This is an extract from “How The Middle East used Social Media in 2020,” written by Damian Radcliffe and Hadil Abuhmaid in partnership with the New Media Academy.

This report is free to download and available in English: https://newmediaacademy.ae/en/2020-annual-social-media-report/ and Arabic: https://newmediaacademy.ae/en/2020-annual-social-media-report/

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting each chapter from the report as a standalone article here on Medium. To start, check out the Executive Summary and the headlines from 2020.

Chapter 1. Market Context

Social Networks are powerful platforms in the Middle East, as they are around the world, shaping — and influencing — a wide range of online and offline…

Founded in 2006, Techstars has invested in more than 2,200 companies in 15 years. In the process, the startup accelerator has supported entrepreneurs in over 150 countries, more recently expanding into the Middle East.

With a current market cap of $27 billion, the network began with three basic ideas: “entrepreneurs create the future, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere.”

Techstars launched its first accelerator in MENA — Techstars Dubai — in 2018, with a similar initiative following a year later in Abu Dhabi. …

The Digital News Report, the latest edition of which was published at the end of June, is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the behaviors of online news consumers.

Now in its tenth year, the annual study from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) now features insights from 46 different countries and 92,000 respondents.

As in previous years, the report offers analysis at a country and continental level, as well as cross-cutting issues such as paying for news, gateways to content and trust in media.

Clocking in at 164 pages, and accompanied by a…

In late summer 2020, Tow Fellow Damian Radcliffe and research assistant Ryan Wallace conducted an online survey capturing the experience of life at local newspapers during COVID-19.

The work builds on Radcliffe’s previous Tow Center fellowship in 2016–17, where he and Dr. Christopher Ali undertook a similar survey, as well as a wide ranging landscape study, both of which explored the health of small market newspapers. Combined, the research offered strategies to preserve and enhance local news, as well as an in-depth analysis of life in a sector that comprises around 97% of the total newspapers published in the U.S.

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As advertising reliance becomes an increasingly redundant, risky and outdated strategy, it is incumbent on publishers large and small to implement strategies which generate revenue from multiple sources.

This need is recognized by many industry leaders. A recent survey of media executives by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University revealed “publishers say that, on average, four different revenue streams will be important or very important this year.”

There are lots of potential ideas to choose from. Last summer, I identified 231 ways to make media pay. …

The Middle East has already been the birthplace of a number of tech-led transport unicorns. Waze, a traffic and navigation app co-created in Israel, was acquired by Google in 2013 for over $1.1 billion. More recently, Uber purchased Careem, a regional ride-hailing app, for $3.1 billion.

But alongside these high-profile efforts, a quieter transport revolution is taking shape.

Analysis from MAGNiTT found that $121m was invested across 45 investment deals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) delivery and transport sector in 2019. …

For many people, the global impact of COVID-19 — and the uncertainty it has unleashed — makes it perhaps the most significant life-changing event in living memory.

That context underpins this research report and is the reason why hearing directly from journalists about their experiences — as we do throughout this report — is so valuable.

In this final section, we summarise the key recommendations provided by 25 Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) alumni in the emerging economies and the Global South, specifically related to strengthening journalism and supporting journalists during the pandemic.

These suggestions are primarily pragmatic and focused on…