JEDDAH — Social media is increasingly becoming an integrated part of individual life in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia continues to be a social media powerhouse, being one of the biggest national markets for Snapchat and YouTube in the world. As the country is undergoing progressive changes driven by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman's pragmatic Vision 2030, people in the digital arena are scaling new heights. The social media plays an important role rapidly changing Saudi society. The latest statistics released by Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) reveals that the usage of social media in the Kingdom in 2018 rose swiftly, touching 91.7 percent of the total population. Interestingly the non-Saudi population relies more on social media than Saudi citizens. According to CITC, 93.20 percent of non-Saudis were using social media compared with 90.80 percent of Saudis. Expatriates largely rely on social media platforms to keep abreast of affairs back home. The CITC study found that young people in the age group of 20-24 years are the largest bloc with 98.70 percent of them using social media, followed by the age group of 25-29 with 98.10 percent. The reach is 97.40 percentage among the age group of 30-34 years. The CITC report also said 93.20 percent males were using social media compared with 89.60 percent females. It is interesting to note that the remote region of Tabuk is having the highest Internet penetration in the Kingdom with 97.10 percent, followed by Makkah and the Northern Border Province with 93.40 percent. Social media is proven as an effective and the easiest tool of interaction between the public and government agencies. Saudi Arabia has the highest annual growth rate of social media users anywhere in the world. Data from We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed social media users in the Kingdom grew by 32 percent against a worldwide average of 13 percent.
