How the Middle East uses WhatsApp
The popular messaging app is increasingly being used for a myriad of purposes including public health messaging and interactions between businesses and their consumers
In February 2020, Facebook announced that the Whatsapp messaging service — which they acquired in 2014 — now had more than 2 billion users worldwide.[1]
Research published in late-December 2019 by Northwestern University in Qatar found that three-quarters (75%) of nationals surveyed in seven nations across the region (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and UAE) used the service. Since 2017, their data has consistently found WhatsApp to have the highest reach of any social platform in the region.[2]
Usage during the COVID pandemic
71% of Middle East respondents in a 500 person survey run by PwC reported their usage of WhatsApp and other messaging apps had increased since the outbreak of the pandemic.[3]
Similarly, 75% of the Middle East sample said their consumption of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok had increased as a result of social distancing, “substantially more than the average of 52% for all (8 other) territories.”
