Saudi symposium highlights social media impact on Bosnian youth

Saudi and Bosnian social media experts confirmed the record high social media use in Bosnia and Herzegovina despite its low population.

An international symposium on new media and youth discussed the large impact of social media in the country and highlighted the trends of Bosnian youth on social networks.
The international symposium was organized on Thursday for the first time in Sarajevo by Taoq Research Center on new media and youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina in collaboration with the Balkans Research Center in Bosnia at the University of Sarajevo.
The symposium brought together tens of scholars, media experts and social activists from different disciplinary backgrounds to conduct an open discussion on the impact of new media on youths in Bosnia and the Middle East. Special emphasis was put on the role of social media in identifying young people’s identity, behavior and social participation.
The symposium discussed a list of issues and phenomena associated with new media and its impact on young people. Among prominent keynote speakers were Goran Milic, an independent journalist, Abdul Qader Al-Fantookh, chief strategy officer at the Saudi Research and Marketing Group in Riyadh, and Nadira Dacic, internal communication specialist.
The event explored the nature of key types of media exposure among youth, as well as the types of behaviors and interactions associated with new media use.
The symposium had an open discussion on the impact of new media on Bosnian youth who confirmed, during the symposium, that they use the social media to clarify their vision of their home’s future.
Ahmed Hayajneh, executive director of Taoq Research Center, said social media started circulating among Bosnian youth, while many foreign companies announced their desire to invest in this field in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He confirmed that social media can play a vital role in forming the future of the country.
Speaking to Arab News, he said that the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is interested in activating social media. Taoq Research Center studied the impact of social media on Bosnia and Herzegovina and selected Bosnia and Herzegovina to organize this symposium for the high number of youth and because they proved that they use social media to create a large impact to form the future of their home. 
Al-Fantookh said that the center had organized 12 symposiums across the world. “The last event was held in London in cooperation with the University of Oxford, and today we are in Sarajevo. Taoq Research Center plans to organize others events in Malaysia, Sudan, Djibouti, Indonesia, London and Washington. The symposium moves from one country to another to highlight issues concerning the youth.” 
“Bosnian youth recordered a high turnout on social media. They have a larger interaction on the social media than Saudis, despite the low population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Saudi Arabia is one of the countries which uses the most social media via smartphones. At the same time, Bosnian youth compete with Saudis in using social networks,” he told Arab News.
“Bosnian youths know that they emerged from a war which lasted 20 years and they are insisting on building their country and forming their future. Therefore, social media has been seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a platform to highlight ideas of youths,” he added.

Source: Arab News