Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Technological Forecasting & Social Change

Social media in Saudi Arabia: Exploring its use during two

natural disasters
Yeslam Al-Saggaf a,⁎, Peter Simmons b
a
School of Computing and Mathematics, Charles Sturt University, Australia
b
School of Communication and Creative Industries, Institute for Land Water and Society (ILWS), Charles Sturt University, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The study explored social media activity during two peacetime natural disasters in Saudi Arabia, a
Received 5 March 2013 country where citizen participation in public matters is minimized and communication with
Received in revised form 12 August 2014 government is characterised by restraint. A qualitative thematic analysis using concepts from
Accepted 17 August 2014 public sphere, online public sphere and previous studies of social media was used with 5000
Available online 8 September 2014
threads taken from YouTube, Facebook, Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and Al Arabiya. Social media helped
users to communicate the gravity of the damage of the floods; discuss rationally what really
Keywords: happened, and why and who was responsible; criticize the government and call for action to be
Social network sites taken to remedy the situation; and express deep emotions of sadness over the loss of lives in a way
Disaster
that united people. Rational discussion was evident on Facebook and Al-Saha Al-Siyasia, but social
Online public sphere
media was more useful for reading the emotional state of the people than as a vehicle for
Political participation
Collective behaviour communicating the deliberative and rational aspirations of the public sphere. Social media is
Activism unlikely to produce social change on its own, but is likely to facilitate social and political trends for
Saudi Arabia change already occurring in countries, and this may be accelerated during times of disaster when
Gulf States heightened emotions embolden people. Governments may regard social media as a vehicle for
undesirable pressure, or positively as a window on the emotional state of their people that helps
them to respond more appropriately.
© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Need for research
In most western countries citizens have access to many
avenues for engaging in activism. In Arabian Gulf States
however, there are very few permitted forms of expressing
dissent and dissatisfaction. Therefore, unlike western societies
where social media is used mainly to enhance the many
traditional offline means to pressure government officials (Chu,
2009), in these Gulf States social media may be the only way to
communicate to the government.
Previous work has shown that social media is capable of
facilitating political participation and engagement in public
⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Computing and Mathematics, Boorooma
Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. Tel./fax: +61 2 6933 2593.
E-mail address: yalsaggaf@csu.edu.au (Y. Al-Saggaf).URL:
http://csusap.csu.edu.au/yalsagga (Y. Al-Saggaf).
affairs (e.g. Chu, 2009; De Zúñiga et al., 2012; Zhang and Chia,
2006; Bers and Chau, 2006; Valenzuela et al., 2009; Harlow and
Harp, 2012). But, in most of these studies the countries'
governments are democratically elected, traditional media is
independent and citizens are able to communicate with their
governments using several methods including, taking the
example of Australia, meeting a local member of the govern-
ment in person, raising an issue during a talk-back radio show,
discussing an issue in the opinion column of a newspaper and
participating in peaceful protests.
In the Arab world there has been a focus on countries where
an uprising took place, in what became known as the ‘Arab
Spring’ countries (e.g. Örebro University and Media technology
paved the way for revolution – the case of Egypt, News; Sheedy,
2011). There are few studies on how social media is used by
citizens in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and
Qatar, where revolutions did not erupt, where governments are

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2014.08.013
0040-1625/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
4 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
not democratically elected, where traditional media is
controlled, to a great extent, by governments, where civic
engagement is not encouraged, and civil actions, like street
protests, are not permitted.
There is a need to understand the role of social media in
enabling citizens in these countries to communicate with their
governments about public affairs. There is ‘something different’
about communication and social action in the digital era,
but the role of online communication is determined by wider
institutional and political contexts (Fung et al., 2013). The
contrast between the political landscapes in western countries
and these Gulf countries, and the differences in the societies
and cultures, make the use and role of social media in these
countries deserving of our attention. Systematic study of the
use of new communication technologies by ordinary individ-
uals in these countries may help us to understand the role of
social media in facilitating communication, especially com-
munication not readily accessible without the aid of these
technologies.
This study explored the nature of social media interaction in
Saudi Arabia that concerned the 2009 and 2011 floods in
Jeddah. The exploration focused on the ways that social media
in Saudi Arabia was used as a public space during times of
intense social media use and peacetime natural disasters. Soon
after they occurred, the 2009 and 2011 floods in Jeddah became
the number one political topic in Saudi social media. The reason
for this was that these disasters resulted in the deaths of more
than 120 people, the destruction of thousands of cars, and the
displacement of thousands of families, causing the citizens and
residents of the oil-rich country to lash out at the government
in social media for not having solid infrastructure such as
drainage and sewerage systems to contain rain water, not
having any strategies for preventing natural disasters, not
having any mechanisms for warning citizens before disasters
strike, and not having the means to carry out effective rescue
operations (Momani and Fadil, 2010).
Saudi Arabia is experiencing an exponential growth in
the country with the number of daily YouTube video views
reaching 190 million (“The emergence of Google”, Arab News
Newspaper), while the numbers of Twitter users and Facebook
users have reached 2.9 million (Saudis Cross Social Boundaries
on Twitter, New York Times) and 5.9 million (Facebook
Statistics by country, Socialbakers) respectively.
Thematic analysis was used with data comprising a total of
100 consecutive threads, and the first 50 comments readers
made on those threads (N = 5000). The threads were taken
from YouTube, Facebook, Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and Al Arabiya. The
threads selected were all related to the Jeddah 2009 and 2011
floods.
To contextualize and aid our understanding of the data
concerning the nature and outcomes of social media interaction
between government and citizens in Saudi Arabia, the analysis
draws on concepts of the public sphere (Habermas, 1989), the
online public sphere (Poor, 2005), and previous research into
social media and participation. The study did not seek to
evaluate the extent to which the interactions are consistent
with definitions of ‘public sphere’, however the concepts of the
public sphere help us to articulate insights from the present
case and reflect on the theory.
This study is significant because it contributes to our
understanding of the role of social media in facilitating social
change by focusing on countries that discourage civil discourse
and exercise control over traditional media, and where social
media may be the only channel available to citizens to engage
in the public affairs of their country.
Before the eruption of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt,
Yemen, Libya, and Syria, which were, to a large extent,
orchestrated using social media, few would have imagined
that social media was capable of facilitating changes to the
political landscape of nations in the way they did in the so-
called Arab Spring countries.
Previous work, as mentioned above, has shown that
social media is capable of facilitating political participation
and engagement in public affairs and the literature on social
media is expanding (Chu, 2009). However there is little
consensus on what social media can actually do. Chu (2009)
notes that the optimism surrounding social media's ability
to enhance democracy is often engulfed with a sense of
skepticism. She suggests that this is due to a lack of concrete
understanding of how social media is actually used in
everyday life, highlighting the need for empirical research
that takes into account the context in which social media is
used. The study reported herein is intended to help fill this
research gap.
2. Social media, online communities, and
political participation
The Internet and social media have been viewed as holding
the promise of greater social and political participation, how-
ever estimations of the likely influence on participation have
varied. Some talk of the interactional affordances of Web 2.0
enabling governments to move beyond thinking of community
interaction as intermittent, protected and selective, to concep-
tualising interaction with communities as continuous conver-
sations, ‘unexpected interpretations and re-uses, and dynamic
emergence’ (Majchrzak et al., 3012, p38). In the UK Ward et al.
(2003) predicted that the Internet would make life more
difficult for politicians because it would facilitate protests
and campaigns, bring some new people into public debate
(especially the young), and speed up and intensify expecta-
tions of government communication. Although they pre-
dicted opportunities of deeper and broader participation of
citizens, they suggested that changes in participation would
be incremental rather than rapid, and that the Internet was
most likely to ‘help accelerate some longer term trends in
politics’ (Ward et al., 2003, p667). A similar tone was used
when Fung et al. (2013) predicted that the participatory
affordances of the Internet were more likely to lead to
incremental uptake of ‘truth-based advocacy, constituent
mobilisation, and crowd-sourced social monitoring’ (p30)
than more revolutionary possibilities such as the displace-
ment of traditional organisations by self-organised groups
and direct digital democracy. Although the potential in-
crease in participation that comes with the capacity for
crowd sourcing, egalitarian participation and co-creation is
generally agreed, and often stressed by technologists (Fung
et al., 2013), online communication is determined at least as
much by cultural and political realities as technological
capability. Access to technology is an important determinant
of individuals' capacity to participate publicly online (Ward
et al., 2003), but the wider political and cultural context will
 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
determine the nature of participation in matters of interest
to those in power.
‘The new ICTs do enable new kinds of exchange and
collaboration that are significant for politics. To the
technologists, these magical new platforms and possi-
bilities exert the effects they have against a thick
background of organizations, institutions and political
actors’(Fung et al., 2013, p45).
A picture that emerges from previous research (that has
mostly been conducted in Western democracies) is that social
media can facilitate participation and citizen voice. On their
own, social media sites will not initiate significant changes, but
they make protest more possible.
Very few studies have looked at social media use for
political participation in the Arab Gulf countries. Aman and
Jayroe (2013) found that although citizens in the Arab Gulf are
the most cyber-connected in the Arab world, only those in
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain are actively engaged in their
public affairs. Citizens in Qatar and United Arab Emirates
appear more cautious. The authors Aman and Jayroe (2013)
also noted that while calling for political, social and economic
reforms in social media is emboldening Arabian Gulf citizens,
these citizens are aware that expressing their opinions about
these sensitive issues could land them in serious trouble. The
authors then mention several cases of arrests of online activists
in these countries. Yuce et al. who examined the ‘Women to
Drive’ Saudi movement also mentioned a case of one arrest of
an online activist. This took place when Manal al-Sharif posted
a video of her driving on YouTube as part of a campaign to
encourage women to get behind the wheel and was con-
sequently detained the next day. This study (Yuce et al.),
however, showed that an incident like this did not stop women
from calling for the right to drive. One reason for this is that the
networks they studied were found to be largely positive,
indicating cooperation and support among the online activists.
While the above studies looked at social media use for political
participation from the point of view of citizens, Tetreault
(2011) provided insights into the Arab Gulf governments'
stance towards this issue. Tetreault (2011) notes that these
governments have proved resilient in the face of political
challenges, not only because they gave their citizens money,
but also because they used force, the sectarianism card, and
introduced new media laws.
2.1. Crisis communication and social media
This paper examines the social media following two
disasters. Increasingly, social media activity intensifies
during natural disasters and social media communication
plays a part in the way that disasters manifest and are
managed. Social media has proved effective in exposing the
severity of natural disasters and helped to make crises
difficult to ignore. The speed and ubiquity of communication
technologies have also increased the transparency and
visibility of governments' handling of natural disasters
(Finlayson, 2011). Although there have been many cases of
social media use during natural disasters that received a lot
of media attention, there are limited published research
accounts. Examples of cases that have been researched
5
include Hurricane Katrina (Finlayson, 2011), California
wildfires (Dandoulaki and Halkia, 2010), L'Aquila earth-
quake (Dandoulaki and Halkia, 2010) and the 2010 Haiti
earthquake (Sheedy, 2011).
Previous studies of the use of social media during crises
have emphasised important operational and emotional support
roles in communicating the severity of the crisis, updating on
the situation, and helping friends and families to connect and
provide reassurance about safety (Pennington-Gray et al.,
2013). Dandoulaki and Halkia (2010) also identified peer-to-
peer communication as a core function of social media during a
crisis. Sheedy (2011) found that during a crisis users tend to
push information to many users, rather than directing it
towards a specific user, to bring a community together and
allow its members to express their emotions. This study
considers the use of social media during natural emergencies
in Saudi Arabia, with a special interest in any indicators of a
relationship between people's engagement with social media
and social change.
3. The Habermasian public sphere and the online
public sphere
3.1. The Habermasian public sphere
One of the tools researchers have used to understand the
social dimensions of the changes brought about by develop-
ments in communication technology is the concept of public
sphere. Public spheres are ‘environments facilitating publicly
oriented discussions’, ‘free of systematic constraints’, and are
often considered ‘central to the development of modern
democracies’ (Schaefer and Dervin, 2009, p265). This study
uses the public sphere, and the ‘online public sphere’ (Poor,
2005) to aid our understanding of social media in Saudi Arabia.
Although Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, the online activity
during the floods of 2009 and 2011 indicates an absence or
diminution of some of the constraints that normally character-
ise public discussion of civil and governmental affairs in Saudi
Arabia. Our aim was not to categorise the communication that
occurred in Saudi Arabia as public sphere or not a public sphere,
but to use the framework of public sphere concepts to aid a
systematic exploration of the online communication and
citizen and government actions at that time and after.
In liberal democracies the public sphere should operate as
an intermediary system between state and society, where
individual citizens interact publicly without the restraints that
come with business or professional or bureaucratic transac-
tions (Habermas, 2006). Habermas (1989) adds that the public
sphere is:
‘a domain of our social life in which such a thing as public
opinion can be formed. Access to the public sphere is open
in principle to all citizens. … citizens act as a public when
they deal with matters of general interest without being
subject to coercion.’ (Habermas, 1989, p231)
From Habermas' definition, one can conclude that for a
sphere to be considered public it should enable citizens to form
public opinions about matters that are of general interest and
should include people from diverse backgrounds. Two addi-
tional important features of the Habermasian public sphere are
6 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
that the public sphere should guarantee the diversity of
opinions and should enable them to reach consensus on
matters discussed that leads accordingly to modification of
policies and social structures (Habermas, 2006).
There is a large body of literature that reflects on the
Internet's potential for facilitating some of the public sphere
ideals of inclusive debate, consensus and action (e.g. Fung
et al., 2013; Schaefer and Dervin, 2009). According to Davis
(2010) the Internet can be seen to ‘offer the tools with which
to apply the theory’ (p746). However, most have acknowl-
edged limitations and barriers to aligning the realities of
online discourse with the ideals of the public sphere. For
instance, Cammaerts and Audenhove (2003) reported that
some Internet environments do facilitate public spaces
that foster civic engagement, but noted barriers to access,
regulation of content, and gender inequality. Similarly,
Ulrich (2004) concluded that the Internet could be used to
promote the expression of opinions and host dialogue and
content without the editorial intervention typical of the
traditional media. However, an important constraint is that
it is difficult to place the Internet between state and society,
as in the Habermas' 1989 model (Habermas, 1989), because
the Internet itself is not just a medium. The Internet represents
forms of society and state as well (i.e. the government is also
active on the Internet, suggesting that drawing a line between
state and society can be difficult). In the UK liberal democracy,
Davis (2010) argued that the Internet has increased partici-
pation among the politicised, those closer to decision-making
and power, but failed to engage the masses with institutional
politics. In other words, the Internet has facilitated the growth
of a political elite resembling the bourgeois domination of
Habermas' original public sphere (Poor, 2005), and enhanced
the divide between the engaged elite and the disengaged wider
citizenry.
Dahlberg (2001) compared online deliberative practices
with a model of the public sphere developed by Habermas
(1989) and concluded that the Internet does facilitate
discourse that replicates basic structures of rational–critical
debate, which in some ways approximates the requirements
of the public sphere. However, he noted that the discourse
that the Internet facilitates does not meet the requirements
of the public sphere. This is due to several reasons including:
• The autonomy of public interaction online is threatened by
the growing commodification of the Internet;
• Reflexivity does not occur very often online;
• Discussants lack respectful listening to others and com-
mitment to working out differences;
• It is difficult to verify the identity of discussants and the
information they present;
• Social inequalities can cause some to be excluded from
joining;
• Discourse tends to be dominated by certain individuals and
groups (Momani and Fadil, 2010) found this to be the case
during the Jeddah floods of 2009.
The Habermasian public sphere model advances openness
in access to participation by citizens speaking on topics of wider
public relevance (Poor, 2005) and absence of constraint on
the nature of participation. Although studies have repeatedly
reported that access to participation in online communication
is not equal, for example women (Poor, 2005; Douai and Nofal,
2012), different classes (Douai and Nofal, 2012) and different
nationalities (Poor, 2005) may be excluded, and that existing
biases may be reproduced or reinforced (Ward et al., 2003), it is
also argued that the nature of online communication may ‘kick
start spirals of participation that do not exist in the “real world”,
and accelerate or foment changes already underway in
societies’ (Ward et al., 2003, p667). Chu (2009) reminds us
that the ‘cultural public sphere’ online, rich and rife with
popular cultural products and affective communication but
often distinct from rational deliberation, ‘is equally im-
portant in our understanding of the politics of the public
sphere’ (Chu, 2009, p338). The Habermasian public sphere
was conceived prior to a ubiquitous Internet and envisaged
traditional media to host an open forum for discourse and
debate, but the government's control of mass media in many
countries, including some democracies, has often left little
room for the public to participate. Despite these limitations,
the Habermasian public sphere has proven to be an impor-
tant and useful lens in information system research (Ross
and Chiasson, 2011), and the framework of associated con-
cepts have been appropriated and adapted to aid under-
standing of online communication.
3.2. The online public sphere
One of the scholars to use the Habermasian public sphere in
information systems research was Poor (2005). Poor (2005)
was more optimistic than many Habermasian Internet scholars
about the potential of the Internet to contribute to multiple
public spheres, and he developed tenets to define the ‘online
public sphere’ (Poor, 2005). To Poor (2005), a public sphere is
a space for public discourse and allows new and previously
excluded discussants to participate. Further, the issues
discussed in a public sphere are often political in nature
and the ideas put forward should be judged by their own
merit, not by the standing of the speakers (Poor, 2005).
Using these descriptors as criteria to evaluate the open
source software site Slashdot, he concluded that overall the
Slashdot website met the criteria for an online public sphere,
and noted that a complex moderation system on the site
aided a commitment to openness and judging ideas on their
merit (Poor, 2005).
Poor (2005) model of the online public sphere has been
used by several researchers as a theoretical framework to
examine online environments. For example, Al-Saggaf (2006)
examined the Al Arabiya site and concluded that Al Arabiya site
met Poor (2005) criteria for an online public sphere. Al-Saggaf
(2006) explained that Al Arabiya was a public space, because
it enabled people to discuss matters of great concern to
them, they could reply to each other and comment on the
news and the stories reported, which were mostly of a
political nature. The site is online and is publicly available,
making the discussions that take place on it accessible to
people who share similar (or different) interests, identity,
ethnicity, nationality, gender, language, and race. Al Arabiya
site also included people who were previously excluded
from discussing their local politics because of geography,
such as Arabs abroad.
Research by Douai and Nofal (2012) was also informed
in many ways by Poor (2005). Their research focused on
an emerging localized public sphere facilitated by the web,
 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
engaged with global politics, and suggested that the Internet
can foster a globalised public sphere. Their findings indicate
that the public sphere captured within the comments on the
Al-Jazeera and Al Arabiya news sites is not only global in
nature, but in regards to the views shared is characterised by
“globalised diversity” (Douai and Nofal, 2012, p279), not
sameness. They also found that the public opinions formu-
lated on those news sites travelled ‘beyond the borders of
Arabic speaking locales’ (Douai and Nofal, 2012, p279).
As Poor (2005) said, reconceptualisations of the original but
incomplete public sphere have helped to explore the ‘com-
plexities of the public sphere idea’ and examine online public
spheres (p9). This study uses a hybrid framework based on
concepts central to the Habermasian (Habermas, 1989) and
online public sphere (Poor, 2005) to aid exploration of social
media and social change in Saudi Arabia. It was our intention
that the concepts of the public sphere would help us to
articulate insights from the present case and reflect on the
theory. The findings and analysis are organised and presented
using several main ideas, presented here as statements: Social
media is a space for public discourse that is open to all, in-
cluding new, previously excluded discussants; Social media is a
public space for engaging in rational discussion; Social media is
a public space for communicating to the government; Social
media is a public space for expressing feelings and emotions.
4. Method
4.1. Research design and sample
The study adopted a qualitative analysis of 100 consecutive
threads, and the first 50 comments readers made on each of
these threads (N = 5000). The 100 threads, and the 5000
comments on them, were collected from YouTube, Facebook,
Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and Al Arabiya as shown in Table 1 below.
The chosen threads were selected from a pool of threads
discussing two events: the 2009 and 2011 floods in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, which occurred on the 25th of November 2009
and 26th of January 2011 respectively. These were two of the
worst and most destructive floods in the history of the city with
the official death toll exceeding 120 people.1 In addition to
claiming the lives of these people, the floods also wrecked
thousands of cars and made homeless thousands of families,
causing the damage bill to run into the billions. These events
were chosen because they took place during times of intense
social media use, creating large and comparable data sets that
were readily available. Because they were peacetime natural
disasters they stimulated interaction between citizens and
government on a scale that is not usually readily visible in Saudi
Arabia.
4.2. Data gathering
Data gathering went through two stages. First, each of these
four sites was searched by entering “Jeddah floods” search
phrase (in Arabic) in the search area. While the search yielded
thousands of hits, only the first 40 threads from YouTube
(starting from the top of the search results page) and the first
1 Total
In the first floods (2009) 112 alone died.
7
20 threads from each of the other three sites were selected for
the qualitative analysis phase. Those threads that were judged
to be unrelated, after carefully examining them for relevance,
were discarded and the next ones in the list were added in their
place. A thread (also called a posting) could be a discussion
topic (and the responses to it) on Facebook or on Al-Saha Al-
Siyasia or a news article published on Al Arabiya site or a video
posted on any of these sites or on YouTube. The second stage
involved copying and pasting the first 50 comments posted on
the selected threads, starting from the top of the comments
page, in a separate Word document.
4.3. Thematic analysis technique
To make sense of the data collected, this study followed the
principles of thematic analysis. This approach to data analysis
allows analysts to code (mark) sections of text according to
whether they appear to contribute to emerging themes or not
(Patton, 2002). It is a process for encoding qualitative data,
which requires an explicit code such as a list of themes.
According to Boyatzis (1998), a theme is a pattern found in the
data that at a minimum describes and organises the possible
observations and at a maximum interprets aspects of the
phenomenon. Thematic analysis relies on the ability to see
patterns in seemingly random data, which is what Boyatzis
(1998) calls ‘pattern recognition’. There are three distinct
stages in thematic analysis: stage one, deciding on sampling
and design issues; stage two, developing themes and a code;
and stage three, validating and using the code. Within the
second stage there are three ways to develop a thematic code: a
theory driven, prior data or prior research driven, and inductive
(i.e., from raw data) or data driven (Harlow and Harp, 2012)
p.29. The themes developed for this study emerged from the
raw data.
Upon viewing a YouTube video, or reading a news article
posted on Facebook, Al Arabiya site or a discussion topic on Al-
Saha Al-Siyasia, a description of the content of that thread or
posting was written in the same Word document, where the
comments were stored. Next, all the first 50 responses to that
thread were carefully read and studied. Finally, comments on
the nature of interaction between the original author of the
posting and the respondents, or on the interaction between
the respondents themselves were written in the same Word
document. These comments tried to provide analysis, perspec-
tives and interpretations in relation to how the site facilitated
or excluded discourse and participation, was suggestive of
presence or absence of constraint, indications of consensus or
dissensus, and known or speculated relationship to action
(especially by the government). It was important that these
interpretations were informed by an understanding of Saudi
social, cultural and political contexts.
Table 1
Number of threads and comments posted on the selected media sites.
Website Number of threads Number of comments
YouTube 40 2000
Facebook 20 1000
Al-Saha Al-Siyasia 20 1000
Al Arabiya 20 1000
100 5000
8 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
An initial observation of the threads revealed that the
comments on YouTube videos that showed the gravity of the
disasters were more emotional than those on Facebook that did
not include a YouTube video. Overall the threads on Facebook
that did not revolve around a YouTube video were concerned
with explaining and understanding what happened and why or
calling for action (specifically to seek justice for the victims or
to organise volunteer activities to help with the rescue efforts).
4.4. Data categorisation
Data was analysed with QSR NVivo 8, a software package
for managing qualitative data. The unit of analysis was each
individual posting and the responses to it. Data analysis pro-
ceeded as follows. First a new project was created in NVivo and
all field notes' documents were imported into NVivo (100 in
total representing each thread). These field notes' documents
included the raw data (the comments copied and pasted into
the Word documents), the description of the threads and the
researcher's comments. The documents were then read several
times in order for the researcher to familiarize himself with the
data collected. Next, free nodes (i.e. nodes not organised or
grouped) were created based on keywords in the field notes.
The nodes represented themes that revolved around the main
ideas in the text or the purpose or the objective from it, or a
specific concept that emerged from the data or a pattern or
trend in the data. Similar text within the field notes was then
located and assigned to these nodes after thoroughly reading
through the field notes and ensuring the text assigned captured
the theme that the node represented (the themes, which
emerged from the text, are the same as the nodes in NVivo). For
example, the following comment was made after a Facebook
user watched a YouTube video posted during the event:
‘I am an Egyptian, full of love for Jeddah and I am really
heartbroken about what happened to it. May Allah be with
you.’
Here the theme that was developed from the keywords “I
am really heartbroken” was “expressing feelings of sadness”. So
this quotation was assigned to the ‘expressing feelings of
sadness’ node. The good thing about these nodes is that they
acted as ‘buckets’ in the sense that they held all the data related
to a specific theme. For example, all the quotations related to
‘expressing feelings of sadness’ theme are placed under this
node. Finally, these free nodes were further divided into tree
nodes. That is, broader categories were developed to group
the free nodes. For example, ‘expressing feelings of sadness’,
‘expressing feelings of anger’ and ‘praying for the dead’ were all
grouped under the tree node ‘Expressing feelings and emo-
tions’. The aim was to create a hierarchy that would make it
easy to make sense of the data and facilitate interpretation.
5. Findings
5.1. Social media is a space for public discourse that is open to all,
including new, previously excluded discussants
The social media sites examined created more space for the
public to participate in politics and public life. Thousands of
citizens had a public voice during the Jeddah floods of 2009 and
2011, many more than would have had a public voice using
the more highly controlled and mediated traditional media,
previously the only open forum for discussing politics. For
example, the Facebook page “Popular Campaign to Save the
City of Jeddah”, which was created immediately after the 2009
floods to complain about the lack of adequate infrastructure,
had 11,000 followers. Douai and Nofal (2012) noted ‘media-
tion’ and control by government of mass media as problems
for the Habermasian public sphere because it left little room
for the public to participate. The relatively open discussions
occurring on social media in Saudi Arabia did not appear to
reduce government control or reliance on traditional Saudi
mass media. The experience in Saudi Arabia during the
floods indicates that, at the least, there was a new level of
participation in public discourse by many thousands of
citizens, and that participation was heightened by being
more open than, and additional to, the concurrent discourse
available through traditional media. For example, four of the
YouTube videos related to the 2009 floods had more than 1.5
million views and received more than 500 comments on
average. This level of participation in topics of wider public
relevance (Poor, 2005) is achieved because of the openness
in access to communication technologies that the Saudi
government enabled. Openness in access is one of the main
criteria of a Habermasian public sphere (Poor, 2005).
Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and Facebook proved a reliable source for
news about the crises. Al Arabiya site has been observed to
take several of their news items from Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and
Facebook including the story of Farman Ali Khan2 and the list of
all the former mayors of Jeddah which both appeared first on
Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and Facebook. As examples, on 29 November
2009 Al Arabiya3 highlighted the public outrage over the floods
on the “Popular Campaign to Save the City of Jeddah” Facebook
page and on 30 November 2009 the story was reported in the
Sydney Morning Herald.4 This suggests that online communi-
ties and social media turned previously passive audiences into
active producers of media content, content that was in turn
newsworthy.
YouTube visually captured many incidents and helped to
communicate the gravity of the floods. When people were
discussing the flood victims on Al-Saha Al-Siyasia, Facebook
or Al Arabiya sites, the discussion often revolved around a
YouTube video. One YouTube video, for example, captured a
man fighting for his life in the water before managing to put his
grip on the back of an air conditioner. Overcome by the strong
current, which moved him from one side to the other, he
eventually let go of his hand and disappeared in the water. The
video, which was taken by a female from the window of her
bedroom, as stated in the description of the video, was also
accompanied by sad background music. Respondents' com-
ments to the video varied in terms of opinion and focus but
most expressed emotions. The vast majority of comments
expressed deep sadness over the loss of this life. Many
respondents also wished for the presumed drowned man ‘to
go to Heaven in the hereafter’. Some angrily asked why the
2
A Pakistani expatriate who saved 14 people and then drowned when
attempting to save the 15th person.
3
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/11/29/92685.html.
4
http://www.smh.com.au/world/saudi-fury-over-flood-in-jeddah-
20091129-jyug.html.
 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15 9

female did not assist the man instead of filming him as he extensively. Women are another group previously excluded
drowned and others blamed the man's neighbours for not from discussing local politics. Offline it is male voices that
doing anything to help him. Some reflected that there was overwhelmingly dominate public discourse in Saudi Arabia.
nothing anyone could do to help and if people tried to rescue The social media threads used for this study show that
him they could have drowned as well. female voices were salient in these public discussions. Hadil
Videos clearly communicated severe human and property Awed, who made a comment after watching a YouTube
costs. For example they showed people fighting for their lives video related to the 2009 floods, is an example of these
in the water and people engaged in rescuing others; bodies female voices:
floating; and cars floating or on top of each other. The videos
were often followed by a commentary from the viewers. It is ‘what do you mean by (Nice View)!!!.. people are losing
clear that the sharing of videos and the interactions of the their families and the only thing you think of is yourself....... I
viewers brought the participants together at some level, if am really sorry for you:((you are missing lots of things in
only through sharing powerful images and emotions (Sheedy, your life:(.......... **I am a saudi and a muslim girl, and I am
2011). The following comment, made after a user watched a proud of it:)’
YouTube video about Farman Ali Khan (see note 2 above),
illustrates this point: This example shows that some women were speaking
openly and confidently as private citizens in these public
‘I am a Christian. But i will say to you that you will be in
forums.
Heaven with God for doing such good things. All your sins
Perhaps the best specific example of participation by new
are washed away brother.’
discussants is Klash and the increased visibility of rap in Saudi
Arabia through social media. Rap music is very uncommon in
It is unclear whether such sharing makes it easier for
Saudi Arabia. When Klash, one of the first artists to introduce
participants to overcome or cope with the trauma, and this
this type of music in Saudi Arabia, included what was then
should be addressed in future research.
deemed to be defamatory language he was jailed for a year.
There was clear evidence that social media provided a range
While the attitude towards this music is probably not as
of practical informational or operational roles in relation to the
negative as before, rap music does not appear on TV or radio in
floods (Pennington-Gray et al., 2013; Dandoulaki and Halkia,
the same way other types of music do, and many of Klash's
2010). For example, when someone said that he witnessed a
songs are blocked in the country due to perceptions of offensive
man being rescued by a winch driver, many commentators
content and vulgar language. On YouTube, however, uploading
thought using the winch was a good idea and that from now on
rap music is easy to do and this type of music can attract
they would tell others to consider doing the same. As can be
extremely large audiences. Klash's song, which documented
seen, sharing experiences online enables people to pass on
the story of the Jeddah floods, was viewed more than 1.2
advice about what to do if they face similar circumstances.
million times. Some viewers' comments on this song were very
Previous research indicates that social media is capable of
passionate, including “I love you klash”; “that is great claaash”;
facilitating collective behaviour (Chu, 2009). This is in line with
“i love this song keep going brother in this way, only you are
the findings of this study. Social media users used Facebook
our voice we are talking by you. i belive in you clash”; “that is
special interest groups effectively to organise the rescue efforts
amazing … really”; “keep the good work going this is really
in the immediate aftermath of the floods. Less than a week after
heart touching”; “from east to west klash is the best”; and “well
the first disaster, dozens of groups emerged on Facebook for
done clash keep going baby”. After the appearance of this song
this purpose. For example, the “Humanitarian Nobles Cam-
on YouTube, Klash became visible in traditional media as well.
paign For Volunteering to help the Victims of Jeddah Floods”
He was interviewed by TV stations, including Saudi stations,
Facebook page included more than 2511 members. Upon
several times, as his channel on YouTube shows, suggesting his
joining these Facebook groups these volunteers undertook to
song about the natural disaster helped him and rap music gain
comb the streets of Jeddah to provide assistance. Prince Khaled
societal acceptance.
Al-Faisal honoured their services during a special ceremony.5
One of Poor (2005) criteria for an online public sphere is
Some of these Facebook groups are still active at the time of
the inclusion of new and previously excluded discussants.
writing this article. Social media makes this crowd sourcing
The participation of rappers, previously ostracised by society
possible because of mutual availability, which is about people
and known to only a relative few, suggests that social media
being able to see, hear and feel each other (Chu, 2009).
may facilitate inclusion of these discussants. Douai and Nofal
The data shows limited, but some, evidence that social
(2012), suggest these results from the decentralized nature
media facilitated participation by discussants previously
of this system of communication (social media). They note
excluded from public discourse. Expatriate Saudi students
‘the Internet has enfranchised previously marginalized groups,
(currently more than 200,000 Saudi students study abroad)
which leveled the playing field in terms of access’ (Douai and
who would have been excluded from discussing local
Nofal, 2012, p268). It seems likely also that the occasion of the
politics because of geography, are involved because of social
disaster contributed to an apparently rapid social acceptance.
media. For example, Ahtmamat Mobt3th6 Facebook page,
The floods were unquestionably times of heightened emotions.
which had 228 members, covered the topic of the floods
Klash focused on what so many were focused on, and in some
ways and to some extent they were unified. In fiction we are
5 familiar with the notion of outsiders becoming heroes and
http://www.arabnews.com/node/349202.
6
Ahtmamat in Arabic means priorities and Mobt3th refers to a Saudi student acquiring instant acceptance through acts of courage in times
studying overseas on a government scholarship. of crisis. The theme of unity, developed in time of disaster and
10 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
accelerated by the affordances of social media is returned to in
coming sections and warrants more research. Do disaster and
social media create a special social chemistry? If so, are changes
in attitude and lowering of barriers to participation temporary
or lasting?
5.2. Social media is a public space for engaging in
rational discussion
On Al-Saha Al-Siyasia users engaged in meaningful dis-
cussions about what really happened on November 25, 2009
and January 26, 2011, why and who was responsible. The site,
which was closed by its owners in 2012, witnessed very
lively debates about what happened in Jeddah. The members
analysed the causes that led to the disasters in great depth and
from several angles. For example, some provided evidence that
the areas affected in Jeddah were actually valleys and people
should have never been allowed to build on them in the first
place. Others claimed that what happened was actually a
punishment from Allah. Some defended the government,
while others accused the Jeddah municipality of corruption
and mismanagement and of failing to put in place adequate
infrastructure and implement the already budgeted and
planned projects. One user commented:
‘It is very clear that negligence and corrupted officials are
responsible for this, because for more than 20 years they
started the water drainage projects and till now a flood like
this is happening which means all these projects are not
functioning’
Some blamed all the Jeddah mayors who served in this
position over the past 30 years for what happened. In addition,
the Al-Saha Al-Siyasia site listed all the people who died during
the 2009 floods.
The ‘walls’ of Facebook special interest sites provided a
forum for rational exchange among those with different
opinions. For example, when a government supporter tried
to find excuses for the Jeddah municipality, another member
immediately posted a clipping from an old local newspaper
article dated 1981. It showed that a water drainage system
for the city of Jeddah was on the agenda of the Municipality
30 years ago, highlighting that nothing has happened since
then, and implying that not only the current mayor was
corrupt but all former mayors were also corrupt. Another
example is a discussion that resulted from the following
question posted by a Facebook member on the wall of one of
the special interest groups:
I have a Question, and I hope that somebody can answer me, so I
could feel better.Why do not Jeddah bring people from Japan or
the US or China to fix whatever problems we have in Jeddah???
1- The rush hour and traffic 24 hours, no need to be smart
which means we need another way of transportation to get
around.
2- We need them to fix our sewerage system.
3- We need them to fix our roads.
On the Al Arabiya site, the decentralized nature of social
media, their many-to-many communication feature and the
anonymity they provide, have made it effective in enabling
users to express their views and reach others (Preece J, 2000).
Users posted comments to challenge the official version of the
truth of the site by offering their own version of the truth on the
events. For example, when readers criticised, during their
discussion of one of Al Arabiya site articles, the Presidency of
Meteorology and Environment report, which stated that the
weather was fine on the day of the flash floods, Al Arabiya site
responded by discussing this issue in a separate article on its
website. Also the call for the impeachment of the mayor of
Jeddah on Facebook, which was a sensitive topic in nature,
given he was a high profile senior government official, would
not have been made if it had not been for the anonymity which
provided safety from imprisonment or punishment (Al-Saggaf
et al., 2008).
The interactions on Facebook and Al-Saha Al-Siyasia were
more peaceful and the discussions were more insightful than
those on YouTube and Al Arabiya sites. On the former sites the
discussions were more likely to take the form of intellectual
discussion that maintained acceptable standards of conduct
(although occasionally some communicators did engage in
fighting with each other). This may suggest that in general,
although the Facebook and Al-Saha Al-Siyasia users do disagree
with others' ideas, their disagreement does not cause them to
indulge in fights or flame wars or engage in sarcasm or attacks,
which were all common in discussions that took place on
Al Arabiya site and YouTube. One mild example of many
comments in YouTube that contained very abusive, offensive,
inflammatory, and racist language is: “can you come to drive
my car you seem (to be) a stupid driver hey man when you talk
about saudi you have to say kingdom of Saudi Arabia we are
Saudi not like you poor *f-word* stupid jealous of us”. These
comments were not related to the issue discussed; rather they
were exchanges between the commentators.
The reason the interaction was more peaceful on Facebook
and Al-Saha Al-Siyasia could be due to the longevity and
regularity of interaction between the sites' users. The contin-
uous interactions between them might have allowed genuine
relationships to develop over time, despite the fact that some
of these relationships operate solely online. Thus there might
have been a cost associated with being rude in this case, which
might have made it difficult for these members to engage in
fighting and flame wars. It appears that the anonymity, lack of
public self-awareness, and the medium's lack of oral and non-
verbal cues, which can cause abandonment of social inhibitions
(Joinson, 1998; Mar, 2000), might have been the reason for
members engaging in such exchanges. In addition, the thinking
that users may not encounter others in their real life meant that
they do not need to worry about being evaluated and this made
it easy for them to vent negative feelings towards each other
(Preece J, 2000).
In addition, the results showed that discussants, particularly
on YouTube and on Al Arabiya, not only lacked respectful
listening to others (Dahlberg, 2001) but also commitment to
working out their differences. This makes consensus, which is
a requirement of the public sphere model, difficult to reach.
Moreover, while the results of this study suggest that the
anonymity that social media sites offer was instrumental in
enabling users to express themselves freely without the fear of
imprisonment or punishment, it also encouraged them to be
rude and offensive towards each other and made verifying
their identity and the credibility of the information they shared
 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
difficult. The implication of this is that users of social media
sites like YouTube will find it increasingly difficult to use this
medium to engage in rational discussions about matters of
importance to them as a public and participate in conversations
directed towards reaching consensus. This may mean that a site
like YouTube may not facilitate an online public sphere such as
that envisioned by Poor (Poor, 2005).
This study found that in some instances social media –
without the close moderation that Poor (2005) emphasised
was important to the success of Slashdot – enabled citizens to
raise a range of concerns and rationally discuss responsibility
and solutions. Engagement of this kind suggests the existence
of a ‘public’, not a ‘mass’ or a ‘crowd’ (Habermas, 1974 cited in
(Chu, 2009)). Price (1992) notes that as a ‘public’, participants
are expected to demonstrate the ability to think and reason
with others. The ‘crowd’ does not have this ability and the
‘mass’ do not interact or communicate enough (Habermas,
1974 cited in (Chu, 2009)) to act as a public that come together
to debate matters of public interest (Bers and Chau, 2006).
Overall, however, the political conversations that took place on
social media were not directed towards a public sphere style
consensus.
5.3. Social media is a public space for communicating to
the government
It is important to note that the citizenry initiated almost
all the communication evident in the social media sites
examined. When Saud Kateb became the first Facebook user7
to receive a message via Facebook from a Saudi minister it
made the Saudi news.8 Saud complained on Facebook to the
Minister for Culture and Information, Abdul Aziz Khoja, about
the Saudi News Agency coverage of the 2009 floods, the
Minister responded to him. In his response he criticised the
Agency for their poor coverage and instructed the Agency to fix
the problem.9 Other than this example, the government, at that
time, was not seen to make comments or other response
postings on the sites. This absence of government acknowl-
edgement is markedly different to the responsiveness that
citizens living in democracies would expect their governments
to display in similar circumstances.
All the social media sites chosen for this study (i.e. YouTube,
Facebook, Al-Saha Al-Siyasia and Al Arabiya) were used as a
vehicle for communicating demands to be taken. Government
was a focus of much discussion and social media appeared
instrumental in facilitating a public space for people to call for
actions to be taken. We cannot be certain that the government
was even listening or watching, let alone that social media
communication caused the government to respond. However
the government did act on many – but not all – issues that were
the focus of social media demands. For example, the social
7 12
https://www.facebook.com/saud.kateb/posts/256429267853947?stream_
ref=10.
8 13
http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/issues/20091226/Con20091226323044.
htm.
9
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/saudis-lash-city-govt-
after-deadly-flood-20091129-jydl.html.
11
media demands for financial compensation for the victims
were met10 and the requests to honour Farman Ali Khan were
fulfilled.11 That these were both quickly implemented suggests
that media reports12 may have been correct in saying that
senior government officials were monitoring social media
closely. Another example was when Facebook users called for
a solution to the problem of Al Musk Lake. Their comments
included “why do not they take action and dry it out?! This
country is strange, if the problem was in another country they
would have rushed to help and gave cash”; “this is the result of
letting one family to act on behalf of a whole nation”; “how long
have you been saying this and we saw nothing”; “and you call it
the trusted (Municipality), oh my stomach, the trust is in one
valley and you (Municipality officials) are in another”; and “this
is the result of corruption and nepotism, first the big thieves
should be brought to justice then the small ones”. Al Musk Lake
is 40 km east of Jeddah where all the human waste (sewage
water) from Jeddah was previously dumped. Residents at the
time were afraid that the lake would overflow due to rising
water levels because of the heavy rain fall. Again, we cannot
be sure what the government was attending to, but the
government announced that it signed a 95 million-Saudi
Riyal-contract with a specialised company to undertake the
drying up project of the Al Musk Lake.13
Similarly, the government took serious steps to address
issues that were the subject of other social media demands. For
example, one of the main requests that Facebook users made
was for an investigation into what happened, and prosecution
of those responsible for the disasters. This was quickly met by
the government. King Abdullah ordered the formation of an
investigative committee, headed by the former Governor of
Mecca Prince Khaled Al-Faisal.14 The investigation resulted in
many arrests of senior officials, some of them are still being
tried at the time of the writing of this article. King Abdullah
also established the national anti-corruption commission in
2011 and appointed a minister to head it and to report to
him directly, so that all government departments could be
held accountable for their actions, and corruption in the
government sector can be combated.15
Milbrath (1965) defined political participation
‘as any act that is performed with intention of transmitting
information about social preferences and issues to political
decision makers and exerting pressure on these decision
makers to pay attention to the demands being voiced.’
This case provides evidence that social media is facilitating
political participation in Saudi Arabia beyond what was
possible prior to social media, and ‘circumstantial’ evidence
10
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.
regcon&contentid=2010022864813.
11
http://www.arabnews.com/node/396267.
http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/issues/20091226/Con20091226323044.
htm.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/399903.
14
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.
regcon&contentID=2010051171971.
15
http://www.aawsat.net/2011/03/article55247123.
12 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
that the participation is effective in influencing government
action to some extent. On the one hand we might argue that
social media is creating pressure to the extent the government
cannot ignore it, making life ‘more problematic for politicians
and policy makers’ (Ward et al., 2003, p667). On the other
hand, we can argue that social media is facilitating ‘rapid and
direct communication’ in ways that enable governors to be
more responsive to the citizenry (Ward et al., 2003, p667), who
in turn may feel more empowered (Douai and Nofal, 2012).
These differing but perhaps complementary perspectives
should be investigated further in future research.
5.4. Social media is a public space for expressing
feelings and emotions
Rational public discussion is central to concepts of the
public sphere and as already discussed was one feature of social
media exchanges during the Jeddah floods of 2009 and 2011.
However, communication of emotion (often held to be the
conceptual opposite of rationality) was much more evident
than rational discussion and the negotiation of differences of
opinions. Previous research tells us that Facebook is frequently
used to express feelings and emotions (Young, 2009) and that
crowds can be united by a common emotional experience (Chu,
2009). These phenomena were both evident in this study. This
section reflects on the different ways that emotion was
communicated, the role of emotion in the social media
discourse, and some possible consequences.
The free expression of feelings and emotions over the death
of the flood victims and the anger towards those responsible for
the floods were salient features and common themes of the
discourse evident across the four sites chosen for study. As
discussed in Section 5.1, the same traumatic event on YouTube
could simultaneously trigger different responses of despon-
dency, anger, blame and accusation. The prevailing feeling,
however, was of a deep collective sadness and this comment is
characteristic of many:
‘Oh Allah.. and Lord of Kaaba something makes tears fall
from the eye.. for how long are we going to suffer this
terrible psychological pain and every time a raindrop falls
on Jeddah we become tormented, worried and frightened.
May Allah punish those behind this’
Videos that documented the story of the floods were also
posted, shared and commented on in Facebook. Some res-
pondents appeared deeply moved by what they saw, and
expressed deep emotions of sadness; some expressed anger at
those responsible for the disasters; others defended the
government; yet others vented their fury over the deaths;
some expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives; others
expressed sympathy for those who lost loved ones; some
lamented the absence of their right to live a ‘safe life’; some
applauded the bravery of the men who risked their lives to
rescue stranded families. This comment from one of the
viewers typifies some applauding responses:
‘Hey everyone I swear by Allah that tears fell from eyes for
the bravery of these Africans and foreigners. Ya Allah (my
God) see how badly we (Saudis) treat them (foreigners)
and when in need the Saudis are the ones watching and the
foreigners are the ones helping out.’
It is expected that individuals will use social media to
express their feelings and emotions, 29% of Young (2009)
Australian sample considered the ability to express oneself as
an important outcome of their experience on social net-
working sites and 40% said they regularly updated their
status/feelings. Many users of social media in this study
reflected and recounted very personally, telling their own
stories and experiences of the disaster. For many, this
involved talking about their close encounters with death.
It has been claimed that the Internet can be a potent
contributor to collective behaviour (Chu, 2009) and contribute
to an increase in protests and campaigns (Ward et al., 2003). As
noted earlier there were numerous criticisms and demands
made of the government during the Saudi floods. The stridency
of the tone as well as the existence of complaints are unusual
in Saudi Arabia and are suggestive of the power of the
Internet and emotion in combination. Chu (2009) describes
‘uniting the crowd by emotional experience’ and cites
Blumer (2007) use of the term ‘social contagion’ to describe
‘the relatively rapid, unwittingly, and non-rational dissem-
ination of a mood, impulse, or form of conduct’ (Chu, 2009,
p339). More recently Coviello et al. (2014) reported evi-
dence of ‘emotional contagion’, where online social net-
works host and intensify emotions. During the Saudi floods
we speculate that the intensity of the emotions which a
huge ‘crowd’ of people expressed and shared through social
media brought members of the ‘crowd’ closer to each other;
and that a sense of unity and common focus emboldened
many to public displays of protest, creating pressure on the
government, that would not have occurred without the
Internet.
From this single case it is difficult to determine the
influence of the Saudi Arabian context on the communica-
tion that occurred. A better understanding of the Saudi
citizenry's response may come from comparative studies with
disasters in other countries and cultures. Models or stages of
grief (Flatt, 1987) have been used to better understand, predict
and support humans through their emotional responses to a
range of traumatic situations. Although some doubt the veracity
and utility of ‘stage’ models (Shermer, 2008), descriptors such
as shock, lamentation frustration, depression, reinvesting and
growth (Flatt, 1987) may at least help authorities and others to
recognise and empathise with citizens' through emotions
communicated and available publicly on social media. They
may also help to frame research studies.
6. Discussion and conclusion
6.1. The study contributions
This study contributes in several ways to our understanding
of the relationship between the citizens and their government
in Saudi Arabia, and roles of social media in the evolution
of that relationship. We used concepts of the public sphere
to guide our analysis of social media postings on Al-Saha Al-
Siyasia, Al Arabiya, Facebook and YouTube concerning the
Jeddah floods of 2009 and 2011. The main findings were
(1) that social media facilitated public voice for many more
(thousands) of people than would have been possible using
traditional media. This was evidenced by the thousands who
joined Facebook groups and the millions who watched the
 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
YouTube videos and left hundreds of comments on them.
(2) That social media were more useful for reading the
emotional state of the people than they were as a vehicle for
the more idealized deliberative and rational aspirations of
the public sphere. The social changes achieved such as
volunteering, compensation for the victims, the ordering of
the investigative committee and the establishment of the
national anti-corruption commission, the recognition of
Farman Ali Khan and infrastructure work at Al Musk Lake
showed that emotions could not be ignored. (3) That, as
Section 5.4 showed, a peculiar chemistry between social
media, the heightened emotions associated with natural
disaster, and public citizen communication warrants further
research.
The study found, as Section 5.4 showed also, a social (Chu,
2009) or emotional contagion (Coviello et al., 2014) connected
to the disaster and the heightened emotions of the time. There
was evidence of rational discussion and debate online (espe-
cially on Facebook and Al-Saha Al-Siyasia where participants
were more identifiable) and some evidence of unity through
online interaction. But unity or consensus was more likely to
come from emotional and religious empathy than a rational
process of argument and counter-argument. Ward et al. (2003)
suggested that social media could assist protests and flash
campaigns. Chu (2009) believes that the factors contributing to
collective action are made ‘particularly potent’ (p339) by the
Internet. In a country where communication with government
is more often characterised by formality and timidity, there was
evidence in this online Saudi study of openness in expression
of dissatisfaction (especially with the government) that was
relatively free of personal restraint. Constraints such as ins-
titutional representation or the commercialism that concerned
Habermas (2006) were also largely absent or invisible. The
public and shared expression of heightened emotions during
the time of disaster may have emboldened people to commu-
nicate in ways that they would not usually, and in ways that
would not have found an openly public audience prior to social
media.
6.2. Confident speculations
It is not always clear who is participating in social media,
who in fact is making the posts (Dahlberg, 2001), and the
issue of regulation of content, due to excessive filtering of
the Internet (Al-Saggaf et al., 2008) remains a challenge for
social media users. As Section 5.1 of the findings shows,
many more thousands of citizens participated in public
social media discussions. We also found some evidence, in
the case of overseas students, women, and rappers, of the
previously excluded gaining voice. However there is also no
guarantee that these sites can ensure diversity of opinions.
Some voices on the Saudi Internet are louder than others and
the government is active on some sites to ensure that social
media users' perception of issues and phenomena are not
the only perception. These issues may encourage users to
migrate to more difficult to regulate channels such as
Twitter whose use in Saudi Arabia has skyrocketed in recent
times. This study has focused on separating participants in
the different platforms; future analyses of online partici-
pation should more closely examine demographic and
psychographic diversity.
13
Apart from the case of the Minister of Culture and
Information's single Facebook response, the government was
barely visible in social media through posts or comments.
Media assertions16 that the government was listening,
watching and posting may or may not be correct, we can
only speculate. Certainly, the government addressed many
of the demands emanating from social media such as
discussed above. The formation of the investigative com-
mittee to bring those responsible for the 2009 floods in
Jeddah to justice, in the largest clampdown on corruption
in Saudi Arabia's history (Momani and Fadil, 2010), are
consistent with the desires of those who used social media to
highlight these issues. But without evidence we do not know
if the unity and strength of feelings on social media caused
the government to act, or if the concordance with their
actions was coincidental. Similarly, if the link was causal,
was the government acting because of a pressure of opinion
they felt they could not ignore? Or does government now
use social media to monitor public sentiment to capture
opinions that previously went unheard, in order to respond
more appropriately? These issues warrant our attention and
further exploration.
The findings of this study suggest that the country may
not be immune from further social changes facilitated by
the Internet, including an erosion of the ‘wall of fear’ of
criticising government officials, more room for freedom
of expression, and higher expectations from government
officials with regards to accountability. Ward et al. (2003)
predicted that the Internet would facilitate protest and make
life increasingly difficult for politicians and policy makers.
This study found that online government–citizen interaction
in Saudi Arabia, where cultural traditions may limit willing-
ness to being seen to respond directly to citizen pressure, is a
long way from Majchrzak et al. (2013) continuous conver-
sations and co created solutions but possibly closer to Fung
et al. (2013) constituent mobilisation and social monitoring
by public agencies. We hypothesise that the government
watches and listens and responds carefully to social media.
That said, this question should be addressed in depth in future
research, preferably using longitudinal data for evidence of
trends.
6.3. The study limitations
The findings need to be considered in light of the
following limitations. First, the results are limited to the
four sites studied and should not be generalised to other
social media sites, such as Twitter.17 Second, the results are
limited to the two events covered by this sample (the 100
postings and the 5000 responses to them) and should not be
generalised to periods of moderate social media use and
during less stressful times. Nevertheless, this study should
16
http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/issues/20091226/Con20091226323044.
htm.
17
Generalisations were not sought in this study anyway.
14 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
be considered important because it provides insights into
how people used social media to communicate to their
government during natural disasters.
6.4. Concluding remarks
The findings of this study showed that the different social
media sites performed different and seemingly complemen-
tary roles that helped with coping, management and safety.
People in Saudi Arabia used social media for a range of
practical purposes, including communicating the severity of
the floods, advice on what to do and what to avoid, and
mobilising large numbers of people for help and rescue.
YouTube videos became a mass medium that helped expose
the gravity of the damage of the 2009 and 2011 floods.
People used Facebook and Al-Saha Al-Siyasia as public
spaces for engaging in rational discussions, particularly
about what really happened during those floods, why and
who was responsible. People used Facebook to crowd source
volunteers for the rescue operations they carried out. They
also used Facebook, especially, the special interest groups
feature, to communicate messages to the government and
call for actions to be taken to remedy the situation. YouTube
and Facebook became interactive public spaces for expres-
sion of profound emotions of sadness over the loss of lives,
and anger at those responsible. The expression of these
emotions on social media brought the members of the
community closer to each other as previous research
suggests.
The findings of the study build our understanding of ways
that social media is used by citizens in countries where
revolutions did not erupt, where governments are not
democratically elected, and where social media may be the
only way to communicate to the government.
In a country where Internet is largely regulated, freedom of
expression is limited and governments control traditional
media, social media facilitates public participation in social
change. Social media offers users a public space independent
from governments to discuss politics with each other in public,
express their opinions about what is happening in their
countries, contribute to media conversation about the topics
that matter to them, and call on governments to listen and act
on their concerns and aspirations.
References
Al-Saggaf, Y., 2006. The online public sphere in the Arab world: the war in Iraq
on the Al Arabiya website. J. Comput. Mediat. Commun. 12 (1), 311–334.
Al-Saggaf, Y., Himma, K., Kharabsheh, R., 2008. Political online communities in
Saudi Arabia: the major players. J. Inform. Commun. Ethics Soc. 6 (2),
127–140.
Aman, M.M., Jayroe, T.J., 2013. ICT, social media, and the Arab transition to
democracy: from venting to acting. Dig. Middle East Stud. 22 (2), 317–347.
Bers, M.U., Chau, C., 2006. Fostering civic engagement by building a virtual city.
J. Comput. Mediat. Commun. 11 (3) (Available online at http://jcmc.
indiana.edu/vol11/issue3/bers.html).
Blumer, H.G., 2007. The field of collective behavior. In: Goodwin, J., Jasper, J.M.
(Eds.), Social movements: critical concepts in sociologyCrowd Behavior
and Psychological Perspectives. vol. 1. Routledge, London and New York
(Original work published 1936).
Boyatzis, R.E., 1998. Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis
and Code Development. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Cammaerts, B., Audenhove, L.V., 2003. ICT-usage among transnational
social movements in the networked society: to organize, to mediate &
to influence. Proceedings of the Euricom-Conference: Information
Society: Visions and Governance. University of Padova, Venice.
Chu, D., 2009. Collective behavior in YouTube: a case study of “Bus Uncle” online
videos. Asian J. Commun. 19 (3), 337–353.
Coviello, L., Sohn, Y., Kramer, A.D.I., Marlow, C., Franceschetti, M., Christaki,
N., Fowler, J., 2014. Detecting emotional contagion in massive social
networks. PLoS ONE 9 (3), e90315. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0090315.
Dahlberg, L., 2001. Computer-mediated communication and the public sphere:
a critical analysis. J. Comput. Mediat. Commun. 7 (1) (Available online at
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol7/issue1/dahlberg.html).
Dandoulaki, M., Halkia, M., 2010. Social media (Web 2.0) and crisis
information: case study Gaza 2008-09. Advanced ICTs for Disaster
Management and Threat Detection: Collaborative and Distributed
FrameworksIGI Global, pp. 143–163 http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-
61520-987-3.ch010, (Web. Dec 10 2013).
Davis, A., 2010. New media and fat democracy: the paradox of online
participation. New Media Soc. 5, 745–761.
De Zúñiga, H.G., Jung, N., Valenzuela, S., 2012. Social media use for news and
individuals' social capital, civic engagement and political participation. J.
Comput. Mediat. Commun. 17 (3), 319–336.
Douai, A., Nofal, H., 2012. Commenting in the online Arab public sphere:
debating the Swiss Minaret Ban and the “Ground Zero Mosque” online. J.
Comput. Mediat. Commun. 17 (3), 266–282.
Finlayson, A., 2011. Information flow and social media: issues and crisis
communication in the digital age. (PhD Thesis) Charles Sturt University,
Australia.
Flatt, B., 1987. Some stages of grief. J. Relig. Health 26 (2), 143–148.
Fung, A., Gilman, H.R., Shkabatur, J., 2013. Six models for the Internet + politics.
Int. Stud. Rev. 15 (1), 30–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/misr.12028.
Habermas, J., 1989. The public sphere. In: Seidman, S. (Ed.), Jürgen Habermas on
Society and Politics: A Reader. Beacon Press, Boston.
Habermas, J., 2006. Political communication in media society: does democracy
still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on
empirical research. Commun. Theory 16 (40), 411–426.
Harlow, S., Harp, D., 2012. Collective action on the web. Inform. Commun. Soc.
15 (2), 196–216.
Joinson, A., 1998. Causes and implications of disinhibited behaviour on the
Internet. In: Gackenbach, J. (Ed.), Psychology and the Internet. Academic
Press, San Diego.
Majchrzak, A., Faraj, S., Kane, G., Azad, B., 2013. The contradictory influence of
social media affordances on online communal knowledge sharing. J.
Comput. Mediat. Commun. 19, 38–55.
Mar, J., 2000. Online on time: the language of Internet Relay Chat. In: Gibbs, D.,
Krause, K.-L. (Eds.), Cyberlines: Languages and Cultures of the Internet.
James Nicholas Publishers, Australia.
Milbrath, L.W., 1965. Political Participation. How and Why do People get
Involved in Politics? Rand McNally, Chicago, IL.
Momani, N.M., Fadil, A.S., 2010. Changing public policy due to Saudi City of
Jeddah flood disaster. J. Soc. Sci. 6, 424–428.
Patton, M.Q., 2002. Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods. Sage, Thousand
Oaks, CA.
Pennington-Gray, L., Kaplanidou, K., Schroeder, A., 2013. Drivers of social media
use among African Americans in the event of a crisis. Nat. Hazards 66 (1),
77–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0101-0.
Poor, N., 2005. Mechanisms of an online public sphere: the website Slashdot. J.
Comput. Mediat. Commun. 10 (2) (Available online at http://jcmc.indiana.
edu/vol10/issue2/poor.html).
Preece, J., 2000. Online Communities: Designing Useability, Supporting
Sociability. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, p. 10.
Price, V., 1992. Public Opinion. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
Ross, A., Chiasson, M., 2011. Habermas and information systems research: new
directions. Inf. Organ. 21 (3), 123–141.
Schaefer, D., Dervin, B., 2009. From the dialogic to the contemplative: a
conceptual and empirical rethinking of online communication outcomes as
verbing micro-practices. Ethics Inf. Technol. 1 (4), 265–278.
Sheedy, C.S., 2011. Social Media for Social Change: A Case Study of
Social Media Use in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. (Masters of Arts
in Public Communication Thesis) American University, Washington,
DC.
Shermer, M., 2008. Stage fright. From the stages of grief to the stages of moral
development, stage theories have little evidentiary support. Sci. Am. 299
(5), 42.
Tetreault, M.A., 2011. The winter of the Arab spring in the gulf monarchies.
Globalizations 8 (5), 629–637.
Örebro University, Media technology paved the way for revolution — the case of
Egypt, Newshttp://www.oru.se/English/News/Media-technology-paved-
the-way-for-revolution–the-case-of-Egypt/ (January 21, 2013).
“The emergence of Google”, Arab News Newspaperhttp://www.arabnews.com/
emergence-google (November 27, 2012).
 Y. Al-Saggaf, P. Simmons / Technological Forecasting & Social Change 95 (2015) 3–15
Saudis Cross Social Boundaries on Twitter, New York Timeshttp://
www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/world/middleeast/saudis-cross-
social-boundaries-on-twitter.html (October 20, 2012).
Facebook Statistics by country, Socialbakershttp://www.socialbakers.com/
facebook-statistics/?interval=last-week#chart-intervals (December
23, 2012).
Ulrich, J., 2004. The Internet as a political public sphere. Proceedings of the
ICT and Learning in Regions Conference. Aalborg Congress Centre,
Denmark.
Valenzuela, S., Park, N., Kee, K.F., 2009. Is there social capital in a social
network site? Facebook use and college students' life satisfaction, trust,
and participation. J. Comput. Mediat. Commun. 14 (4), 875–901.
Ward, S., Gibson, R., Lusoli, W., 2003. Online participation and mobilisation
in Britain: hype, hope and reality. Parliam. Aff. 56 (4), 652–668. http://
dx.doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsg108.
Young, K., 2009. Online social networking: an Australian perspective. Int. J.
Emerg. Tech. Soc. 7 (1), 39–57.
Yuce, S.T., Agarwal, N., Wigand, R.T., Lim, M., Robinson, R.S., l. Blogging,
Bridging, and Brokering: Analyzing Interconnected Networks in Online
Collective Actions, PACIS 2013 Proceedings. Paper 225http://aisel.
aisnet.org/pacis2013/225.
Zhang, W., Chia, S.W., 2006. The effects of mass media use and social capital
on civic and political participation. Commun. Stud. 57 (3), 277–297.
15
Yeslam Al-Saggaf is an Associate Professor in Information Technology at
Charles Sturt University. He has been an academic at Charles Sturt University
since 2003 and has been successful in the prestigious Australian Research
Council (ARC) grants three times so far including one as the Lead Chief
Investigator. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree (with honours) in
Computer and Information Engineering from Malaysia and a Master of
Information Technology and a PhD from Charles Sturt University, Australia.
His research interests lie in the areas of ICT ethics and social network sites
(SNS). He has published in those areas more than 50 publications. His current
research project focuses on privacy in SNS. For more information about his
work please visit this page: http://csusap.csu.edu.au/~yalsagga/.
Peter Simmons is an Associate Head of School in Bathurst. At CSU he has lectured
in organisational communication and public relations. Previously he taught
communication in the UK and Singapore. He has presented his research across
Australia and in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA. Before joining CSU Peter
specialised in organisational communication and strategic change management.
He worked in advertising, media and government relations, employee commu-
nication, strategic planning and management, and public information campaigns.
Between 1995 and 2000 he developed and managed numerous action research
projects with grants from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged
Care General Practice Program, NSW Health, and other health agencies.