Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Social Media Moment

Abstract

In this paper, I reflect on the relationship between social media and the Arab uprisings of 2011, contrasting the Egyptian experience with that of Saudi Arabia. My argument is conditioned by the fact that I observed the uprising in Egypt from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a city in which, throughout the year of revolt that has gripped the Arab world, one could have heard a proverbial pin drop. It is conditioned as well by the fact that Egypt is the largest social media market in the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia the third largest. If social media was the determining element of the Arab uprisings, as the euphoria of the moment seemed to suggest, why were the outcomes in Saudi Arabia and Egypt so vastly different? In order to ascertain the influence of social media on the Arab uprisings of 2011, it would help first to identify and define the broader context in which social media is operating, namely, the new media context.