From Café Culture to Tweets

I n Saudi Arabia the social segregation of men and women has arguably led to the development of a public sphere that operates, to some extent, separately across gender lines but that is rapidly changing. The important roles played by café culture, khutbameetings in mosques, the dissemination of cassette tapes, and forums such as Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz Centre for National Dialogue will be considered in this article. Social media (SM) platforms such as Twitter have added a new dimension to the public sphere, since they have the ability to both empower individuals to communicate on their own terms and to restrict and shape that communication.