Using Social Media in the Bahraini 2014 Elections “A Study on a Sample of Young People”

Abstract

Social media is considered one of the important instruments professionally employed in the elections in various countries around the world; as social media represents an important space for social communication, cultural exchange, and political debate among young people. The young believe that this default space provides a great deal of information, and perhaps this is the most important reason which leads them to love it. This use of space developed from being a mere tool for entertainment and building friendships to rather include various walks of life. The political issue, however, was not the exception on which the young depended on social media as an important source for their information.The fourth social media report issued by the Government Administration College  in Dubai in 2014  indicated that the percentage of users of the most important social media networks in Bahrain reached as high as (410. 000 ) users of Twitter and  (360. 000 )users of  Facebook in a small country of not more than  one million people.This study attempts to shed light on some facts associated with the Bahraini youth use of social media in the parliamentary and municipal elections which were held on November 25, 2014 in Bahrain. This study also aimed to identify the degree of young people reliance on social media as a source of information about the candidates and their election programs.

Keywords: Bahraini youth, Social media, Diffusion of Innovations theory, Elections, public sphere theory.