There are now more Facebook users in the Arab world Arab Facebook users have reached a record 43 million in April 2012, according to the most recent  Arab Social Media report issued by the Governance and Innovation programme of the Governmental Administration Faculty in Dubai.
The report stated that the UAE, retained the highest ratio of Facebook users compared to the total population, followed by Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait and Tunisia respectively. Egypt is still on top of the number of Facebook users in one country, as about 25% of the total Arab users are living in Egypt.
The report revealed that internet social networks, particularly Facebook and Twitter, have a growing role in enhancing youth participation in community activities, especially regarding the recent political and social changes witnessed in the Arab region.
According to the report, the ratio of Facebook Arab users compared to the total Arab population have jumped from only 4% since two years ago to 12% at present, with 70% of those users being youths. While the report stated that Twitter users in the Arab world have reached 1.3 million producing about 172 million tweets by the end of March 2012, the majority of these tweets are linked to the recent public upheavals in the Arab region.
The Gulf countries still lead the list of the highest ratios of Twitter users compared to the total population, with Kuwait on top, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are however on top of the active Twitter users list with about 393000 active users. Meanwhile 88% of the tweets produced in March 2012 were posted from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain.
On the other hand, women\'s contribution in the fields of social media activity is still a relatively weak work in progress, as the women\'s ratio to the total social networks\' Arab users has jumped from 32% in 2010 to only 34% in the first quarter of 2012.
The report\'s main editor, Rasha Murtada, said that the numbers of  women using social media   is not running at the same speed as their distinguished participation in the political and social fields witnessed recently in the Arab region. Murtada linked this contradiction with  the social and cultural restrictions imposed on women in the Arab world.