Introduction
Twitter is one of those social media that have revolutionized sending thoughts throughout the world. It has rapidly changed the way of communicating with the people living at any place of the world. Its importance cannot be denied in any case. “Helps you create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers” (About Twitter, 2013). There are billions of people that are well aware of this medium. They have maintained their accounts in it to get the latest happenings in the country and the outside world.
There are many forms of social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) which is used by youth as tools for social movement and free speech, especially in the Middle East. “Twitter, a social networking and microblogging site founded in March 2006, has approximately 200 million registered accounts, and 110 million “tweets” per day” (Demay, 2011).
This medium has become the reason for awareness in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. People are attached to it to get the information they need. They are not an exception and are making full use of this facility. In recent years, the amount of accounts prepared by the people living in the kingdom has increased. People have started recognizing its importance. There are many reports issued by independent research institutions of the world that are supporting this fact.
People in Saudi Arabia are now well aware of its benefits and are recognizing that it is the best source to connect them with the world. Social media helps people in third-world nations to connect with the outside world and also gives them the power to speak (Ali, 2011). It is not only the reason for creating contact with the people, but they can also express their views with the world. According to Freedom House, an independent organization to monitor the freedom of speech around the world, Saudi Arabia has one of the most strict media censorship laws in the world.
The world has changed, due to this sort of medium. The awareness of the issues has been spread about in the world. People are now able to discuss these issues and provide their suggestions on them. Openly and bluntly speaking, the revolutions in recent years, in the Arab countries are brought because of Twitter. “Twitter has their place in social change, but real revolutions take place in the street. One of the biggest obstacles in using social media for political change is that people need close personal connections to get them to take action– especially if that action is risky and difficult” (Rosenberg, 2011).
In Saudi Arabia, people can come up to one
According to PeerReach (date?), Saudi Arabia has one of the highest Twitter usage rates relative to the online population. In Saudi Arabia, recently, the role of Twitter in promoting political reforms and freedom of speech has taken off. Therefore, people in Saudi Arabia use Twitter to show their opinion in government decisions which was prohibited before Twitter get popular in Saudi society. ’’(Mike Masnick).
It is significant to know what is happening in the world. If you are not aware of all, this means, you are losing something important. Twitter is about knowing whether people are concerning themselves with innovative ways of chatting and expressing thoughts with others or not. This medium has created awareness among the people in Saudi Arabia, and how you can raise your voice while being there. The whole of the study observes the importance of freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia through the use of Twitter.
It has become the best platform for spending time reading and discussing the news. This platform is not only limited to the news of the world that sometimes bore a person, but the entertainment stuff also exists in it. People in Saudi Arabia are also having fun while reading funny and entertaining tweets. People were unable to criticize the policies of the government before this, and the local media were always talking about the qualities of the kingdom.
Now people are well aware and have a platform that will make sure that their voices and thoughts will be conveyed to the relevant authorities and the issues will be solved. One of the important things is that you can promote the things that you are doing. The people living in the society come near to each other and they become able to convey their thoughts to a huge amount of people. It was not possible in the recent past. This study will examine the role of social media such as Twitter to promote freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia.
Importance or relevance of the project
The evolution of social media has greatly reformed how we can express our opinions. However, the social media evolution of freedom of speech is not limited to the rise of Twitter. Everyone can create a blog and start communicating with many people around the world (Vinton Cerf, 2013). It is vital to know how Twitter has changed the way we communicate to express our opinion and perspectives in Saudi laws which are prohibited by Saudi authorities.
This project is very crucial for everybody to know about. People spend their whole lives searching for something that will make them able to show their beliefs to the world. There are still many people who do not think that it has become simpler than in the past to convey their suggestions and views to the rest of the people. The reason for this might be that they are not having opportunities to do so; it is the responsibility of the people living nearby them to make them aware of any such change and to provide them facilities. Saudi Arabia is a place where the people have started recognizing its importance.
The world has been changed and the processes of doing things have also been modernized to a large extent. The people should be told to use this medium to convey their problems and views to the whole of the world. Times have changed and the importance of Twitter has been increased all around the world. Now the public gathering is held due to the help of these like media, that is very easy to access by everybody and is less expensive or sometimes, cost nothing to the users for connecting themselves with the world.
This creates social awareness among the masses, especially in the countries like Saudi Arabia where the kingdom prevails and it is difficult to convey the opinions and views over any issue, like the criticism of the government for a project that did not suitably solve the issues of the people. Now the people are capable of showing their concerns to the relevant authorities of the country.
The rules and regulations and ethics should not be exploited in the wake of freedom of expression. Sharing views and making a tweet means you have to be within a limit that should not be crossed by hook or by crook. If the people are being provoked to destroy the system of a country, their minds are being agitated with hatred by using a social medium.
This study will allow the researcher who interesting in the communication field to learn more about the behavior of Saudi users on Twitter. Moreover, it is important to understand how social media can be used for social change and the ways that users in Twitter can interact with each other with who has an interest in freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia.
Relevance to communication theory
Twitter also understands fulfilling the requirements of the communication theory. This theory is very vast and covers all the factors that occur in social media include face-to-face ace, including chats, and likewise sort of communication. People in Saudi Arabia can follow their desired personalities as in it the “following system” prevails. You get tweets in which, the people to whom you are following, share their thoughts.
It is the communication software that is being used widely by the people of the world. They are getting most of it by connecting themselves by following the people they like. Twitter is evolving with time. More and more features are being included in it so that the people could make full use of this media. Various sorts of companies with their Twitter accounts attract employees from all around the world. This is known as innovation, which was never thought of in the past.
When there are many benefits of it, there are many factors that are becoming the reason for its misuse. Some people are negatively using it and are becoming the reason for many problems. They are making the environment unsafe, which is not the policy of any social media. Still, there is a lot to do to make it a safer place to be at. The management of Twitter is not able to have checked and balance all the tweets of the people. It is the people’s social responsibility to make sure that they use it for positive works.
Communication has become very easy and comfortable with the invention of this medium in Saudi Arabia. It is the least expensive and affects a huge amount of people. Their number is being increased in Saudi Arabia. They are concerned about this media and provide their feedback when needed and when they think it is suitable to take participation in the issues being discussed.
Just an account is what you need to get your message spread all around the world. The multi-national, educational, charity and governmental organizations in Saudi Arabia are using this medium and making it full of this facility. They share their message in the shape of tweets and call for the opinions of the people. They are not required to spend a huge sum of money on the advertisements whereby the feedbacks of the people is difficult to take and provide them the solution at the spot if they have any problem.
The other pitfall of them is that the message of only one side comes into the scene and the other party waits for the right time to get in contact with the first one, to tell him, what the issue was with his message. This might be creating barriers in the way of all freedom of speech. The people of Saudi Arabia are well known for all these kinds of factors. They know attracting a huge amount of people has become very easy now.
Communication theory is all about transferring information from one person to another. It should be conveyed effectively and this is what is provided by Twitter. The feedback is taken from the audience, whether desired or not, they are not bound to provide or not to provide the reply to a certain situation.
Nobody is there to halt their ways in this regard. Feedback is very crucial without it; the process of communication is not completed. When the people provide their feedback with ease, there is no issue with the freedom of speech in society. It is what the society of Saudi Arabia has started recognizing.
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