Possibilities of social media in the MENA region

Sangeetha Sridhar, who is a visionary content consultant at the Information Services Authority of Oman spoke recently at the Social Media Enterprise 2011 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  She talked with conviction about the possibilities of social media in the public realm.  She summaries here her central thoughts.

A Twitter Revolution?

Arriving in Dubai for the IIR Middle East Corporate Communications Conference 2011, I switched on the TV in the hotel room.  An Arabic channel was on, and I watched for a few minutes as it played a slide show of pictures of young people with sombre music in the background.  Pictures of young people smiling and relaxed changed into pictures of others in death - their bodies bloodstained and still.  It became clear this was a montage in memory of those who had given their lives in the uprising in Eqypt.  It was impossible not to be deeply moved by this simple broadcast.  
Dubai is a place in the Middle East where people come together for business, for conferences, and of course, for shopping.   Later that evening I met a man from Alexandria and asked him if he minded me talking to him about the events in Egypt.  "Quite the opposite", he replied, "so much has happened, and so many of our stories have not been told.  It's as if the story has moved on to another country, but in Eqypt, the story continues."

I told him I was struck by the fact these were all young people.  He told me that the majority of those who died were aged between 17 and 27.  And most had either just finished doing a degree or were about to start one.  All had two qualities, he said: an enquiring mind, and a desire for justice.  "Now, all their personal dreams have been ended, and their families nearly drowning with a sense of loss", he said with quiet passion.  "But for all of them, they did it not to be part of a group, or a fashionable cause, but because they believed in change.  They knew what they were doing had risks for them."

I've been to Dubai twice since the uprising began.   My first visit co-incided with the start of the uprising in Eqypt.   I discussed the crisis with a man from Bahrain.  By the time he got home, it had spread to his country.

All I spoke to were agreed that the world's media were trying their best to cover a story which was in fact many stories.   In every country the history and the motivation for the people to protest was different.  

They sensed nervousness in many countries, wondering who would be next.  Crack downs in Iran and China (including the blocking of sites like linked-in) was evidence of it.    Some countries started to announce economic improvements for citizens.  "What many of the leaders don't seem to understand", said a delegate, "is that these protests aren't about money.  They are about the lack of say people have in their own lives and destinies."  The King of Saudi Arabia, in the US for medical treatment, returned home.

All agreed that the sense that had been given that the protests in Eqypt had come out of nowhere was wrong.  They had been planned for some time.  And the authorities knew they were coming.  But they misjudged the strength of them.    Talk of it being a "Twitter Revolution" raised a wry smile.   "This misjudges the depth of what has happened, these revolutions are not happening because of Twitter", said one.  "They are happening because people have reached their limit.   Twitter has helped them organise, but the revolutions in Eastern Europe happened without Twitter.  It's been a tool, no more."   A tool that the authorities tried desperately to kill, afraid of its power.

Social media useage in the MENA region is extremely high and growing.  Authorities and companies have been reluctant to engage with it, fearing it is something they cannot control (a fear that is not so different in Europe and the US).   Now the message has come home that you must engage with it, or stand by and watch as events overtake you.

For Eqypt, the story is far from over.    Whether the sacrifice of so many young people will bring genuine lasting change is still not clear.  My friend from Alexandria reflected on what they had done.   "They are now part of the history of Egypt", he said.  "Their sacrifice can never be forgotten."  And with that, he disappeared into the lift.