Social media influencers in public affairs: framing the Saudi vision 2030 in the Middle Eastern context

<p>The rise of social media in recent years has provided a new platform for Influencers to share ideas, develop narratives, and influence the public opinion. This study analyses the networked narratives created by the Saudi social media influencers on Twitter with specific reference to the Vision 2030. It investigates how the Saudi social media influencers frame the Vision 2030 and how this framing drives public engagement. Drawing upon the theory of framing, the content of the tweets shared by the officially verified Saudi SMIs to the hashtag #Saudi_vision_2030 has been studied and followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews with SMIs with the attempt to address the following four questions: (1) How do SMIs frame the government to their followers when tweeting about Vision 2030, (2) What framing devices are useful in generating engagement with their followers (3) What is the profile insight of SMIs and the motivations driving them to engage with Vision 2030 (4) What are the implications of these framing approaches, and these motivations of SMIs, for an understanding of the nature of social media interactions pertaining to government initiatives in Saudi Arabia. The results show that Saudi social media influencers framed their discourse around Vision 2030 across a variety of themes, whereby the narratives that include national identity and religious elements and those focused around political and economic elements are widespread. The discourse is framed mostly in terms of approval of the government's plans, often expressed with the help of religious emotions.Furthermore, a Saudi social media influencer's popularity increases the likelihood of expressing religious emotions in tweets (in the form of supplications), highlighting the importance of religious discourse in the Saudi culture. This study discloses the central role of religious discourse in the Saudi culture and the extent to which Saudi social media influencers choose to use their leverage to provide an echo-chamber for the government's voice. It therefore provides an insight into how social media influencers who operate in the Middle East media environment frame their online discourse relating to public affairs, and what elements of this discourse are likely to drive the public engagement.</p>