How social media can help keep democracy alive

They call me the Tweeting Minister…

It was unusual for Yemeni citizens to find an authority figure who provided them with updated information on armed conflict through social media. On the day of the coup d’etat in the capital city Sana’a, the Houthi rebels also took over state media and prevented journalists from reporting on what was going on.

It was early morning on 19 January 2015 when residents of the city woke up to loud explosions and heavy gunfire. Windows shattered as buildings near the Presidential Palace shook while the Special Guards protecting the palace resisted the Houthi attacks for hours. Fear kept citizens indoors and the streets were deserted. Rumours spread like wildfire among Sana’a residents, while the state TV showed an old documentary and the national radio broadcasted entertaining songs as if nothing unusual had happened. Private news media competed in delivering information based on guesswork, word of mouth and a few eye-witnesses.

Tweeting the news

As Minister of Information, it was my duty to inform the public. However, the Houthis prevented journalists from following my instructions. That was when I decided to use my personal Twitter account and, in Arabic and English, tell Yemenis and the world in detail, minute by minute, what was going on during that unfortunate day.

Hence, the nickname. In a matter of hours, my Twitter followers jumped from 5,000 to close to 20,000 despite the fact that the country’s internet penetration did not exceed 20%, according to Internet World Stats of June 2014. During that unfortunate day I realized the power of social media and the hunger that Yemenis have for credible information.

We read and preach about the freedom of press, transparency and people’s right to information, but on that day I realized how significant these things truly are in times of crises. Not only for the sake of conveying information about historic events but also critical information concerning safety and relief; telling people when it is safe to go out to the streets and which areas are dangerous and what precautions they should take.

Social media activists

I remember the Arab Spring of 2011, which was also called the Facebook revolution. That could have been true for Egypt or Tunisia, but it was certainly not accurate for Yemen because just a few months before the start of Yemen’s protests internet penetration did not exceed 2%. The internet was used by an elite group to do business, communicate with the world and conduct research. For a small group of urban youth, the internet was also used as a source of entertainment. News websites were a cheap method political parties used to discredit their rivals rather than provide accurate information, and social media was used simply for that; social interaction.

However, picking up on the vibes coming from the west of the Red Sea, Yemeni youth used their Facebook accounts to present their political positions and demands for change way before the opposition political parties came on board. They used social media to create political events, design and disseminate resistance logos, banners and slogans and to lobby support. The anonymity of social media also allowed for female activists to participate and gain exposure. Many women went online disguised as men or created gender-neutral profiles to join a Facebook political group or be part of the change that took about a year to materialize.

One of the interesting anecdotes I heard first-hand at the time was about a university student who said she had been using the internet behind her traditional parent’s back. Her father, who worked as construction worker, believed that the internet was a western evil aimed at corrupting Yemeni youth. The student was living in the middle of what became known as Change Square, the resistance area of Sana’a’s Arab Spring, and every day over meals she would update her family on what was happening around them. Impressed by her knowledge, her father asked where she found all this information and she said Facebook. She told me that her father asked her: “Can you ask Facebook whether there will be a protest today in our street so I know if I can go to work or not?” Ironically, she did “ask Facebook” and was informed that the protest would take place in the afternoon so her father safely made it to work that day.

It was especially interesting for me as the editor of a political newspaper, The Yemen Times, to see that Facebook has become a place to find story leads and sources who would go on the record. There is obviously a huge risk in depending on social media alone, and that is why professional journalists verify the information they find online, using more traditional sources. Nevertheless, social media has changed the way journalism is practised in Yemen; in fact, social media has changed the way communication is done in Yemen.

This may not seem new or interesting in the more developed world. But if you realize that access to the  internet has superseded sometimes access to basic needs such as proper education, housing or healthcare, you would understand the significance of this leap in technology. For instance, a young Yemeni man would rather pay for internet access than a hospital bill or tuition fee for an educational course. It has become more important for many Yemeni youth to stay connected and updated than to improve their living standards, which explains the tenfold increase in internet penetration in four years from less than 2% to more than 20%.

Accurate information tool

The interest in the internet and social media is an amazing opportunity for development and democracy in Yemen. Miracles can be created through social media-related surveys and awareness campaigns, but more importantly, social media is a great tool to convey accurate information and keep the public in developing countries such as Yemen informed.

The bottom line is this: providing people with credible information and respecting their minds can never go wrong, and using social media to do this is a good place to start.

Author: Nadia Al-Sakkaf, former Minister of Information, Government of Yemen, director of Yemen 21 Forum, a development NGO, and a member of the 2015 intake of World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders 

Image: An election official counts votes in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen May 17, 2008. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah