Tactic 2: Know Local Digital Customs
It’s important to know which sites and platforms are popular in the countries you’re covering and how these sites are used there. Twitter and Facebook are both widely used in the Middle East, for example, while WeChat and LINE are more popular in Asia. Within the Middle East, there are differences from country to country. In Egypt, for example, the government and the military typically use their Facebook pages, and not their official sites, to make announcements and release statements, while activists and journalists rely on Twitter.
Compare that with Saudi Arabia, where the culture is more oriented to the spoken word than to writing and reading. Twitter is by far the most-used platform for breaking and discussing the country’s news, followed by mobile apps like WhatsApp. Saudi Arabia has more Twitter users per capita than any other country, and the local twittersphere buzzes with everything from breaking news, to debates on religion’s role in public life, to the minutiae of football matches.
Then there’s China, where the government blocks Facebook and Twitter. The domestic microblogging platform Weibo is a lively social media platform and venue for dissent, though WeChat has stolen some of its following because it’s less subject to government censorship–at least so far.27
Understanding these local differences among platforms and who uses them is one key to finding reliable sources and information. Another key is seeking good search tools.