Be it Policy or Pride, Arab Leaders Start 'Tweeting'
Media Line News Agency
July 15, 2009
Benjamin Joffe-Walt / The Media Line
The smiling, well-groomed red face in the profile picture certainly looks like the Syrian leader, but could the ruler of an authoritarian regime which blocks Facebook really be using the social networking site?
Syrian blogger Mohammed Ali Al-Abdullah wondered exactly this when he came across the profile of the smiling, mustached man with over 795 friends. "I want to ask him," Al-Abdullah wrote, "how he succeeded to bypass the Internet censorship in Syria? Perhaps I´m able to help him by providing proxy links if he promised that he will keep it secret."
From presidents and prime ministers to varied autocrats and a queen, there have been a growing number of Facebook profiles, blogs and 'tweets' written by leaders across the Middle East.
The new kid on the block, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, was revealed Monday to have been ´tweeting´ for over a month under the name HHShkMohd. The ruler of Dubai started microblogging on Twitter following his popularity on Facebook, where the leader lists endurance racing among his interests, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace among his favorite books and revealingly states "I relish visiting cultural institutions throughout the Emirates."
"Excuse me ppl!" the Vice President wrote in one of his recent comments. "But if u dont have something gd to say then dont write anything down cuz im gna start reporting! ,,cuz some ppl have been calling names ,, and joining just to put their anger and that will do em no gd! and thnx for cooperating."
There were over 2,000 replies, not all of them adoring of the Sheikh.
By far the most famous Arab leader to delve into social networking is Jordan's Queen Rania Al Abdullah, who has written 91 twitter updates since her highness began microblogging in early May.
The Queen has attracted almost half a million followers in just two months, and regularly gives guarded personal insights into the Jordanian royal family's life. One recent post, for example, reads: "As u can c, my 4 yr old beat me at negotiating table re suit, but as trade-off, impeccable behavior! So proud!"
Another: "Father & son, bonding ovr wknd. Mum worrying, surrounded by real life action heroes. It's a curse!" she wrote, posting a photo of King Abdullah on a motorbike.
While anyone can follow the Queen, she only follows only 37 'tweeters', among them: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, British chef Jamie Oliver, the BBC, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, The Onion, Oprah, Time Magazine, NPR and the New York Times.
Queen Rania also boasts 65,000 fans on her Facebook profile and another 21,000 on her YouTube channel.
Many other Middle Eastern leaders have Facebook and Twitter profiles, among them
Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Libya's Muammar Al Gaddafi and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Who has control over these identities is not clear. Queen Rania's Facebook page was originally set up by a fan, then taken over by the Queen.
"Queen Rania is doing it personally while the others are done by handlers," Daoud Kuttab, a columnist based in Jordan, told The Media Line. "They know young people are not reading newspapers these days. It's a clever way to stay in touch and manage their image in the way they want it to be seen."
"Every leader in the world is understandably trying to stay in power and needs to find new ways to stay in touch with the population," the former director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University explained. "The population in the Arab world is largely under 25."
Kuttab and other analysts rejected the notion that Middle Eastern leaders were using social networking platforms to communicate government policy or as an alternative to traditional media.
"It's a gimmick to give the impression that they are communicating with people," he added. "I don't think it's used to communicate any policy issues with the public nor does it bypass traditional media because most Arab leaders own the traditional media... This is just icing on their cake."
Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi journalist and women's rights activist who has been banned from reporting by the government, agreed that the boom in Middle Eastern leaders' use of social networking platforms over the past few months was not born out of a desire to communicate or further government policy.
"They want to be the idol of the youth," she told The Media Line. "We are very young in the Middle East but we are ruled by very old men... The vast majority of the Arab world is under the age of 25 and these services provide a new way for the leaders to try build bridges with the youth."
Al-Huwaidar says old guard Arab leaders have been surprised by the power and influence of social media platforms on their young populations. "Facebook, Twitter, even Skype- for us in the Middle East these services are like a window to the world," she said. "The religious control the media and almost every institution in most Middle Eastern countries, so for liberal minded people the Internet was a life-saver for us. We can talk, people can hear us and we can reach out to international media."
"But I don't think they are very genuine about it. Just like the reality is very different from what the government says in the newspapers, the reality is also very different from what leaders will say on Twitter or Facebook... but some people will fall for it."
Nabil Dajani, Chairman of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and a professor of communications at the American University in Beirut, said the lack of Internet penetration across the Middle East meant such initiatives would be of little use to regional leaders.
"I don't think it boosts their image," he told The Media Line. "This is the fashion, it's about their ego."
"The Internet is not actually that widespread in the Middle East so the impact is not the same as in the West," professor Dajani explained. "Computers are expensive, electricity is not available everywhere and only the very few are able to pay for Internet services, so it's only really rich people, urban residents and university graduates."
"If they want to get to the masses in the rural areas then they are wasting their time."
2009. The Media Line Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
The smiling, well-groomed red face in the profile picture certainly looks like the Syrian leader, but could the ruler of an authoritarian regime which blocks Facebook really be using the social networking site?
Syrian blogger Mohammed Ali Al-Abdullah wondered exactly this when he came across the profile of the smiling, mustached man with over 795 friends. "I want to ask him," Al-Abdullah wrote, "how he succeeded to bypass the Internet censorship in Syria? Perhaps I´m able to help him by providing proxy links if he promised that he will keep it secret."
From presidents and prime ministers to varied autocrats and a queen, there have been a growing number of Facebook profiles, blogs and 'tweets' written by leaders across the Middle East.
The new kid on the block, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, was revealed Monday to have been ´tweeting´ for over a month under the name HHShkMohd. The ruler of Dubai started microblogging on Twitter following his popularity on Facebook, where the leader lists endurance racing among his interests, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace among his favorite books and revealingly states "I relish visiting cultural institutions throughout the Emirates."
"Excuse me ppl!" the Vice President wrote in one of his recent comments. "But if u dont have something gd to say then dont write anything down cuz im gna start reporting! ,,cuz some ppl have been calling names ,, and joining just to put their anger and that will do em no gd! and thnx for cooperating."
There were over 2,000 replies, not all of them adoring of the Sheikh.
By far the most famous Arab leader to delve into social networking is Jordan's Queen Rania Al Abdullah, who has written 91 twitter updates since her highness began microblogging in early May.
The Queen has attracted almost half a million followers in just two months, and regularly gives guarded personal insights into the Jordanian royal family's life. One recent post, for example, reads: "As u can c, my 4 yr old beat me at negotiating table re suit, but as trade-off, impeccable behavior! So proud!"
Another: "Father & son, bonding ovr wknd. Mum worrying, surrounded by real life action heroes. It's a curse!" she wrote, posting a photo of King Abdullah on a motorbike.
While anyone can follow the Queen, she only follows only 37 'tweeters', among them: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, British chef Jamie Oliver, the BBC, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, The Onion, Oprah, Time Magazine, NPR and the New York Times.
Queen Rania also boasts 65,000 fans on her Facebook profile and another 21,000 on her YouTube channel.
Many other Middle Eastern leaders have Facebook and Twitter profiles, among them
Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Libya's Muammar Al Gaddafi and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Who has control over these identities is not clear. Queen Rania's Facebook page was originally set up by a fan, then taken over by the Queen.
"Queen Rania is doing it personally while the others are done by handlers," Daoud Kuttab, a columnist based in Jordan, told The Media Line. "They know young people are not reading newspapers these days. It's a clever way to stay in touch and manage their image in the way they want it to be seen."
"Every leader in the world is understandably trying to stay in power and needs to find new ways to stay in touch with the population," the former director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University explained. "The population in the Arab world is largely under 25."
Kuttab and other analysts rejected the notion that Middle Eastern leaders were using social networking platforms to communicate government policy or as an alternative to traditional media.
"It's a gimmick to give the impression that they are communicating with people," he added. "I don't think it's used to communicate any policy issues with the public nor does it bypass traditional media because most Arab leaders own the traditional media... This is just icing on their cake."
Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi journalist and women's rights activist who has been banned from reporting by the government, agreed that the boom in Middle Eastern leaders' use of social networking platforms over the past few months was not born out of a desire to communicate or further government policy.
"They want to be the idol of the youth," she told The Media Line. "We are very young in the Middle East but we are ruled by very old men... The vast majority of the Arab world is under the age of 25 and these services provide a new way for the leaders to try build bridges with the youth."
Al-Huwaidar says old guard Arab leaders have been surprised by the power and influence of social media platforms on their young populations. "Facebook, Twitter, even Skype- for us in the Middle East these services are like a window to the world," she said. "The religious control the media and almost every institution in most Middle Eastern countries, so for liberal minded people the Internet was a life-saver for us. We can talk, people can hear us and we can reach out to international media."
"But I don't think they are very genuine about it. Just like the reality is very different from what the government says in the newspapers, the reality is also very different from what leaders will say on Twitter or Facebook... but some people will fall for it."
Nabil Dajani, Chairman of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and a professor of communications at the American University in Beirut, said the lack of Internet penetration across the Middle East meant such initiatives would be of little use to regional leaders.
"I don't think it boosts their image," he told The Media Line. "This is the fashion, it's about their ego."
"The Internet is not actually that widespread in the Middle East so the impact is not the same as in the West," professor Dajani explained. "Computers are expensive, electricity is not available everywhere and only the very few are able to pay for Internet services, so it's only really rich people, urban residents and university graduates."
"If they want to get to the masses in the rural areas then they are wasting their time."
2009. The Media Line Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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