This document discusses citizen engagement in Arab countries and the potential role of social media. It finds that while citizens have positive perceptions of social media's benefits for improving government services, they also recognize risks like questionable information validity and security issues. The document recommends that Arab governments build social media capacity, improve public awareness, provide access to more channels, shift their culture around social media use, and change operational processes to facilitate citizen engagement around services.

1. Ci#zen Engagement
in Arab Countries

2. • Around the world, trust in government is at
an all-#me low. Limited accountability, lack of
transparency and low quality of public services
are coupled with unprecedented levels of access
to informa#on, informed ci#zens, empowered civil
society structures and rising ci#zens expecta#ons;
all just a few of the reasons why the public sector
globally is in the crosshair.

3. • The Arab World is burdened by varying
degrees of these challenges on regional and
country levels. Most importantly, the public
sector in a majority of Arab countries
con#nues to suffer from moun#ng
deficiencies in terms of quality, efficiency and
accessibility of government services.
Meanwhile, the ever-growing connec#vity

4. • The historic and on-going developmental
challenges in the Arab region call for novel and
collabora#ve responses by government
ins#tu#ons, private sector en##es and civil
society structures. On a global scale,
technological innova#ons have been key enablers
for more inclusive developmental responses,
beLer governance models and, more recently,
with the growth of social media usage in the Arab
region, for inclusive public service delivery and
policy formula#on.

5. • The ever-increasing usage rates and the crea#ve
adop#on of social media in the Arab region
during recent pressing social, economic and
poli#cal transforma#ons have opened new
horizons for mul#faceted innova#ons by
individuals and government en##es. These
reali#es have also unleashed new societal trends
by different forces in Arab socie#es. Social media
technologies today seem increasingly promising
as key enablers of more inclusive service design
and delivery through ci#zen engagement in the
Arab region.

6. Social Media and Ci#zen
Engagement
in the Arab Region

7. • Overall previous studies argue that
percep#ons about the use of social media
were posi#ve – 55% of respondents said they
strongly support the use of social media by
government for the design and delivery of
public services. Respondents had high
expecta#ons of the benefits of using social
media for ci#zen engagement for the purpose
of improving service delivery.

8. Social Media, Informa#on and
Feedback on Government Services
• A survey was administered for this issue
measures public aUtudes and percep#ons
towards the adop#on of social media by Arab
governments for the purpose of public service
delivery. Respondents were asked about their
usage of government social media pages, their
percep#ons of benefits and risks involve in using
social media for service delivery, percep#ons
towards possible improvements in government’s
use of social media, and government and civic
social media prac#ces.

9. Social Media, Informa#on and
Feedback on Government Services

10. Feedback to the government on
service delivery

11. Frequency of Visits to Government
Social Media Pages

12. Primary use of government social
media pages

13. Using personal social media accounts
to discuss government services

14. Regional Readiness for U#lizing
Social Media
in Public Service Design and Delivery

15. What are the Benefits?
• Overall, the posi#ve percep#ons of the value
of using social media in service design and
delivery are shared across the Arab countries .
Breaking down responses by interna#onal
classifica#ons for country income showed
liLle difference in the percentage of
respondents who had very op#mis#c views of
social media’s benefit.

16. Direct or short-term benefits of using social
media for services design and delivery

17. Indirect or long-term benefits of using social
media for services design and delivery

18. What are the Risks?
• It is cri#cized that a general consciousness of the
risks associated with social media
implementa#on. The number one risk that
emerged was that of ques#onable validity of
informa#on provided on social network
pla]orms. Malicious content and cyber security
risks also received concurrence, reputa#onal
damage, informa#on overload, nega#ve ci#zen
par#cipa#on and a shortage of adequately skilled
or trained government employees were risks.

19. Risks of using social media tools by government
en##es for service design and delivery

20. Government Accessibility
• There is a need for government to engage in
more construc#ve conversa#ons with ci#zens
and then act on the feedback and sugges#ons
it receives.

21. Impact of adop#ng social media on
government openness and accessibility

22. What Steps Should Arab
Governments be Taking?

23. What steps do governments in the Arab region need to take
to take advantage of this opportunity?
• building capacity in social media usage in service delivery
and design within government as the primary change
needed for successfully incorpora#ng social media in
service design and delivery cycles by their government.
• improve public awareness efforts
• need for access to more social media channels.
• need for a shi^ in government culture with regard to
social media use
• transparency and openness in government social media
prac#ces.
• need for change in governments’ daily opera#onal
processes to facilitate ci#zen engagement around services