Young Saudis are turning to Facebook to connect with members of the opposite sex as a way to bypass strictures on gender mixing according to Olivia Sterns writing on CNN.com about social trends in the Kingdom.
Sterns writes that, “Eman Al Nafjan, a female blogger and lecturer living in Riyadh, recalls a time only a few years ago when she says lonely young men would chase after Saudi women (who typically wear floor-length black coverings called abayas), hoping to pass along their phone numbers and maybe, just maybe, get a date .. ‘Because of the strict gender segregation, men in the streets were very desperate — they would go after anything in black .. This has calmed down now after the Internet. They are not so desperate in the streets because there are other ways to meet.’”
Facebook’s Arabic version was launched in March of last year and it is the most popular social networking site in the Kingdom according to Sterns who said the Arab Media Outlook report, produced by the Dubai Press Club, claimed 70 percent of Internet users in Saudi Arabia used online social networking.
Blogger Nafjan “agrees that social networking has opened opportunities for young people to connect, and that in turn has shifted attitudes.” She said “It’s definitely getting more liberal here .. People who were once very conservative are getting less so. The government needs to catch up.”
Blogging is another phenomenon changing the social landscape in the Kingdom. As posted earlier this month ["Saudi Bloggers Profiled"] “the estimated 5,000 Saudi blogs have given the more than 6 million Saudis who are online an outlet not only to vent their considerable frustrations, but a place to press for political and social change” according to Judith Miller writing for FoxNews.com
["Young Saudis bypass social lockdown with Facebook" - Olivia Sterns - CNN.com]
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