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By Racha Mourtada, Fadi Salem

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.