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Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth?

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Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth? Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth? Produced by the Dubai School of Government’s Governance and Innovation Program October 2012 In Partnership with Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth? Produced by the Dubai School of Government’s Governance and Innovation Program in Partnership with SAP MENA October 2012 About the Authors The Report is produced by Dubai School of Government’s Governance and Innovation Program, and co-authored by Racha Mourtada and Fadi Salem: Fadi Salem is Director of the Governance and Innovation Program in the Dubai School of Government. Racha Mourtada is a Research Associate in the Governance and Innovation Program in the Dubai School of Government To contact the authors please direct emails to: [email protected]; [email protected] The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the trustees, officers and other staff of the Dubai School of Government. © 2012 Dubai School of Government Acknowledgements The Governance and Innovation Program at the Dubai School of Government would like to thank SAP MENA for its forward looking support of policy research and the generous grant that facilitated conducting this critical and timely regional research. The authors wish to express their personal appreciation to Selim J. Eddé, SAP MENA Government Relations, for his invaluable contribution to this project. The authors would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the following individuals in providing essential contributions, input and assistance into the report and its related materials: - Claire McPeak and Rob Jonkers from SAP - Jineesh M. Illath, Heba Shaaban from Dubai School of Government 4 October 2012 Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................7 About the Survey: Sample and Approach ........................................................................10 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................11 Regional Survey Findings ......................................................................................................20 Social media uses in business, enterprise and work culture - benefits, risks and drawbacks ............................................................................................................20 Social media, social entrepreneurship and education ............................................................26 Shifting employment preferences since 2011: Impact of political and economic stability on social media, employment, entrepreneurship and society .................................................................................................................................27 Conclusions: Exploring New Frontiers for Economic Empowerment in the Arab World .......................................................................................33 Annex 1: Key Findings of the 4th Arab Social Media Report .....................................36 Annex 2: Taghreedat - Driving social media communities to promote online content production in Arabic ................................................................39 References ..................................................................................................................................43 Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship - New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth? 5 6 October 2012 Executive Summary Since the spark of the popular movements across the Arab world, the critical debate about Arab youth’s political empowerment and the innovative uses of social media has been ongoing in policy and academic circles. Meanwhile, the Arab world continues to witness exponential growth in social media usage, merging online and offline identities among a significant percentage of young Arabs; this continues to play a critical role in shaping new dynamics in Arab societies. Almost two years later, many more questions beyond the impact on political empowerment of Arabs are increasingly being asked by policy makers and business leaders; the most critical of which is: Can this same phenomena also play a similar role in the economic empowerment of the most active group in society, the Arab youth? The Governance and Innovation Program (GIP) at the Dubai School of Government, in partnership with SAP MENA, conducted a regional eight country survey to measure perceptions on the impact of social media usage on economic empowerment, employment and entrepreneurship in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The report aims to provide decision and policy makers as well as businesses leaders with better understanding of the emerging opportunities and risks related to these changes; and explore the impact on policy making, business development and ultimately economic growth in the Arab region. More specifically, this exploratory field study aims to address the following key themes: A New Horizon? - What is the impact of social media growth on job creation, economic growth and support for entrepreneurship in the Arab region? The Policy Structure - How can governments adapt their developmental policies to this growth to better contribute to economic empowerment, citizen satisfaction and social inclusion? A New Wave of Innovation? - Can the emerging generation of empowered Arab youth translate into a sustainable culture of innovation? Ultimately, this report is intended to provoke thought leadership discussions in private and public sector decisions making circles in the surveyed countries, and the wider Arab region which shares many similarities on the cultural, economic and societal levels. Key findings of this survey provide evidence confirming that changes in the sense of empowerment is taking place within large segments in Arab societies. According to the survey findings, the following are the key conclusions on based on regional perceptions on the potential role for social media in these transformations: • Impact on Employment Preferences: The economic and political instability throughout 2011 and 2012, and the related growth of social media usage in the region, clearly had an impact on the employment preferences of people in the 1 According to the Arab Social Media Report Series produced by DSG’s Governance and innovation Program in 2011/2012: http://www.ArabSocialMediaReport.com Social Media, Employment and Entrepreneurship - New Frontiers for the Economic Empowerment of Arab Youth? 7 region, and their readiness to pursue Future Prospects: Creative entrepreneurial opportunities. While technological solutions based on no clear majority emerged in terms data-mining and social media have of preferences for a specific sector, a the potential to unleash the innovative ways to solve many of the growing significant percentage of respondents unemployment problems in the region. stated that the events of the past year had Some of them are: affected their employment preference. o The Virtual Job Market: Social • Value for Businesses, Start-ups and media is facilitating access to Social Entrepreneurs: Social media customized information about jobs is overwhelmingly perceived as an and employment opportunities. In important tool for businesses in general, fact, 71% of survey respondents in the and specifically for start-ups and social region state that they would rely on enterprises. Moreover, it is a tool that is social media to find their next job. actively used by entrepreneurs in the Arab region. o Up-skilling: Social media can help young people bridge the gap • Perceptions of Key Benefits: Across the between their qualifications and job region, the most beneficial aspect of social market demands, and acquire the media for businesses is deemed to be its required skills for different positions. promotional and outreach capacity. 84% of survey respondents said that social media can support acquiring • Social Enterprises: Social media is entrepreneurial skills, specifically for seen as an important tool for social students. 80% said that educational enterprises by an overwhelming majority reform should include the integration of respondents across the region (89%). of social networking technologies in the classroom. • Social media and Education: Beyond its benefits for businesses and enterprise, o SME Creation and Empowerment: social media is perceived as a necessary In the absence of available jobs, young and even transformational tool for people, with the help of social media, education. now have more opportunities to create their own enterprise. 86% of • Social media as an Equalizer: Social respondents agreed that social media is media continues to be an equalizer across a key tool today for start-ups. different gender and age groups, with o Social Media-Based Trend majority of respondents –regardless of Measurement and ‘Sentiment their gender- seem to have the same Analysis’: With the growth of perceptions about social media with social media usage, and with help regards to its potential for job creation, its of sentiment analysis techniques, benefits and drawbacks for business and governments in the region are now enterprise. better positioned to utilize a wealth of • Drawbacks for Business: Negative information which can enable them to tackle youth unemployment, and larger connotations
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