UAE leads Mideast on Facebook users penetrationby Andy Sambidge Thursday, 13 May 2010
36% percent of the UAE's population are registered with social networking website Facebook, putting it 17th in the global rankings.
The UAE leads the way in the Middle East, according to a survey published by Facebakers which also showed that Facebook was also popular in Qatar with 29 percent penetration.
Leading the list globally is Iceland with 61 percent, followed by Norway with 53 percent and Canada with 47 percent, the survey added.
Out of the 1,600,000 users registered across the UAE, 63 percent are male and 37 percent are female.
In comparison, the USA has a Facebook penetration of 40.7 percent where female users comprise 56 percent of registered users as compared to 44 percent male.
“These statistics highlight a global movement towards social media as a means to disseminate information and communicate with the world,” said Jean-Renaud Durbin, general manager at The Content Factory, a Dubai-based integrated marketing communications agency.
He said the Middle East and specifically the UAE were catching up with more technologically advanced countries, including the USA and UK.
He added that in terms of media and marketing, Facebook has become a platform not to be overlooked with brands such as CNN, BBC and The Economist using the platform as a medium to target and engage both new and existing audience.
“Facebook in the UAE has seen its users grow by 11 percent over the past six months. Therefore, it is even more important to follow an integrated communications approach in terms of distribution in order to reach the right audiences at the right time,” added Durbin.
In February, Trevor Johnson, Facebook’s head of strategy and planning for the EMEA region said more than 1.7 million UAE residents were members of the social networking site.
“Across the MENA region, we have ten million active users from a total of 400 million subscribers worldwide,” he told Arabian Business.
Johnson added that the site was also popular in Saudi Arabia where there are 1.5 million subscribers
36% percent of the UAE's population are registered with social networking website Facebook, putting it 17th in the global rankings.
The UAE leads the way in the Middle East, according to a survey published by Facebakers which also showed that Facebook was also popular in Qatar with 29 percent penetration.
Leading the list globally is Iceland with 61 percent, followed by Norway with 53 percent and Canada with 47 percent, the survey added.
Out of the 1,600,000 users registered across the UAE, 63 percent are male and 37 percent are female.
In comparison, the USA has a Facebook penetration of 40.7 percent where female users comprise 56 percent of registered users as compared to 44 percent male.
“These statistics highlight a global movement towards social media as a means to disseminate information and communicate with the world,” said Jean-Renaud Durbin, general manager at The Content Factory, a Dubai-based integrated marketing communications agency.
He said the Middle East and specifically the UAE were catching up with more technologically advanced countries, including the USA and UK.
He added that in terms of media and marketing, Facebook has become a platform not to be overlooked with brands such as CNN, BBC and The Economist using the platform as a medium to target and engage both new and existing audience.
“Facebook in the UAE has seen its users grow by 11 percent over the past six months. Therefore, it is even more important to follow an integrated communications approach in terms of distribution in order to reach the right audiences at the right time,” added Durbin.
In February, Trevor Johnson, Facebook’s head of strategy and planning for the EMEA region said more than 1.7 million UAE residents were members of the social networking site.
“Across the MENA region, we have ten million active users from a total of 400 million subscribers worldwide,” he told Arabian Business.
Johnson added that the site was also popular in Saudi Arabia where there are 1.5 million subscribers
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