The Digital Digest is Rassed's quarterly round up of Internet and technology developments in the Middle East. Hot stories in this issue: _Qatar leads social take-up in MENA _23% of MENA uses social media for breaking news _25-34 years oldsdominate Facebook in KSA + UAE _Singapore users most attached to their mobiles _MENA’s online gender gap revealed _Google Street View comes to MENA landmarks ... and many more.

1. Digital Digest
Issue 15 -Q3 2014

2. Highlights
xx
Qatar
leads social
take-up
in MENA
197 million Arab Internet users by 2017
Google Street View comes to
MENA landmarks
25-34 years olds
dominate Facebook in KSA + UAE
23% of MENA uses social media for breaking news
MENA’s online gender gap revealed
Arabic to be 4th largest online language by 2015
12-15 year olds using mobiles for texting
not calls
Singapore users most attached to their mobiles
Websites and Search Engines popular tools for Govinfo

3. Social Media

4. Qatar leads MENA
social media penetration
Most countries in the MENA region enjoy levels of social media usage at considerably higher levels than the global average.
Source: We are Social: http://bit.ly/1uiYVoG

5. Social Media and Online are
key sources for breaking news
Social networks come second to TV as the medium people in MENA use to find out about a news story.
Source: Spring Tide: The new era for video news in the MENA region Study: http://bit.ly/YBbm0S

6. Government websites more popular than their social channels for info
Search engines and asking advice from friends, family and colleagues are also common information sources.
Source: Arab Social Media Report : http://bit.ly/1lr6QKL

7. Facebook dominated by
25-34 years olds in MENA
Source: GlobalwebIndex http://bit.ly/1xwdiqf
48% of Facebook users in UAE and
Saudi Arabia are 25-34 years old.
7 in 10 are male.

8. Technology

9. Source: Arab Knowledge Economy Report: http://bit.ly/1DUyUhR
197 million Internet users
in Arab World by 2017
Penetration is expected to jump 51% by 2017.
With a 67% increase in the GCC.
Internet Users, Distribution and Growth in the GCC 2012-2017
Example Countries
2012Internet Penetration
Penetration (end2012)
2011-2012 Growth
2017 predicted
InternetUsers
Bahrain
799,521
65.66 %
11.68 %
1,174,759
Qatar
1,008,850
54.93 %
18.00%
1,777,938
UAE
5,169,280
57.20 %
13.00 %
8,325,177
KSA
15,800,000
53.39 %
16.18 %
23,215,384
Kuwait
2,268,470
59.33 %
22.40 %
3,333,127
Oman
1,353,318
35.89 %
18.00 %
2,385,009
Sub-Total
26,399,439
53.57 %
16.06 %
40,211,394

10. 360-degree panoramic images of Egyptian landmarks: The Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, theHanging Church,and the medievalCairo Citadelnow online.
Google Street View inside MENA landmarks
Source: ZDNet.com http://zd.net/1sK3kQV
Click here to see the panoramic image of the Pyramidsand the Citadel
Google Street View comes
to new MENA landmarks

11. Source: intel.com http://intel.ly/1ihEjTA
MENA has the second
highest online gender gap
MENA comes second after Sub-Saharan Africa in % of females accessing the Internet versus males.

12. Digital Content

13. Arabic expected to be fourth
largest online language by 2015
The Wall Street Journal reported:
“Over the past 10 years, growth
in Arabic-language online usage
has grown by 2,500%...
By the end of 2015 Arabic is expected to be the fourth-largest language group online… with some 150 million users (currently around 72 million).”
Image Source: eArabiclearning.com: http://bit.ly/ZWjXMISource: Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1tb0mPQ

14. New Arabic multiplayer
online game launched
A new portal for multiplayer online games has launched, offering content in Arabic for desktop and mobile gamers.
Source: Tfour.me http://bit.ly/1wTudQn

15. Amongst Arab countries, Saudi Arabia has the highest gender gap use of e-commerce (15.1%).
Egypt has the lowest gap (1%).
Source: The Broadband Commission Working Group Report: http://bit.ly/1voAqEN
e-Commerce gender gap
reaches 15% in KSA

16. Expected 600% rise in data
produced by the MENA region
(3.8%) of total digital universe= 249 exabytes
(4.2%) of total digital universe= 1,835 exabytes
The amount of data produced annually in the MENA region will grow 600% by 2020 due to social, mobile, sensors and Smart City initiatives.
Source: Gulfnews http://bit.ly/1rnbbTh

17. Global Stories

18. In the UK: 12-15 year olds use
mobiles for text, not calls
Source: Ofcom: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2014/cmr-uk-2014/
Image: http://bit.ly/11duymZ
Only 3% of this age group use the phone for voice calls.
94% of youngster chatter
is text-based
i.e. IMs and social networking.
Only 2% e-mail using mobiles.

19. Vine most popular in USA
Source: GlobalwebIndex: http://bit.ly/1qNKalE
The USA has the highest market for Vine, amongst Internet users (9%) and teens (25%).
Turkey comes second in adult usage. With Canada holding this position with teens.

20. Singapore smartphone users
most attached to their device
44% use their phones as an alarm clock to wake up
An average of 79 % check their phones within 15 min of first waking up
A survey by Tolunarevealed in 5 selected countries:
Source: eMarketer.: http://bit.ly/1u4gLYf
Image: http://bit.ly/1EO4WfT

21. 1 billion YouTube views a month
40% views via mobile
YouTube now attracts more than 1 billion viewers a month. Consumers watch over 6 billion hours of video.
Image: The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1DUKPfoSource: The Guardian: http://bit.ly/1nOErvP

22. Disclaimer: All content in these slides is in the public domain and referenced so that you can read the original sources.
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