Qatar has posted the most dramatic increase in Facebook users in the region with a 165 percent growth since last year, a recent analysis by local social media agency Spark Digital has found. 

Some 695,600 people now actively use FB in Qatar – double the user base in 2011, the group reports.

The GCC overall has nearly 12 million Facebook users, representing a 35 percent growth year-over-year, the analysis shows.

Reversed trend

The information follows last year’s Inside Facebook report that the number of FB users in the GCC tumbled from April to May of 2010, in part due to government censorship during the Arab Spring.

But the drop appeared to reverse in 2010, as the rest of the GCC also experienced huge jumps in usage, almost all in the double-digits: Oman, 84 percent; Saudi Arabia, 33 percent; UAE, 32 percent; Bahrain, 31 percent. Kuwait, however, only saw a 2 percent growth.

Saudi Arabia, the most populous country in the Gulf, has the the most Facebook users, at 5.85 million, followed by the UAE with 3.35 million active users, Spark Digital said.

Thoughts?

Credit: Graphic courtesy of Spark Digital