Saudi men use social media more than women: Survey

RIYADH: Saudi men are more likely to click onto social media platforms than their female counterparts, studies have revealed.

The majority of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter users in the Kingdom were male, although the messaging app Snapchat was favored more by women, figures showed.

And the region of Tabuk boasted the highest number of social network users in the country at 97.1 percent of its population.

According to a survey carried out by the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) among 10,000 users of telecommunication services, 91.7 percent of people in the Kingdom were active on social media networks.

The study found that 93.2 percent of males keyed in to the digital platforms in 2018 compared to 89.6 percent of females, with 90.8 percent of them Saudis and 93.2 percent other nationalities. The 20-24 age group was most active on social networks at 98.7 percent, with 25- to 29-year-olds in second place on 98.1 percent, followed by 97.4 percent usage for those aged 30-34.

The northwestern region of Tabuk had the highest number of users in the Kingdom, followed by the Makkah and the Northern Border region at 93.4 percent.

A separate independent poll of social media users in Saudi Arabia, conducted in January this year, discovered 68 percent (23 million people) of the population to be social surfers. Men were most active on Facebook with 78 percent usage compared to 22 percent female, Instagram had 63 percent males to 37 percent females, and Twitter 71 percent males to 29 percent females. Four percent more females than men in Saudi used the Snapchat app.