Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government Report Highlights Social Media, Internet of Things as Key Tools for Data-driven Policymaking

Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG), a research and teaching institution concentrating on public policy in the Arab world, today released its 7 th Arab Social media Report. Entitled Social Media and IoT: In the direction of Data-driven Policymaking in the Arab World - Potential, Limitations and Worries, the document explores the opportunities and constraints that digitally turbulent innovations present, and examines their capacity to boost policymaking through data-driven techniques.

His Excellency Dr Ali bin Sebaa Al Marri, Executive President of MBRSG, Teacher Raed
Awamleh, Dean of MBRSG, and Fadi Salem, Research study Fellow at MBRSG and the writer of the report, along with the School's faculty and trainees present at the launch.

The report highlights the convergence of social networks with the Internet of Points (IoT) as potential resources of information for policymaking, provided the high penetration of digital devices and social media sites in the Arab world.

Discussing the report searchings for, Fadi Salem said: "Today, around 39% of the Arab World's populace usage social media, up from 28% virtually 2 years ago. Youth continue to control around 2 thirds of the individuals, while Arabic ended up being one of the most used language in social networks activities in the region for the first time ever. Nevertheless, the sex gap continues to persist on social networks in the various Arab regions for the six consecutive year inning accordance with our study".

He added: "This social networks development is today combined with a broadening foundation of Internet of Things (IoT) in the region and a quick maturation in big data applications. In the age of the "4th commercial transformation", these sources of data exist policymakers and companies with brand-new horizons for growth and much better policymaking opportunities. Nonetheless, according to our survey, these promises deal with various constraints and raise vast public issues varying from concerns concerning privacy, loss of control, misstatement and misuse of information."

Analyzing usage trends, patterns and demographics of key social networks platforms across the Arab world, the searchings for show that many social networks individuals in the region (58 percent) already share their views on government policies through these platforms. The report additionally explored regional public approval and preparedness on the boosted use of their social media sites and IoT data in policymaking. In the future, if this causes much better policies, a big percentage of respondents stated they would certainly sustain using their social networks information by federal governments in policy formula such as health, education, tourist, transportation and safety and security plans. However, since today, the majority of participants revealed different issues regarding the techniques of organisations and federal governments with regards to social networks and IoT data.

Today, the report highlights that social media customers in the region are ending up being elder. Nevertheless, over the past 6 years, the sex void significantly noticeable on social media sites in the region - presently one woman for every single two males - has continued to be a chronic problem. The report cautions that this lack of ample female involvement on digital platforms may have a negative effect on making sure comprehensive developmental and policy formula efforts.

The report also registers a rise in making use of the Arabic language on social media sites over the previous two years. On a standard, Facebook signs up 55 percent Arabic users - up from 43 percent 2 years ago, while 72 percent of all tweets in the region are currently in Arabic. This trend has big implications en route governments interact with their citizens in addition to heading businesses engage with each other and the community.

Facebook:

The report shows ongoing development of social networks make use of that mirrors a favorable social, social and financial overview for the Arab world. In fact, Facebook-- the most popular social networks platform in the region-- has around 156 million individuals this year, as compared to 115 million in 2016. Qatar and the UAE have without a doubt the highest penetration rates of Facebook accounts with practically 95 percent in each nation.

Twitter:

Twitter registers over 11 million energetic customers in the region. Saudi Arabia has one of the most Twitter customers, constituting 29 percent of the total variety of users in the Arab world. According to price quotes, energetic Twitter users in the region created around 849.1 million tweets in March 2016-- a rise of greater than 59 percent over two years. Majority of all tweets generated in the Arab world come from 2 nations-- Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

LinkedIn:

The overall number of LinkedIn customers in the region reached 16.6 million since January 2017. The UAE has the most LinkedIn individuals among Arab nations, standing for 32.5 percent of the total number of customers in the region.

Instagram:

The complete variety of energetic Instagram customers in the region is 7.1 million, with one of the most users registered in the UAE.

The complete report, produced by the Innovation and government Group within MBRSG, as well as previous editions of the Arab Social network Report series are available for download at the School's internet sites: www.mbrsg.ac.ae and the record's web site:www.arabsocialmediareport.com