Jordan: Royal Debut on YouTube  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Queen Rania of Jordan joins the ranks of YouTubers, much to to delight of Jordanian bloggers and vloggers around the Middle East. In a bid to break the stereotype, and engage in an international conversation, the video surfaced on YouTube yesterday with the following message:
Queen Rania is launching her presence on YouTube with this exclusive video.
Watch the clip to hear her message to YouTubers everywhere, and then join in the conversation.
The message begins with:
In a world where it is so easy to connect with one another, we still remain disconnected. There is a whole world of wonder out there that we cannot appreciate with stereotypes. So it is important for all of us to join forces, come together and try to bring down those misconceptions. And I have been surprised by some of the questions I have been asked about the Arab world and the Middle East. Do all Arabs hate Americans? Can Arab women work? Are there any YouTubers in Jordan?
According to Queen Rania's personal page:
Queen Rania has launched an official YouTube page, with an exclusive message on the importance of cross-cultural dialogue in breaking down stereotypes.You can visit Her Majesty's page at http://youtube.com/QueenRania.
In the video, Queen Rania extends an invitation to vloggers to send her some of the misconceptions about the Arab world and says:
From now until August the 12th, which is International Youth Day, I hope to be receiving from YouTubers some of the questions that they have and some of the common stereotypes that they hear about the Arab world and I will try to break them down one by one and address them. I will also be encouraging YouTubers to help me out and address some of these stereotypes so I will be relying on your skills and creativity so that we can all get this right.
Naseem Tarawnah is excited about the royal vlogger and writes:
It seems like a long time ago that I once wondered if HM Queen Rania was a blogger. It seems lately, she’s gone a step forward and become a Vlogger
He further adds:
I think it’s a pretty good initiative (me wishing I had thought of it first), and it’s one of those Web 2.0 projects that I don’t think has ever been done on this scale and in this context. In any case, the comments will be even more interesting to read, be they positive, negative or insulting. Thus is the free and wacky world we call the Internet. However, it will also be interesting how the responses take shape. Remember, this is about Arab stereotypes, and Arabs differ in culture, politics, economics and even religious standards; having the Queen of Jordan address these questions with a broad brush may be tricky. Another tricky territory will be maneuvering through the religious questions being posed, a territory I firmly believe the Queen should not be entering due to past misunderstandings.
I wonder however if this will be a one-time thing or if it we’ll be seeing more of the Queen’s video blogging on YouTube. I also wonder if HM King Abdullah will also follow in these footsteps, even though I think that particularly would be a pretty bad idea for all the obvious reasons.
Khobbeizah, who also links to the video, leaves a simple message. He says:
Queen Rania is launching her presence on YouTube with this exclusive video. Let's participate!
Fellow Jordanian Hani Obaid comments on the post saying:
To tell you the truth, I thought this was some kind of joke like the Facebook accounts created for the royal family, but then I watched the video, and I was pleasantly surprised. This is wonderful.
So far the page has garnered 72 comments and counting.