Use of the social network in Saudi Arabia has exploded since the Arab Spring. How an Obama pool stop went viral

I didn’t set out to become Twitter famous in Saudi Arabia.

As a senior White House reporter for POLITICO, I’ve traveled all over the country and the world with President Barack Obama, touching down in Air Force One on one unremarkable tarmac after another to record his arrival. I seldom find them noteworthy — and, as an infrequent tweeter, rarely ever share-worthy.


But Riyadh was different. A stunning display of Saudi guards awaited Obama at the airport Friday in perfect formation, swords in hand and scarves on their head. So I did something I don’t normally do: I tweeted the photos.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama's overseas trip: 5 takeaways)

And by the time I departed Saudi Arabia for the United States less than 24 hours later, my Twitter follower count had more than quadrupled — from just 3,500 to more than 15,000.

The story of how that happened spotlights the powerful, disruptive force of Twitter in a country that sharply restricts news of its royal family and the government.

My stream of mediocre iPhone photos — mostly taken at King Abdullah’s desert retreat — managed to captivate, anger and surprise the country’s vast Twitter community. Al-Arabiya did a piece Saturday on my “famous” feed, local newspapers picked up the photos, reporters have attempted to interview me, and the tweets demanding more images kept rolling in Sunday.

( WATCH: POLITICO's Carrie Budoff Brown reports from Europe)

It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Use of the social network in Saudi Arabia has exploded since the Arab Spring, making that country the fastest-growing market in the world, according to GlobalWebIndex, a marketing research firm. It’s also the top global market in terms of time spent on mobile devices, as 60 percent of users access the internet through phones or tablets rather than PCs.

After several years of relative online freedom, the Saudi government has increased its control over the social network, which has become a popular platform for dissent. People have been jailed, intimidated and harassed for using Twitter to criticize the government and royal family.

But I didn’t fully realize any of that as Marine One and a helicopter carrying a pool of White House reporters and photographers swept across the desert towards Abdullah’s outpost for his meeting with Obama.

( Also on POLITICO: Walker goes broad on foreign policy)

We flew for 30 minutes from the airport in Riyadh over dry terrain, seeing nothing for miles but the occasional truck rumbling over the dusty ground, a few wandering camels and small isolated clusters of rickety houses.

Then, off in the distance, there was greenery — verdant trees and lush grass — and a compound of buildings and tents that matched the color of sand. It reminded me of the many times we flew into Las Vegas during the 2008 presidential campaign, the lights and glitzy hotels so jarring against the desert landscape.

As soon as the helicopter landed, the press rushed out of the back of it and across the blacktop to get into position for the president’s arrival — and the sandstorm created by the whirling blades of Marine One.

These kinds of photo opportunities are usually pretty uneventful — but there was immediately something chaotic about this one. Guards circled us, sometimes blocking our view of Obama as he was greeted by the Saudi delegation and walked several hundred feet to Abdullah’s retreat.

( PHOTOS: Obama overseas)

At one point, the guards tried to keep us from getting close to the entrance and following Obama’s movement into the building. It prompted Josh Lipsky, a veteran advance staffer for the White House, to repeatedly yell at the guards that this wasn’t the agreement they had negotiated, and that the U.S. press would move forward despite their objections.

Lipsky prevailed.

We piled through the hulking front door and just kept walking, minimizing the opportunity for the Saudi handlers to throw up more obstacles.

What we found inside was something straight off a movie set. Tall bowls with wrapped chocolates stacked in precise rows. Fresh flowers on every coffee table. A massive gold clock the size of an armoire. Satin upholstery, crystal chandeliers, oriental rugs and luxurious couches with perfectly placed pillows. Photos of the king hung on the walls, including one of him almost touching noses with a horse.

Follow @politico

Abdullah was meeting with Obama in a back room with a wall of windows that looked onto an artificially-green landscape. The two leaders sat in armchairs at the far side of the room, talking quietly, while the Saudi and U.S. representatives looked on.

The pool photographers zoomed in on the 89-year-old Abdullah, whose health is a mystery to the outside world, and captured close ups of an oxygen tube beneath his nose.

I snapped pictures — of the opulent lobby, the grand clock, the scene inside the meeting — and posted each one immediately. Ushered out after about 30 seconds, we filtered into the media filing center, which was set up in an ornate dining room with long tables, waiters and an elaborate buffet of hummus, mini-hamburgers, salmon and pastries. (The White House press corps pays for its food.)

I opened my TweetDeck and watched as my feed exploded with follows and retweets, hundreds at a time. I had gained 2,000 followers since landing at the airport an hour earlier. Within five hours, I picked 7,000 new followers. As of Sunday afternoon, I had more than 16,200.

They wanted more photos, more information on the king’s health, and more insight on a royal family that tightly controls what people see of it.

“Thanks 2 the pics u posted 4 the retreat, that 4 long have been hidden from Saudis!” @Abdul_IA wrote. “They followed u looking 4 more.”

“This rapid number of followers signifies that Saudis quit their interest in local media & look for professionalism of others,” @khalooddy said.

“@cbudoffbrown actually Saudi media is not allowed to declare the king condition. But once Carrie arrive, all people know what happening. Thanks,” @QaTaRaT_ wrote.

Three security guards outside the press hotel in Riyadh approached a TV producer who looked like me to ask if she was me. They proceeded to pull up my Twitter feed and say how much they appreciated what I’d posted.

The response obviously wasn’t all positive. Some accused me of invading the monarch’s privacy, and demanded that I post photos from inside the White House, which I’m more than happy to do.

“Some people are like flies, even though they’re with the presidential group, but they look for dirtiness anywhere,” @Muhajjid wrote

“u r retweeting what u just want shame on u u came to our country u ate our food then u have to show some respect,” @FatimahAQ2 said.

Some of my colleagues in the White House press pool — the rotating group of reporters and photographers who follow Obama wherever he goes — joined in on the tweet fest. Soon, we were uploading every decent image we could take. No authorities from Saudi Arabia or the United States tried stopping us.

The funny part, to me, is that I’m not a big player on Twitter. I generally loathe putting myself out there, whether it’s an attempt at a joke or a link to my latest story. I know I should do more of it as a journalist in Washington, but I choose not to.

Some of my new followers informed me that they would unfollow once I left the country.

I’m sure many of them will. I don’t have any more photos to share (sorry!), and I’ll probably post as infrequently as I did before I arrived in Saudi Arabia.

Which is not to say my feed will ever be quite the same. After all, we’ll always have Riyadh.