Social Networking in Saudi Arabia

For the next upcoming project in studio, we are to research social networking in a specific country. The country I was given was Saudi Arabia. At the start of my search I had no clue about social networking in Saudi Arabia or much about the country for that matter. So I began to research and here is what I found.

There are several controversies when social networking is brought up in Saudi Arabia. Due to their conservative beliefs and values often social networking sites, such as facebook are seen as being "sinful". These social networking sites are also blocked from access at certain times. This causes problems for those individuals in the work force when they are unable to do their work and have their voices heard. Not only are working individuals having a hard time trying to social network, but teens are as well.

In Saudi Arabia, gender mixing is very strict. Because of the conservative values the country has it is very hard for teens and young adults to meet those of the opposite sex and start relationships. They seek to have a facebook in order to pass these restrictions and meet each other. Though we as Americans take this for granted, Saudi Arabians have to work very hard to secretly get on the websites to connect with each other. It has been so strict at times that a young Saudi Arabian teen was killed by her father because she was caught talking to a boy on facebook. But, over the past few years more and more Saudi Arabians have gained access to sites like facebook and has increased the interactions between the two sexes. The Arabians are becoming more and more liberal each and everyday and are hoping the government will soon catch up.

In taking these research findings into consideration, my ideas of a social networking space for Saudi Arabia will take the focus to help make social networking more acceptible and give parents and those more conservative a reason to accept the cause. Possibly I will not only create a space for teens and young adults to social network, but also a space that will help educate the Saudi Arabians on what all social networking can offer.

Below I have attached websites that contain some of this information that you may want to take a look at!

http://americanbedu.com/2010/03/19/saudi-arabia-and-social-networking/

http://valleywag.gawker.com/375515/saudi-arabian-man-catches-daughter-on-facebook-murders-her

http://www.susrisblog.com/2010/03/31/social-networks-and-socializing-in-saudi-society/

Picture Sources:

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 http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://empirestatefx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/saudi_arabia.jpg&imgrefurl=http://empirestatefx.com/economy/foreign-investors-get-keys-to-the-kingdom/&usg=__yhropwlyl7n4yHy1p65bHeXyx0Q=&h=450&w=392&sz=29&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=N9vwI1qBotQ-rM:&tbnh=165&tbnw=144&ei=xQFGTfOyH4XqgAeQwZjQAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsaudi%2Barabia%2Bgovernment%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1680%26bih%3D834%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=754&vpy=256&dur=2646&hovh=241&hovw=210&tx=143&ty=119&oei=xQFGTfOyH4XqgAeQwZjQAQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0