The power of social media

By: Fatma Bujsaim

Image: Mazen Nahawi. Photography: Futtaim Al Falasi

There are more Arabs on Facebook than those who read Newspapers, Said Mazen Nahawi, who was hosted by Zayed University. Nahawi is the president and founder of News Group Company. He gave a presentation with the title: Regional social media monitoring report”, and has also shared his research findings on the role of Twitter and Facebook in the recent revolutions and protests in region.

He starts off his presentation by explaining the importance of information and Arab/Islamic history, “How come we don’t know our own history? Because we don’t have a source of information,” he said, Nahawi also adds “How are we going to build a university or a country if we do not have history? Information is our holy temples to our freedom, and to be a dignified human being”.

Nahawi explains that with traditional media information moved slowly and people were “badly and not fully informed”, but with the introduction of social media, people have “power, speed, freedom, rights, and information”.

Social media has opened doors to people, for example now people “have the right to meet anyone they want to meet or marry” says Nahawi. Not only that, social media has united Arabs in a way we cannot imagine, “350 million Arabs live in too many countries. There are geographic boundaries.” But when the recent protests emerged, Arabs came together and were all talking about the same things which were seen in the trending topics such as “freedom, revolution, corruption, Mubarak, minister, NDP, parliament, jobs, salary, minimum wage, housing, and political brutality.

Nahawi’s research shows that there are more Arabs on Facebook than Arabs who read newspapers; the number is an estimate of 85 million. He also emphasized that people should not wait for governments to create change; rather they should create that change. He gives an example of the government and employment, “the government will not always support you in employment. What will you do? How will you compete?” he asks, he later answers his own question with one phrase, “Personal responsibility.”

The lecture hall was full, where around 100 students attended. Mazen Nahawi urges them to “fight for their right of information” and to be aware of their personal responsibility.