Trending in Ramadan; What Do People Tweet about During the Holy Month?

Trending in Ramadan; What Do People Tweet about During the Holy Month?
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Introduction
The constant growth of consumption of Social Media platforms
in the Middle East has made it one of the most instrumental
vehicles for brands to connect with their audiences. Online
platforms became an essential part of their marketing strategies
specifically while engaging through bigger campaigns. Such
campaigns are usually done during the Holy month of Ramadan.
Our “Social Media in Ramadan” report in 2013 already
established that the Holy month has a clear effect on people’s
behaviors and daily routines in the Middle East. This reflects
also on consumption habits of social media. Such a surge in
activity levels inspired brands to flock to social media to drive
engagement and increase their share of voice. Brands are
dedicating bigger budgets for social media because they
understand that more users will be online and will be hungry to
engage.
Inthisreportwewanttoexplorewhatexactlyarethoseaudiences
discussing online during the Holy month. The key insights we
want to provide are the main trends and habits we learned from
analyzing this increase in growth and exposure. We decided
to use Twitter as the main focal point for our study since it’s the
most public platform and we can tune into user conversations
and pick up on those trends liberally.
The findings of this report will give brands an insight on the
habitsoftheirconsumers,enablingthemtounderstandwhatare
their interests and the main topics they discuss online. We hope
this will inspire brands to better cater to their desired audiences
by providing valuable, engaging and entertaining content that
speaks the language of their audience.

Findings
The below data showcases the main findings from hundreds of
thousandsoftweetswe’veanalyzedfrom11countriesintheMiddle
East. The findings include: the language breakdown of tweets, the
main topics/themes they shared, hashtags used, peak times of
usage, and finally the content and volume of those tweets.
• During Ramadan, 51% of
the tweets coming from
Bahrain are actual tweets,
while the remaining are
mentions and retweets.
• Bahraini users tweet mostly
in Arabic.
• Tweets from Bahrain in
Ramadan include more
media (photo, video) than
links and/or hashtags.
Bahrain

• The higher percent of
Bahraini users tweeted
from an Android device
last Ramadan.
Most of the tweets from Bahrain last Ramadan were about political
matters, the topics change between 8pm-11pm to become more
related to the Holy month. Bahrainis were most active between
9pm-12am.
• 54% of the Egyptian tweets
last Ramadan were actual
tweets.
Egypt

• 68% of the tweets from
Egypt are in Arabic.
• Egyptian twitter users
tweeted mostly text last
Ramadan, other tweets
included more links and
hashtags than media.
• Last Ramadan, Egyptians
tweeted mostly from the
web, and tweeted from
iOS devices more than
Android.
During last Ramadan, Egyptian users also tweeted heavily about
politics, but the majority of tweets were about TV shows, whether
religious or general series. Although there was less volume around
noon, these tweets were mostly about cooking and food recipes.
The most active times were between 9pm-12am.

• 57% of the tweets coming
from Iraq last Ramadan
were actual tweets,
whereas the remaining
43% were retweets and
replies.
• 61% of the tweets from Iraq
were in Arabic.
• Most of tweets from Iraq
last Ramadan were text.
Only 8% of tweets included
media.
• Iraqis tweet from the web
more than mobile devices,
but those who tweeted
from mobile were almost
equally from Android and
iOS devices.
Iraq

ThetweetsfromIraqdidnothaveaspecificthemeperse,andwere
mostly related to Ramadan itself. Iraqis were mostly active between
7pm-10pm.
Jordan last Ramadan were
actualtweetstheremaining
43% are retweets and
replies.
• Jordanians tend to tweet
a bit more in English than
Arabic with 51% being in
English.
Jordan

• Most of the tweets from
Jordan last Ramadan were
text only, while 7% of
tweets included media,
27% included hashtags
and 25% included links.
• Jordanians tweet from the
web more than mobile
devices but again mobile
users are split almost
equally between Android
and iOS devices.
Jordanians tweets are a mix of politics, TV and Ramadan charity
projects. The most active times were between 6pm-9pm.

• The replies and retweets
from Saudi last Ramadan
were more than the actual
tweets – both formed 52%
of all tweets.
• The tweets coming from
Saudi are 86% Arabic and
only 14% English.
• Most of tweets from
Saudi last Ramadan were
text only, 10% of tweets
included media, 35%
of the tweets included
hashtags and links.
• Saudis tweet mostly from
mobile devices with clearly
higher usage rates for iOS,
around 46%, followed by
Andriod. Only 11% tweets
were from the web.
KSA

SauditweetslastRamadanweremostlyaboutreligionandRamadan
relatedtopicsandcharities,withsometweetsaboutTVshows.The
most active times were between 12am-2am.
• Kuwaitis tweet more than
they engage with 60%
actual tweets and 40%
retweets and replies.
• Kuwaitis tweet mostly in
Arabic with only 6% of the
tweets being in English.
Kuwait

• The tweets during
Ramadan were 63% in text,
17% included hashtags,
13% contained links and
only 7% included media.
• Kuwaitis use mobile
devices to tweet with
a significantly higher
percentage for iOS users
and very low number of
tweets using web.
Kuwaitis tweeted last Ramadan about the Holy month and tweets
aboutlocalaffairs.Themostactivetimeswerebetween10pm-1am.

• Lebanese tweeted fairly
more than they engaged,
with 52% of tweets being
actual ones, and the rest
being retweets and replies.
• People in Lebanon tweet
mostly in English with only
21% of the tweets being in
Arabic.
Lebanon are text only, 8%
include media, 22% with
links and 21% include
hashtags.
• People in Lebanon mostly
tweet from mobile devices
with more tweets from
an iOS device followed
by Andriod 25%. 18% of
tweets were done from the
web.
Lebanon

ThetopicsfromLebanonlastRamadanweremostlyaboutTVshows
and series. The most active times were between 6pm-9pm.
• People in Oman engage
slightly more on Twitter
with 51% of all tweets
being replies and retweets
during the Holy month.
• Omanis tweet in Arabic
most of the time with 79%
of tweets being in Arabic
and 21% in English.
Oman

Oman are text only, 9%
include media, 17% with
links and 23% include
hashtags.
• Omanis tweet mostly from
mobile devices with the
higher percentage coming
from Andriod devices
followed by iOS with 29%
of tweets and finally web-
based tweets make up 12%
of all tweets.
The topics tweeted in Oman last Ramadan were mostly related to
the Holy month but also a good chunk of them were about Oman.
The most active times were between 7pm-9pm.

• Palestinians engaged less
than they tweeted during
lastRamadanwithonly34%
of the tweets containing
replies or retweets.
• Palestinians tweet more in
English than in Arabic with
a gap of 18%.
• Last Ramadan, Palestinians
tweeted mostly text and
also used a lot of links as
33% of tweets contained
links. Only 5% of tweets
included media and 23% of
tweets included hashtags.
• Palestinians tweet mostly
from the web and they use
mobile devices less than
all the other countries.
iOS usage is higher than
Android.
Palestine

Palestinians tweeted mainly about politics in Palestine and Egypt
with some topics relating to Ramadan. They were mostly active
from 9pm-11pm.
• Qataris engagement
content last Ramadan was
44% of the total tweets
and the remaining 56%
were actual tweets.
• Qataris on Twitter use
Arabic 68% of the time,
with the remaining tweets
being in English.
Qatar

• Most of the tweets by
Qatari users last Ramadan
contained text only and
20% of the tweets included
hashtags.
• Qataris tweet mostly from
their mobile devices and
the higher percentage is
from iOS devices.
People in Qatar tweeted mostly about politics in Syria and Egypt
and some topics related to Ramadan. The most active times were
at 4PM and then from 10pm-12am.

• Most of the tweets in the
UAE were actual tweets
and only 39% of them were
retweets and replies.
• Emiratis tweeted in Arabic
and English almost equally
last Ramadan with a slightly
higher percentage for
tweets in Arabic.
• Most of the tweets by
Emiratis last Ramadan were
text only and 44% of the
tweets were split equally
between hashtags and
links, while only 8% of the
tweets included media.
• Emiratis tweets mostly
from mobile devices; first
from iOS devices, then
Blackberry.
UAE

Most of the trending topics in UAE last Ramadan were about
charity projects, Ramadan-related themes and religious TV shows.
The most active times were between 2pm-4pm and also between
6pm-8pm.

Conclusion
• There were a lot of similar themes between the different
countries in terms of topics and themes used in tweets
during Ramadan last year.
• Over half of all tweets in the Middle East during Ramadan
were engagement (retweets and mentions) with Saudis and
Omanis being the most engaged users.
• Most users in the GCC tweet in Arabic, except for the UAE,
while most users in the Levant and Egypt tweet in English
and Arabic equally.
• Most of the tweets from all the countries last Ramadan were
textonly.Twitterusersincludedmorehashtagsintheirtweets
than links and media in all the countries except for Palestine
and Iraq where they included more links.
• AlltheusersintheGCCandLebanontweetfromtheirmobile
devices mainly while users in Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and
Egypt tweet from the web. iOS devices are more popular in
most of countries except for Oman and Bahrain where they
use Android devices more often.
• In most countries the topics tweeted last Ramadan were
about politics and religion followed by TV shows and series.
It is worth mentioning that charity projects and feel-good
initiativeswerealsoamongthetrendingtopicslastRamadan.
• Twitter users in the region were most active after Iftar time.
Some countries like Oman, Jordan and Iraq had their highest
activity levels right after Iftar and other countries like Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait were most active around midnight.

Recommendations
• Not only do people change the entire course of their
daily lives during the Holy month of Ramadan but they
also change their online usage behavior and activity.
Brands and marketers must in return anticipate said
behavioral changes and adapt to them accordingly. Some
of these changes include a shift in posting times and in
customizing their content according to fan interests and
tastes. Capturing the attention of your audience when
they are most online promises a positive ripple effect.
• In order to optimize social media best practices for
brand engagement during Ramadan, publishing times
and content mix must be altered according to the shift in
the habits of the fan base across all platforms. By tuning
into these habits, brands and marketers will have a deep
and thorough understanding of their target audience in
regards to their characteristics, preferences, lifestyle, etc.
This in return will ensure greater relevance of content and
will humanize the brand in the eyes of customers thus,
creating a stronger relationship with followers.
• It’s important to note that the period in which the World
Cup and Ramadan overlap for two weeks will affect the
users’ behavior for this Ramadan in terms of activity
level timings and topics. Brands should take this into
considerationwhentheychoosetheircontent,depending
on their target audience.

• Moreover, investing in post/tweet advertising budgets
duringtheHolymonthallowscontenttoreachitsmaximum
potential. Advertising content that is customized to match
consumers’ interests and that utilizes trending topics will
exceed organic engagement rates.
• Go beyond conventions by communicating your message
throughintegratedmarketingcampaigns.Thiswillunleash
a great domino effect as the increase in social media
usage is synchronized with that of TV, radio, and print.
Supporting online campaigns with offline activations will
secure an increase in brand equity. Consequently, this will
keep the conversation going throughout the year.

Methodology
We partnered up with CG imagine+invent* to develop a tool
that tracks tweets from 11 different countries during Ramadan
2013, in which each country has its own sample size. As a result
we were able to extract and gather valuable data, analyze it and
come up with the conclusions.
The tool created retrieved the tweets from each country and a
code was developed to differentiate the data and filter it based
on language, tweet types, tweet content, tweet source (Twitter
client), tweet times and topics.
The sample size for each country is:
Bahrain: 234,151 tweets
Egypt: 235,860 tweets
Iraq: 169,947 tweets
Jordan: 277,031 tweets
KSA: 224,804 tweets
Kuwait: 111,231 tweets
Lebanon: 183,864 tweets
Oman: 116,859 tweets
Palestine: 128,716 tweets
Qatar: 135,902 tweets
UAE: 170,765 tweets
* www.cgiandi.com

About TOP
As the Middle East’s leading digital agency, The Online Project
develops and executes digital strategies for Fortune 500 companies
and high profile organizations operating in the region.

Contact Us
For general inquiries please email info@theonlineproject.me
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Fax:+96264658206
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