As of March 2008, there are 6,200,000 Internet users in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Government had dedicated vast resources to providing computers to its citizens, while also ensuring access to the internet by building more than 250,000 digital subscriber lines to provide broadband network to ¾ of the kingdom’s population by 2007. The government's effort has been shown in the rapid growth of Internet usage. Between 2005 and 2007, Internet usage increased by almost 100% in Saudi Arabia.
The following table (obtained from
http://www.internetworldstats.com/me/sa.htm) shows internet trends between 2000 and 2007.
Year
|
Users
|
Population
|
% Population
|
Usage Source
|
2000
|
200,000
|
21,624,422
|
0.9%
|
ITU
|
2003
|
1,500,000
|
21,771,609
|
6.9%
|
ITU
|
2005
|
2,540,000
|
23,595,634
|
10.8%
|
C+I+A
|
2007
|
4,700,000
|
24,069,943
|
19.5%
|
ITU
|
A large majority of those subscribing to the internet are women, who, due to the constraints on mobility, spend a great deal of time at home. Mark Weston reports in his book on Saudi Arabia,
Prophets and Princes that he asked a Saudi man if satellite television will change the way Saudi women will live in the future. The response he received was, “It will change everything.” Given the spread of the internet in Saudi Arabia and its ability to promote interaction (something that television cannot provide), the impact of the internet will be even greater than that of satellite television. The expansion of blogging in Saudi Arabia has recently captured the attention of the Saudi Gazette, which published two articles on blogging in late 2008.
A Gender Divide? discussed the increase in female bloggers and the differences between women and men's blogs.
The Blogging Bandwagon described the increase in expatriate blogs in Saudi Arabia.
Notable blogs by Saudi women:
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Web 2.0 - Transcending Boundaries
