JEDDAH: New Jersey based Chris Rowland is no household name in Saudi Arabia. Yet when early this week he saw a dramatic jump in the number of his followers on Twitter, and most being from Saudi Arabia, he knew there was something fishy.
“I haven't yet stopped shaking my head in amazement. I realized from the start, and I haven't forgotten, that the attention I'm getting is a wildly lucky accident,” he said in an email interview with Arab News.
As it turned out, users in the Kingdom confused his Twitter handle @StC with that of Saudi Telecom Company (STC). In just two days, he gained over 4000 followers, bringing his total to over 5125.
“I created my @StC account long before I had heard of Saudi Telecom — two-and-a-half years before they got onto Twitter. Now, suddenly, I find myself with an audience of over 5,000 people. They're listening; what do I want to say? I think I want to say something worthwhile,” said 44-year-old Rowland, who had been inundated with phone and Internet complaints, actually directed to STC.
"I cannot believe how fast I am gaining Twitter followers," he tweeted on Aug. 2. "This is surreal. 93% of my followers are 6,500 miles away. A day ago, I don't think I even had 93 followers."
And then: "To my Saudi followers: You guys are great," he tweeted. "I wish I COULD fix your phone company."
A web developer and designer from a small town in New Jersey, he said he uses the nickname "St. Chris" since college and until now has had no connection with Saudi Arabia.
“Communication technology like Twitter has made the world smaller, but the world still has profound divisions of culture and national identity. Bridging that gap (stumbling across it, in my case) and experiencing our common humanity makes me feel less like a foreigner and more like a citizen of the world,” Rowland said.
Asked how he views Saudis after having encountered so many of them in the past few days, he says: “I see friendly people, passionate people, frustrated people, sarcastic people — funny, welcoming, proud and deeply devoted. And a few who think that I'm a joke or that I'm unfairly popular. I see all kind of people. I see my fellow human beings, sharing a planet with me.”
From his replies to some tweets, Rowland seemed to have taken the confusion light-heartedly and says he is glad to enjoy with his new Saudi friends.
Is he planning to learn Arabic so he can tweet back to his Saudi followers?
“I seem to be doing well in English, but I get so many Arabic replies that I'm curious to learn at least a little so I can try to get a taste of what I've been missing. I'm sure that the Saudi sense of humor, as with all cultures, shines brightest in its native language. I think it would take a very long time for me to reach a comfortable degree of fluency for writing, though,” he said.
Most Westerners have certain stereotypes about Saudi Arabia and its people. Does Rowland have any?
“My stereotype of Saudis? They love Twitter, that's for sure,” he quips.
The verified Twitter account of telecom company STC, meanwhile, is @STC_KSA with 306,300-plus followers.
