Arab Youth Prefer Facebook As A Source Of Daily News: Arab Youth Survey Facebook has trumped television, print, and even the online medium when it comes to capturing the Arab youth's attention in consuming news, according to the ninth annual Arab Youth Survey brought out by ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller.

You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Arab Youth Survey
Mohammed Alabbar, founder, Emaar Properties, Fadi Ghandour, founder, Aramex, Roy Haddad, director, WPP Mena, and other guests at the launch of Arab Youth Survey 2017.

Facebook has trumped television, print, and even the online medium when it comes to capturing the Arab youth's attention in consuming news, according to the ninth annual Arab Youth Survey brought out by ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller. "Among young Arabs, Facebook is the number one medium for daily news," declares one of the findings of the study, which holds the reputation of being one of the largest such surveys of its kind. 35% of the surveyed youth get their news on Facebook, 31% read news online, 30% rely on television, and an alarmingly low 9% get it from the newspapers, shows the study.

Further, compared to the 2015 and 2016 editions of the research, 2017 also shows an increase in the percentage of youth who mainly use Facebook to "share interesting news articles." In terms of frequency of usage and popularity among the region's youth, Facebook and WhatsApp have surpassed Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat by a large margin. Not surprisingly, Instagram has shown the strongest surge in the past one year growing by 20 percentage points.

Image credit: Arab Youth Survey 2017.
Among other key findings of the survey, what stands out is the fact that nearly half the Arab youth opined that the current education system falls short of preparing the student community for jobs of the future. Similarly, it's also interesting to note that the UAE has emerged as a destination of choice for the region's youth, as most young Arabs said they would like to live in, and like their own countries to take after the UAE.

Conducted by global polling firm PSB Research in the form of face-to-face interviews with 3500 Arabs (male and female) in the age group of 18-24, the survey aims to "present evidence-based insights into the attitudes of Arab youth" in 16 countries in the MENA region. The study covers six GCC states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia) the Levant (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories) and Yemen.

Related: The Arab World Has Seen More Accelerator Programs Launch In Recent Years Than Ever Before

Side Hustle

I Started a Semi-Passive Side Hustle That Earns $33,000 a Week on Amazon: 'Selling There Is a No-Brainer'

Dr. Jenny Woo wanted to create a product that would help people connect, and it turned out to be a lucrative one.

Growing a Business

'You Need to be a Non-Expert': Why Billionaire Naveen Jain Believes Outsiders Make the Best Entrepreneurs

Naveen Jain founded microbiome testing and supplements company Viome by believing he didn't need expertise to disrupt an industry.

Women Entrepreneur™

Rayne Founder Sarah Jones On How To Build Solutions That Address Real Market Needs

"Embrace failure as a learning opportunity, because not every idea or decision will lead to success, and that's okay."

Money & Finance

5 Ways to Make Money Online in 2024

Here are five great ways to capitalize on the internet's vast potential for generating income in 2024.