Twitter Not Popular Among Syrian Cyber-Activists

Twitter - not yet the social media tool of choice in Syria

SMN, No. 3, June 18, 2010

The social networking service Twitter has so far failed to attract large numbers of Syrian Internet users as it did in other Arab countries. In an interview conducted via email, a Syrian blogger and activist said that the Syrian online community has not yet realised Twitter’s potential as a tool that could help them publicise their causes.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages, known as tweets.

“It is a very important tool for sharing information… in a very easy way,” said the Syrian blogger, who is active on twitter and who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons. He said that he uses twitter to connect with his friends and share news and information. He said that he “tweets” about technology and Barack Obama’s Middle East policies.

“In contrast to Facebook… [The service] is not limited to friends, so you can follow any person whose work or activities you are interested in and receive instant updates,” he said.

He added that today Egyptian youth activists and opponents consider Twitter as their favoured means of communication and dissent. He said that the website is also popular among Palestinian, Jordanian and Lebanese Internet users. He estimated the number of Syrian users of Twitter to be few hundreds inside the country but many more abroad. He said that most Syrians use twitter to communicate with their friends or promote their websites or other links.

The blogger said that Twitter proved its worth during the latest Israeli attack on the Turkish flotilla carrying aid materials to Gaza in the past week. He said that large numbers of Arab cyber-activists drew attention to the flotilla by exchanging a stream of photos, news links, articles and videos. Some of the peace activists on the flotilla communicated their experience via Twitter.

He said that this tool of communication was more efficient that traditional Arab media in winning the public relations battle against Israel. “Twitter helps youth focus attention on subjects of interest to them,” he said.