WUNRN
April 4, 2011 - Muslim Women and Social Media, was a complex research project for MediaBadger; understanding the roles and activities of Muslim women in social media channels. Muslim women are quite active in social media and in complex ways. We’ve done some comparative research of Christian women in social media from prior projects. But we wanted to gain a deeper understanding of a community of women that are often misunderstood and incorrectly portrayed in mainstream Western media.
Age Group Participation
We quickly found that when it comes to Muslim women, they tend to skew to a
younger demographic for engagement in social media channels with the most
active group between 20 and 35. There is a sharp decline after age 50 we found.
The median age of the active demographic is 26.
Muslim Men and Women
We found that 63% of the profiles we analysed were women with 37% being male.
When we looked at geographical presence however, we found that in Western
nations or predominantly non-Muslim nations, men were more active at 46%
compared to women.
Complexities of Muslim Society
There are significant differences dependent on sect and country. This also
influences the level of activity and the channels used. For the most part,
online Muslim women tend to stay within well defined, closed social networks.
In Western nations where they will have friends and associations who are
non-Muslim they will be active in more diverse social networks such as Facebook
or Orkut. Although they will maintain up to two primary social networks in
predominantly non-Muslim countries, with their primary social network being a
Muslim-based one. We were able to hypothesize that the stricter the sect or
country, the less active both Muslim men and women were, although they are
active. In those countries or sects, the most active age group is 17-28,
dropping significantly afterwards.
A Growing Voice
Muslim women are becoming increasingly active on the Web as a whole, with
social media and through news media services. Over 35% of the news articles in
popular online publications that we looked at addressed “misconceptions” of
Muslim women. The second most popular topic of coverage was the Hijab.
Muslim Women Engage Non-Muslims
Part of our research looked at how Muslim women engage with non-Muslims in
social media channels. We found that overwhelmingly Muslim women are very open
to positive dialogue with non-Muslims. They respond to questions in blogs, news
media and channels like Twitter quickly and with well articulated responses.
Muslim women are 27% more likely to respond to inquiries than Muslim men and
are 62% more likely to maintain a positive, open dialogue than males.
The Social Media Landscape for Muslim Women
There is a very strong, poisitive, landscape in Cyburbia for Muslim women. They
form tight communities yet are very open to engagement with non-Mulsim men and
women in other communities. There is an online marriage site for Muslim women and
similar dating and social networking services, like Naseeb following Muslim
lifestyles. In many Middle East countries such as Qatar, UAE and Bahrain, there
are localized social networks (most often using Ning networks) for Muslim
women. Muxlim.com is a popular
spot for Muslim women and the juncture between Western and Islamic society. Alif is a social network
built around religious Islamic music and is very popular with Muslim women.
There are over 150 Muslim centred social media services online varying in their
degrees of popularity with SistersZone
being one of the most popular for Muslim women.
What Are Muslim Women Doing Online?
Muslim men and women are engaged for the same reasons all other socio-cultural,
religious and general citizens are engaged; to connect, communicate and
organize. Muslim women have always played a crucial role in the local
communities, organizing events and helping other families. This extends very
well into social media where they will share stories and support each other.
Hyper-local use of social technologies are for organizing functions and
get-togethers. Religious and cultural factors do tend to shape their
activities, but that reflects the multi-dimensional facets of Muslim women
around the world. Few broad statements can be made other than the fact they are
active and in a positive way. Muslim women are also using social media channels
to discuss religious issues and the roles of gender specific understandings of
scripture.
In Summary
Muslim women are a multi-dimensional part of societies all over the world and
this is no exception in social media. They enjoy a rich, complex and overall
positive presence online. They are very engaged and have adopted social
technologies as rapidly as any societal group. The roles of Muslim women in
Islamic and Western societies are changing drastically, perhaps more than any
other online demographic we have researched to date. With the changes in Egypt,
Muslim women there are working to better define their role and emancipation.
Similar issues are arising in other Muslim countries as they work for more
rights. This is a complex issue far beyond our scope of research, but much of
the discussion and debate is taking place online. For Westerners seeking to better
understand Muslim society and the vital, perhaps critical, role Muslim women
play, the social Web (Cyburbia) is a great place to not only look, but to
engage through active and positive dialogue.
But their engagement online is not without its tribulations. Strong anti-Muslim sentiment in some Western nations means some very negative and vitriolic opposition. As well, some Muslim men and religious leaders do not approve of Muslim women being engaged online at all; but these voices are growing weaker.
That Muslim women actively discuss scripture and gender roles is yet another indicator of broader, more global changes of Islamic culture and religion are underway. The use of social technologies means diverse groups of women in different sects and with varying interpretations may play a leading role in changing modern perceptions of women’s roles in Islamic society. Men too are discussing these issues and as both men and women becoming increasingly active, we may see some significant shifts in many societies around the world.
Methodology
We used our proprietary search engine and artificial intelligence engine,
mediasphere360 with 350 pre-defined keywords and phrases and defined a suitable
sample size between 5,000 and 6,000 profiles around the world. We then ensured
a viable sample size in both Muslim and non-Muslim (Western) countries. We did
not include Asian countries and we only analysed text in English. Data was
collected with a time period from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010.