UAE women trust Twitter over ‘awkward’ Facebook

Emirati women trust microblogging site Twitter more than its social media rival Facebook, according to research conducted at a Dubai-based university and announced this week.

Of the women who took part in the survey, most claimed to find Facebook’s privacy setting “untrustworthy” and that constant changes to the site is making it increasingly “awkward” to use, a Dubai-based local newspaper reported, citing research from Zayed University.

Researchers surveyed a total of 167 young Emirati women who used the social networking site and also analyzed 5,752 tweets that were previously tweeted by 87 users, 65 of those being female to interpret usage patterns and topics of interest.

According to the survey, women in the United Arab Emirates tweet seven times more than the average user, with 60 percent admitting that they are constantly checking their accounts throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the majority of the women who participated in the survey said that they plan on abandoning Facebook for Twitter.

With statistics from the study showing they tweet at least seven times a day, Emirati women are becoming increasingly aware and digitally competent with devices such as Blackberrys and iPhones that enhance the constant use of social networking sites, such as Twitter.

Emirati women are consumers contributing to current and upcoming global trends, the report found. But, in relation to Twitter, the study revealed that the majority (83 percent) of what they tweet about is mostly personal or reflective thoughts, with little interest in news or currents affairs.

Researchers found that the idea of “Self Discovery” was a large stimulus for tweeting especially among young women who often tweeted to find out more about themselves.

But despite trusting Twitter, the majority of the women leave their tweets unprotected – meaning their posts are made accessible by the public – and are particularly careful when tweeting private photos, the report found.