Bahrain Shura, Parliament members prefer Whatsapp over Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Whatsapp emerged as the most widely used social media platform among Bahraini politicians for promoting Bahrain, a new study finds.

The University of Bahrain study also finds that Bahraini politicians are very well aware of the power of social media platforms in shaping public opinions.

The majority of the political elites in the Kingdom believe that social media exerts undeniable influence on the general public in developing opinion, the study by Maryam Hassan Al-Mahmid finds.

The study also points out that while most Bahraini politicians have social media accounts, some are not that active. “Some of them had created accounts but is yet to take advantage of them or make a post,” the study reveals. The study, a master’s thesis, examined 28 individuals, where 13 are Shura council members and 15 are members of the House of Representatives, from 16 October 2016 to 20 July 2017.

Methodologies employed include content analysis of the accounts on Twitter and interviews. The researcher analysed 515 tweets of political figures, of which 233 tweets are of shura council members and 282 tweets are of parliamentarians, as part of the project. Al Mahmid said it provided a realistic picture of Bahrain’s image on social media platforms. According to her, this is also the first-ever attempt to analyse Bahrainis performance on social media platforms.

Tweets by most political elites focused on promoting the democratic image of Bahrain, citizen care and safety. Communication made via text messages reached 64.3%. Photos were in second place. To shape opinion, the politicians mainly employed WhatsApp (85.7%). Closely following were Instagram (75%), Twitter (71.4%), and then emails.

Respondents, 57.1%, said they prefer Facebook and YouTube. The study also points out that Bahraini politicians prefer Twitter for publishing news of Shura and Parliament.

The study also reveals that 43.9% of the tweets by politicians in the Kingdom were a repost, of which 37.3% were the personal opinion of Parliament or Shura council member.

Politicians, 18.8% of them, also made tweets quoting the source. Respondents, 32.1% of them, said that it necessary for the Kingdom to build an integrated government communication system to promote Bahrain. Meanwhile, 25% of respondents said it is crucial to rely on direct sources of individual contacts to promote the democratic image of the Kingdom. The study recommends Shura and Parliament members to create one or more officials accounts on platforms like Twitter and Instagram to reach out to the general public, in addition to their private accounts.

The study also suggests politicians set aside 10 minutes of their break time between sessions to communicate with the public.