trending in ramadan; what do people tweet about during the holy month?

Trending in Ramadan; What Do People Tweet about During the Holy Month?

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Introduction

The constant growth of consumption of Social Media platforms in the Middle East has made it one of the most instrumental vehicles for brands to connect with their audiences. Online platforms became an essential part of their marketing strategies specifically while engaging through bigger campaigns. Such campaigns are usually done during the Holy month of Ramadan.

Our “Social Media in Ramadan” report in 2013 already established that the Holy month has a clear effect on people’s behaviors and daily routines in the Middle East. This reflects also on consumption habits of social media. Such a surge in activity levels inspired brands to flock to social media to drive engagement and increase their share of voice. Brands are dedicating bigger budgets for social media because they understand that more users will be online and will be hungry to engage.

In this report we want to explore what exactly are those audiences discussing online during the Holy month. The key insights we want to provide are the main trends and habits we learned from analyzing this increase in growth and exposure. We decided to use Twitter as the main focal point for our study since it’s the most public platform and we can tune into user conversations and pick up on those trends liberally.

The findings of this report will give brands an insight on the habits of their consumers, enabling them to understand what are their interests and the main topics they discuss online. We hope this will inspire brands to better cater to their desired audiences by providing valuable, engaging and entertaining content that speaks the language of their audience.

http://theonlineproject.me/ramadan2013



Findings

The below data showcases the main findings from hundreds of thousands of tweets we’ve analyzed from 11 countries in the Middle East. The findings include: the language breakdown of tweets, the main topics/themes they shared, hashtags used, peak times of usage, and finally the content and volume of those tweets.

• During Ramadan, 51% of the tweets coming from Bahrain are actual tweets, while the remaining are mentions and retweets.

• Bahraini users tweet mostly in Arabic.

• Tweets from Bahrain in Ramadan include more media (photo, video) than links and/or hashtags.

Bahrain



• The higher percent of Bahraini users tweeted from an Android device last Ramadan.

Most of the tweets from Bahrain last Ramadan were about political matters, the topics change between 8pm-11pm to become more related to the Holy month. Bahrainis were most active between 9pm-12am.

• 54% of the Egyptian tweets last Ramadan were actual tweets.

Egypt



• 68% of the tweets from Egypt are in Arabic.

• Egyptian twitter users tweeted mostly text last Ramadan, other tweets included more links and hashtags than media.

• Last Ramadan, Egyptians tweeted mostly from the web, and tweeted from iOS devices more than Android.

During last Ramadan, Egyptian users also tweeted heavily about politics, but the majority of tweets were about TV shows, whether religious or general series. Although there was less volume around noon, these tweets were mostly about cooking and food recipes. The most active times were between 9pm-12am.



• 57% of the tweets coming from Iraq last Ramadan were actual tweets, whereas the remaining 43% were retweets and replies.

• 61% of the tweets from Iraq were in Arabic.

• Most of tweets from Iraq last Ramadan were text. Only 8% of tweets included media.

• Iraqis tweet from the web more than mobile devices, but those who tweeted from mobile were almost equally from Android and iOS devices.

Iraq



The tweets from Iraq did not have a specific theme per se, and were mostly related to Ramadan itself. Iraqis were mostly active between 7pm-10pm.

• 57% of the tweets from Jordan last Ramadan were actual tweets the remaining 43% are retweets and replies.

• Jordanians tend to tweet a bit more in English than Arabic with 51% being in English.

Jordan



• Most of the tweets from Jordan last Ramadan were text only, while 7% of tweets included media, 27% included hashtags and 25% included links.

• Jordanians tweet from the web more than mobile devices but again mobile users are split almost equally between Android and iOS devices.

Jordanians tweets are a mix of politics, TV and Ramadan charity projects. The most active times were between 6pm-9pm.



• The replies and retweets from Saudi last Ramadan were more than the actual tweets – both formed 52% of all tweets.

• The tweets coming from Saudi are 86% Arabic and only 14% English.

• Most of tweets from Saudi last Ramadan were text only, 10% of tweets included media, 35% of the tweets included hashtags and links.

• Saudis tweet mostly from mobile devices with clearly higher usage rates for iOS, around 46%, followed by Andriod. Only 11% tweets were from the web.

KSA



Saudi tweets last Ramadan were mostly about religion and Ramadan related topics and charities, with some tweets about TV shows. The most active times were between 12am-2am.

• Kuwaitis tweet more than they engage with 60% actual tweets and 40% retweets and replies.

• Kuwaitis tweet mostly in Arabic with only 6% of the tweets being in English.

Kuwait



• The tweets during Ramadan were 63% in text, 17% included hashtags, 13% contained links and only 7% included media.

• Kuwaitis use mobile devices to tweet with a significantly higher percentage for iOS users and very low number of tweets using web.

Kuwaitis tweeted last Ramadan about the Holy month and tweets about local affairs. The most active times were between 10pm-1am.



• Lebanese tweeted fairly more than they engaged, with 52% of tweets being actual ones, and the rest being retweets and replies.

• People in Lebanon tweet mostly in English with only 21% of the tweets being in Arabic.

• 50% of the tweets from Lebanon are text only, 8% include media, 22% with links and 21% include hashtags.

• People in Lebanon mostly tweet from mobile devices with more tweets from an iOS device followed by Andriod 25%. 18% of tweets were done from the web.

Lebanon



The topics from Lebanon last Ramadan were mostly about TV shows and series. The most active times were between 6pm-9pm.

• People in Oman engage slightly more on Twitter with 51% of all tweets being replies and retweets during the Holy month.

• Omanis tweet in Arabic most of the time with 79% of tweets being in Arabic and 21% in English.

Oman



• 52% of the tweets from Oman are text only, 9% include media, 17% with links and 23% include hashtags.

• Omanis tweet mostly from mobile devices with the higher percentage coming from Andriod devices followed by iOS with 29% of tweets and finally web-based tweets make up 12% of all tweets.

The topics tweeted in Oman last Ramadan were mostly related to the Holy month but also a good chunk of them were about Oman. The most active times were between 7pm-9pm.



• Palestinians engaged less than they tweeted during last Ramadan with only 34% of the tweets containing replies or retweets.

• Palestinians tweet more in English than in Arabic with a gap of 18%.

• Last Ramadan, Palestinians tweeted mostly text and also used a lot of links as 33% of tweets contained links. Only 5% of tweets included media and 23% of tweets included hashtags.

• Palestinians tweet mostly from the web and they use mobile devices less than all the other countries. iOS usage is higher than Android.

Palestine



Palestinians tweeted mainly about politics in Palestine and Egypt with some topics relating to Ramadan. They were mostly active from 9pm-11pm.

• Qataris engagement content last Ramadan was 44% of the total tweets and the remaining 56% were actual tweets.

• Qataris on Twitter use Arabic 68% of the time, with the remaining tweets being in English.

Qatar



• Most of the tweets by Qatari users last Ramadan contained text only and 20% of the tweets included hashtags.

• Qataris tweet mostly from their mobile devices and the higher percentage is from iOS devices.

People in Qatar tweeted mostly about politics in Syria and Egypt and some topics related to Ramadan. The most active times were at 4PM and then from 10pm-12am.



• Most of the tweets in the UAE were actual tweets and only 39% of them were retweets and replies.

• Emiratis tweeted in Arabic and English almost equally last Ramadan with a slightly higher percentage for tweets in Arabic.

• Most of the tweets by Emiratis last Ramadan were text only and 44% of the tweets were split equally between hashtags and links, while only 8% of the tweets included media.

• Emiratis tweets mostly from mobile devices; first from iOS devices, then Blackberry.

UAE



Most of the trending topics in UAE last Ramadan were about charity projects, Ramadan-related themes and religious TV shows. The most active times were between 2pm-4pm and also between 6pm-8pm.



Conclusion

• There were a lot of similar themes between the different countries in terms of topics and themes used in tweets during Ramadan last year.

• Over half of all tweets in the Middle East during Ramadan were engagement (retweets and mentions) with Saudis and Omanis being the most engaged users.

• Most users in the GCC tweet in Arabic, except for the UAE, while most users in the Levant and Egypt tweet in English and Arabic equally.

• Most of the tweets from all the countries last Ramadan were text only. Twitter users included more hashtags in their tweets than links and media in all the countries except for Palestine and Iraq where they included more links.

• All the users in the GCC and Lebanon tweet from their mobile devices mainly while users in Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt tweet from the web. iOS devices are more popular in most of countries except for Oman and Bahrain where they use Android devices more often.

• In most countries the topics tweeted last Ramadan were about politics and religion followed by TV shows and series. It is worth mentioning that charity projects and feel-good initiatives were also among the trending topics last Ramadan.

• Twitter users in the region were most active after Iftar time. Some countries like Oman, Jordan and Iraq had their highest activity levels right after Iftar and other countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were most active around midnight.



Recommendations

• Not only do people change the entire course of their daily lives during the Holy month of Ramadan but they also change their online usage behavior and activity. Brands and marketers must in return anticipate said behavioral changes and adapt to them accordingly. Some of these changes include a shift in posting times and in customizing their content according to fan interests and tastes. Capturing the attention of your audience when they are most online promises a positive ripple effect.

• In order to optimize social media best practices for brand engagement during Ramadan, publishing times and content mix must be altered according to the shift in the habits of the fan base across all platforms. By tuning into these habits, brands and marketers will have a deep and thorough understanding of their target audience in regards to their characteristics, preferences, lifestyle, etc. This in return will ensure greater relevance of content and will humanize the brand in the eyes of customers thus, creating a stronger relationship with followers.

• It’s important to note that the period in which the World Cup and Ramadan overlap for two weeks will affect the users’ behavior for this Ramadan in terms of activity level timings and topics. Brands should take this into consideration when they choose their content, depending on their target audience.



• Moreover, investing in post/tweet advertising budgets during the Holy month allows content to reach its maximum potential. Advertising content that is customized to match consumers’ interests and that utilizes trending topics will exceed organic engagement rates.

• Go beyond conventions by communicating your message through integrated marketing campaigns. This will unleash a great domino effect as the increase in social media usage is synchronized with that of TV, radio, and print. Supporting online campaigns with offline activations will secure an increase in brand equity. Consequently, this will keep the conversation going throughout the year.



Methodology

We partnered up with CG imagine+invent* to develop a tool that tracks tweets from 11 different countries during Ramadan 2013, in which each country has its own sample size. As a result we were able to extract and gather valuable data, analyze it and come up with the conclusions.

The tool created retrieved the tweets from each country and a code was developed to differentiate the data and filter it based on language, tweet types, tweet content, tweet source (Twitter client), tweet times and topics.

The sample size for each country is:

Bahrain: 234,151 tweetsEgypt: 235,860 tweetsIraq: 169,947 tweetsJordan: 277,031 tweets KSA: 224,804 tweetsKuwait: 111,231 tweetsLebanon: 183,864 tweetsOman: 116,859 tweetsPalestine: 128,716 tweetsQatar: 135,902 tweetsUAE: 170,765 tweets

* www.cgiandi.com

www.cgiandi.com



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