remember that “effective use of social media” was claimed as a hallmark of the Arab Spring. (The Arab Spring and the impact of social media and Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring?)
When evaluating such claims remember that your experience with social media may or may not represent the experience with social media elsewhere.
For example, Citizen Engagement and Public Services in the Arab World: The Potential of Social Media from Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (2014) reports:
Figure 23: Egypt 22.4% Facebook User Penetration
Figure 34: Egypt 1.26% Twitter user penetration rate.
Those figures are as of 2014. Figures for prior years are smaller.
That doesn’t sound like a level of social media necessary for create and then drive a social movement like the Arab Spring.
You can find additional datasets and additional information at: http://www.arabsocialmediareport.com. Registration is free.
And check out: Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government
I first saw this in a tweet by Peter W. Singer.