Business & Money | Wednesday 23 December, 2015 1:53 pm |

It has been a very eventful and historic year on Twitter for Saudi Arabia. From the ascension of King Salman @KingSalman to the Saudi throne, to women being allowed to vote for the first time in the country’s history #الانتخابات_البلديه, events like these have been at the forefront of popular moments for Saudi Arabia on Twitter. Sports has also contributed to spikes in Twitter activity as soccer tournaments like # دوري_عبداللطيف_جميل galvanized Saudi soccer fans as their teams battled for the championship trophy. You can also add breaking a Guinness world record to Saudi Arabia’s top Twitter moments as 10,000 women ‎@Join10KSA gathered for breast cancer awareness, forming the world’s largest human ribbon.

 

2015 has been a year of tremendous social, economic and cultural changes. One of the biggest, if not the biggest moment in Twitter for Saudi was the succession of King Salman @KingSalman after the death of King Abdullah. Even though @KingSalman joined Twitter in 2013, Saudis began following him in large numbers this year, increasing his number of followers from around 1 million in 2014, to close to 4.19 million followers this year. @KingSalman has tweeted everything from his condolences to the victims of the shooting massacre in Paris, to him having the pleasure of receiving and meeting with @BarackObama in Riyadh.@KingSalman has been a calming and guiding voice to a Saudi population that is dealing with a war with its neighbor in the south, and a steep drop in the price of oil. He has been a reassuring figure on Twitter to Saudis in an unprecedented open manner that has brought him closer to his people.

 

Saudi women also contributed significantly to the spike in famous Twitter moments as they were allowed for the first time in the country’s history, to not only vote in municipal elections, but they themselves be allowed to run for office as candidates #الانتخابات_البلديه. 17 women from across the country were voted into office for the first time ever. Female candidates used Twitter more often to campaign, as the social taboo of mixing or interacting with other males is strictly prohibited, giving female candidates for office the power of reaching potential voters and supporters over Twitter. Candidates who ran for office like Maysa Al Manee @Maysa_M used Twitter to campaign, then after she won her election used it to communicate with voters her vision and goal for her area that she was elected to represent.

 

Saudi women again helped contribute to famous Twitter moments as they helped raise breast cancer awareness in the Kingdom. @Join10KSA became a rallying cry for women to come together in the fight to detect, educate and eradicate breast cancer in Saudi. What a better and fun way to help raise awareness other than attempting to record a Guinness world record for the largest breast cancer human ribbon. 10K Saudi women converged on a soccer field on the campus of Princess Nora University to achieve this record.

 

Sports weren’t far behind with famous Twitter moment spikes in the kingdom. As @AlNassrFC battled @Alhilal_FC for # دوري_عبداللطيف_جميل  championship trophy and bragging rights as Saudi champions. @AlNassrFC ended up winning the tournament for the second year in a row giving pleasure to their fans, and heartache to the fans of their opposing teams. Twitter was used to debate everything from blown referee calls to complaints of roster changes needed for their respective teams to win. Saudis posted their reactions, opinions and even emotional videos to their twitter accounts as an outlet for them to express their feelings.

2015 can be looked back in history as a year of constant famous Twitter moments for Saudi Arabia. From allowing women to vote to breaking world records, Saudi Twitter use has continued to contribute to spikes in famous Twitter moments.