Social Media Opens New Frontiers For Arab Youth [Report]
![Social Media Opens New Frontiers For Arab Youth [Report]](https://cdn.wamda.com/feature-images/fecd15b95441d86.png)
The Dubai School of Government recently released “Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship: New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth?”, a report measuring perceptions of the impact of social media on economic empowerment, employment, and entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa.
As youth unemployment in the region reaches 26.5 percent in the Middle East and 27.9 per cent in North Africa on average, the report looks at social media use in employment, assessing youth in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on 9 potential roles for social media:
- Impact on Employment Preferences
- Social Enterprises
- Social Media and Education
- Social Media as an Equalizer
- Drawbacks for Business
- Policy and Regulatory Structures
- Societal Participation in Policy Making
- The Virtual Job Market
- SME Creation and Empowerment
The results reveal, as you might guess, that youth are heavily involved in using social media for finding opportunities and building companies.
-
Social media is seen as an important tool for social enterprises by 89% of respondents across the region.
- 71% of respondents in the region state that they would rely on social media to find their next job.
- 84% of respondents believe that social media can support acquiring entrepreneurial skills, specifically for students.
- 80% said that educational reform should include the integration of social networking technologies in the classroom.
- 86% of respondents view social media as a key tool today for start-ups.
