This change in the digital environment contributed to the develop- ment of a public communication culture and transformation in society’s values, customs and traditions. And especially among young people, there has been a complete shift from traditional to digital platforms and social media networks. This has made it easier to communicate and or- ganise, opening the door for discussions on digital platforms around the clock. Statistics from data analysis centres and institutions specialising in information analysis and monitoring the transformations of this digi- tal society (such as Statista), show a steady increase in internet users (1) . In turn, this signals the depth of transformation in media and digital sec- tor in particular. At the end of July 2020, there were 4.57 billion inter- net users, or 59 percent of the entire world’s population of 7.79 billion people. The number of active social media users was 3.96 billion, or 51 percent of the world’s population. Furthermore, 99 percent of them used phones to access websites and social platforms. The increase in internet users was also seen in the three years prior to 2020–from 2.86 billion users in 2017 to 3.14 billion users in 2018 and 3.4 billion users in 2019 (2) . 2. Al Jazeera’s Experience on the Web: Varied News Services and Specialised Knowledge The period between the establishment of Al Jazeera channel (which began broadcasting on 1 November 1996) and the institutional- isation of its work in the electronic media space by way of AlJazeera. net was no more than four years. In this time, the network grew and matured into yet another position within the journalism world after its initial emergency in the Arab and international media landscape. On 1 January 2001, the Arab media space witnessed the birth of one of the first comprehensive Arabic news websites, AlJazeera.net. In Septem- ber 2003, AlJazeera.net launched its English news website (English. AlJazeera.net). The English-language website launched during the first year of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, making it a platform that could reach a vast English-speaking audience and that would become the precursor
(1) “Global Digital Media Population as of July 2020”, Statista , 2020.
(2) “Number of Social Network Users Worldwide from 2017 to 2025”, Statista , 2020.
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