This article focuses on how social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, has empowered citizens in Saudia Arabia as they are now actively engaging with the content. In the article it is stated that "Saudia Arabia has the world's highest Twitter and Youtube use per capital" which establishes the power of social media on individuals lives, as more people are constantly using the social network sites. Additionally, social media has giving individuals' the opportunity to challenge the authority and express their opinions about a certain issue. For instance, in Saudia Arabia millions tweets about "swap jokes, whinging about salaries, government waste and inefficiently - and corruption". Arguably, this shows the impact new and digital media has on humanity as they have the freedom to explore and actively engage with any debate or issue online.
Furthermore, a citizen from Saudia Arabia named Hamad stated that "Twitter has raised the ceiling our freedom", thus establishing that social media has led to more democracy in society. Similarly, Islamic feminist Hatoon al-Fassi revealed that social media "has created a virtual space that compensates for Saudia Arabian's lack of legal freedom of assembly or association". As a result, this shows that social media has given women the opportunity to fight for more freedom, thus breaking the barrier of inequality. Additionally, columnist Ahmed-al-Najjar stated that "Twitter helps us breath" and has also blurred the boundaries of what is accepted and what is not, thus resulting to debates.
Moreover, social media has impacted citizens to challenge the hierarchy in Saudia Arabia and to change policies. An example of this would be Twitter's attack on King Abduallah and though the social networking sites people have campaigned for female lawyers to be allowed to appear in court and for the morality police to behave less aggressively. Significantly, citizen Hussan stated that it "is not just twitter" which has causes changes but "it's the Arab Spring. But Twitter has been an important factor in encouraging reform in this country".
Overall, it can be argued that new and digital media has impacted individuals positively in some countries such as Saudia Arabia. This is because, social media has giving citizens the opportunity to challenge the dominate ideologies of the government and to live in a democratic society. Significantly, social media has also impacted women lives to campaigne for more equality and therefore Islamic feminists can have create their own group on Facebook and Twittter. This establishes that social networking sites has empowered individuals' to actively engage with the content, instead of being passive and restricted by social controls.
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