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Women activists campaigning for their rights in Saudi Arabia isnt something unheard of. In 1990, several women in Riyadh drove their cars, protesting against the driving ban for women in the conservative kingdom. Almost 17 years later, Wajeha alHuwaider (Co-founder of the Association for the Protection and Defense of Womens Rights in Saudi Arabia) wrote to King Abdullah asking for women to be allowed to drive on International Womens Day. Fast-forward to 2011; Womens rights activist, Manal al-Sharif, uploaded a YouTube video of herself driving a car in the streets of al-Khobar and was jailed for 9 days. All three incidents garnered considerable media attention; yet, Sharifs campaign not only saw the international audience sit up and take notice, but was also widely covered by the New York Times and other publications in the USA. What triggered this response? Unlike al-Huwaiders movement, when social media was still in the stages of infancy, the movement in 2011 saw the internet buzz to life, building on the surge of social media. Here are some reasons why Manal-al-Sharifs campaign received world-wide attention: Social media, which has helped drive protests in the Arab world in recent times, was the perfect platform for Manal Sharif to spread her message. Supporters leveraged the power of Twitter to spread the news; over 30,000 comments showed up within days of her arrest. The overwhelming reactions from international and local media resulted in her subsequent release on 21st May 2011. The Women2Drive Facebook campaign was a follow up of Sharifs YouTube video, which received 600,000 hits within 3 days of her release. The Facebook page currently has 15,117 likes. On 22nd May, Sharif was detained again; this time she was released after 9 days on 30th May. Encouraged by the support on various social media channels, Sharif urged women to start driving from 17th June 2011, although she was prohibited from driving herself. Following the initial success of the campaign, approximately 40 women (official figure) tweeted about their driving escapades on June 18, 2011.
Hawaii), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Doris Matsui (DCalif.). One of the European Unions top diplomats, Catherine Ashton, released a statement that described the campaign as courageous.
Analysis (between 28th May and 27thJune, 2011) by the Brand Monitor team at Position revealed some interesting results: When compared to Saudi Arabia, which registered the least conversation volumes at 1.26%, USA accounted for the maximum conversations on various social media channels (44%). This was followed by Australia and the UK, which registered 18% and 13% volumes respectively. The above data highlights two things: a) The driving ban on women in Saudi witnessed a global reaction b) Although the campaign did receive some coverage on the national news (Saudi Arabia), most people on Twitter and Facebook preferred to remain anonymous fearing government backlash; perhaps this could be one of the major reasons for the negligible conversation volumes registered in Saudi Arabia.
Demographics
Demographic studies show that: Surprisingly, more men discussed the campaign (at 64%), than women (36%). Conversation samples show that men either opposed the ban and extended their complete support or felt that preventing women from driving was the right thing to do. The 20-35 age group spoke about this the most (36%), followed by the +65 age bracket (26%).
Position2, Inc.
According to the data populated by Position: Twitter accounted for the maximum conversations at 72% (people tweeted their support and wished the women drives good luck). 13% of the conversations were centered on blogs, followed by news at 12%. Although the Women2Drive campaign was first launched on Facebook, it soon spread to other social media platforms, rendering the Facebook volumes to just 1%.
Position2, Inc.
About Position2
Position2 is a Search and Social Media Marketing firm that delivers continuous growth for our clients using our proprietary Surround and Intent Marketing Methodology, delivered by our products. Our proprietary methodology is a result of years of experience in working with diverse clients to deliver customer acquisition goals through search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing (SMM), and Pay Per Click (PPC) and online media advertising. Position2 was founded in 2006 with funding from Accel Venture Partners, and has offices in Palo Alto, Bangalore and Mumbai. Position2 is a certified agency with Google, Yahoo, Bing and is also part of the Google Adwords advisory council.
Position2's flagship product is Position2 Brand MonitorTM, a platform that allows users to listen, discover and engage with social media conversations in real time. With a team of over 100 professionals, Position2 also provides expertise in online marketing solutions: SEO, PPC, Media and Advertising. Position2 works with leading global brands:
This article is also available on the Position2 Blog: http://blog.position2.com. For more information, visit http://brandmonitor.position2.com or email info@position2.com.
Position2, Inc.