What does it mean to be social media famous? What does it mean to have ten or a hundred or half a million followers? More importantly, how does it reflect on us as a society and what does it change in us? How can the Greek philosophers and those noble brains that guided us to enlightenment help us to dissect the issue of social media and its impact on us as a society? Can we, for example, reduce the declaration of “I think, therefore I am” to “I tweet/follow/instagram/foursquare/update my status”, therefore I am”? Aristotle recognized man as the ultimate social animal and acknowledged that all our habits, perceived virtues and predispositions are related to culture and traditions. Nietzsche, on the other hand, described the social animal as the first phase of metamorphosis toward the superhuman. For Saudis, social media is a liberating instrument that allows them to freely express themselves to a large audience. More than anything, social media in Saudi Arabia has become a platform where the youth especially are able to share and find people who echo their interests. Indeed, when looking at the statistics, user bases are highest in Saudi Arabia with GlobalWebIndex estimating a 41 percent penetration rate of Twitter in Saudi Arabia. Recently, The Online Project (TOP), a regional social media agency, completed an infographic highlighting media habits of the average Saudi on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Moreover, fame, the ultimate motivator, has become easily accessible through social media, and has encouraged a lot of young artists and bold entrepreneurs to claim the stage for themselves. Perhaps the best example is Lace Events founder, Sara Al-Dabbagh, whose business gained momentum through the photo-sharing app Instagram. This go-getter attitude has helped to expand many industries, which is beneficial for the economy. In Saudi Arabia especially, social media has taken on a bigger role, claiming the empty stage of an entertainment industry and honing the talents of such artists as Omar Hussain, Fahad Al-Butairi, Ali Al-Kalthami to name a few. Social media, spreading through Saudi Arabia has popularized these artists. There is no man behind a desk signing a contract, and there is no nationwide broadcast. Instead, there are people who are watching, sharing, resharing and popularizing these figures in our society. As a result, we see a plethora of shining artists, like Shaweesh and Abdulnasser Gharim and YouTube is now overflowing with TV-like shows that aim to tackle social issues, pointing the lens at the delicate fabric of our culture. The effect of social sharing websites is undeniable, allowing artists to spread their ideas, test the social waters and most importantly help us to view our reality in and out of perspective, which is perfectly illustrated by the work of Abdulnasser Gharim. In a recent interview with The New York Times, he credits the Internet as the biggest influence on his career. He explained how the Internet inspired him to go out and wrap himself in plastic with a tree that was destroying the local ecosystem in his town, thereby prompting the rest of the town to participate in finding a solution to this problem. Ultimately, Art, above all, is the most primitive tool a society can use to express itself and command change. However, for all its obvious benefits social media also has a malicious undertone, popularizing some pretty useless and plastic figures. Certainly, while we once use to look up to such figures as Alexander the Great, the Kardashians have now claimed the thrones of our consciousness and are our new royalty. On Twitter, not a week goes by without another asinine Twitter hashtag popping up creating a hostile Twitter-sphere. Never fear though, because there will always be more good in the world than any asinine Twitter hashtag as proven by Feras Bagnah, Ibrahim Saleh, Adel Radwan and Moayed Al-Thagafi who have used YouTube and Twitter to battle such negativity. Their hashtag “#تم” which means “done” in Arabic has served to encourage positivity, hope and enthusiasm among the youth. In an interview with MBC, the four social-media celebrities confirmed that it was their own struggle with negativity that motivated them to start this new initiative to promote a positive attitude about change. Their methods are simple, effective and, most importantly, fun. Evidently, there is no denying the resonating effect of social media in defining and redefining society. A society must be able to examine itself closely and dismember its parts to look through the proverbial looking glass; after all to understand our faults is to overcome them. So why do we socialize? It's an age-old question, and if it means anything, it means that we are interested in change. Rawan Al Subaie Riyadh – The author is a researcher at the Brain Genome Lab in King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC).
