Despite a recent increase in citizen-generated content and wider spread internet access, there is the danger of a 'knowledge gap' in the Middle East, the chairman of the NCF International Media Council has warned.

Morris said the difficulties of digital engagement in the Middle East were compounded by the fact that only 0.4 per cent of the web's content is written in Arabic.

Blogger Potkin Azarmehr, who created his website because he was 'fed up with the nonsense given to English speaking media about Iran', also warned that blogs and online communities can become 'elitist' in parts of the world where broadband access is restricted by the government.

The Guardian newspaper said Facebook already had 900,000 users in Egypt; 250,000 in Saudi Arabia; 300,000 in Lebanon and 700,000 in Israel. The site is expected to grow in popularity now that it is also available in Arabic, a language spoken by 250 million people, and Hebrew, the language of 7 million.