Islam and Social Media: Attitudes and Views

Abstract

<p>Social media has become an integral part of our daily life encapsulating time and place, creating new relations and fostering old ones not only on an individual level but also on social and global ones. This revolution in human interaction was led by the introduction of Facebook in 2004 that was followed by other social media platforms such as Twitter and Instegram. This electronic revolution swept over to reach mobile phones and to introduce new platforms such as WhatsApp and Viber. The present study investigated attitudes and views towards the use of social media in promoting Islam. A random sample of Facebook users was asked to fill in a questionnaire that tackled questions related to their attitudes towards the role of social media in promoting Islam, the linguistic influence of the social media on their English language skills when talking about Islam and the most preferred social media platform. . Respondents were then classified according to education and gender. The study revealed that the social media have affected the way the other is addressed when discussing Islamic topics. Despite some negative stands, the positive attitudes towards social media in promoting Islam prevailed. The views were influenced by the respondents’ age, gender and education. The linguistic influence of the social media on developing English skills was viewed positively. The Facebook was the most preferred social media platform. Further research is recommended on the interrelationships between social factors and views of social media. Code-switching among social media users and the effect on Arabic might be also investigated.</p>