Qatar is one of the most Internet-savvy countries in the Middle East. And the government is determined to keep it that way, in part by making a big push for social media.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, or ictQatar, which oversees telecom and ISP activities, released a research paper documenting social media usage in Qatar.

Fun facts include:

• More than 80% of Qataris ages 20 to 24 gain access to their social networking accounts at least once a day.
• The most followed organizations on Twitter from Qatar are Al Jazeera, Qatar Airways and Vodafone.
• Qatar Museums Authority is the only Qatari government organization with a presence on micro-blogging websites like Twitter.
• More than 60% of ictQatar’s friends come from Twitter.

Howaida Nadim, an ictQatar spokeswoman, said social media has served as “an extremely powerful way” for the organization to connect with netizens.

It has truly helped us build a dialogue with our constituents. We hope this white paper will encourage more organizations in Qatar to integrate social media into their outreach plans and tap into the powerful two-way communications it enables.

In what ways do you wish Qatar businesses and organizations engaged you with social media?