Tag: social media
Has the Arab Spring turned into a torrent of cash?
Whilst debate continues, even now, on how pivotal the role social media was in the revolutions of the Arab Spring, there can be no doubt that Arab digital activism woke up businesses and governments across the world to the potential of new digital media. In the Middle East the change in attitudes towards digital media […]
Causing a stir: Twitter and the news media
The latest in a long line of Twitterpower case studies came last week with the news piece in The National highlighting Twitter outrage at the decision to send 25 Emirati women to Bahrain to watch the UAE play Bahrain in the Gulf Cup. The prevailing tide of expressed opinion was strongly against the activity, rallying […]
Are brands at risk from the UAE’s new cyber-crime law?
Taking many media watchers by surprise, the United Arab Emirates President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has approved a new cyber-crime law for the UAE, Federal Legal Decree No. 5, this week. The online law was duly announced by the Emirates official news agency WAM yesterday evening (you can find the contents […]
How ‘social’ was GITEX 2012?
The Middle East’s largest technology trade show, GITEX, took place at Dubai World Trade Centre last week, bringing an estimated 3,500 exhibitors from around the world together with more than 100,000 businessmen and IT professionals (estimates vary). That’s equivalent to about 20,000 visitors per day, plus more than 10,000 company representatives on stands each of […]
GITEX 2012 Social Buzz
* Go straight to GITEX 2012 Social Buzz dashboard * It’s nearly that time again! GITEX, the Middle East’s largest technology trade show, starts on Sunday, bringing the region’s IT industry together with attendees from all over the world. More than 100,000 people are expected to converge the Dubai World Trade Centre halls from October […]
#StopTimeOutDubai rings alarm bells
It’s today’s marketer’s nightmare. You’re alerted to an outburst of negative sentiment towards your brand on social networks. Worse, it has some legitimacy. You don’t know how big it’s going to get, you don’t know how long it’s going to continue and it’s impossible to forecast the impact on your business. Yesterday’s UAE Twitter campaign targeting […]
What were those Facebook stats again?
How many Facebook subscribers are there in ‘the region’? It all depends on your point of view. Those that are confused by the different social media statistics being shared on ‘the region’ can be excused. It is confusing. Here are some alternative figures on Middle East and North Africa and Arab world Facebook users. 1. […]
Facebook Arabic triumphs after Arab Spring
Middle East & North Africa users of Facebook’s Arabic interface reach 15.6 million, accounting for 39% of all users in the region. It doesn’t seem long ago that marketers considered Facebook a minority interest and lacking in reach outside of a few select English speaking audiences in the Middle East and North Africa*. The social […]
Looking forward to ArabNet 2012
This week, from the 27th-31st March, will see the fourth ArabNet and it’ll be the fourth time I go along for the conference. It’s not all about the conference, though – the event is being billed as a festival and it’s shaping up to be just that, with five days of events with a developer […]
Facebook down – thousands of brand pages inaccessible
Facebook may have been inaccessible for millions of Internet users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for a couple of hours or so on Wednesday. Although the site itself appeared to be working, users across EMEA found that they couldn’t access the site at all. #Facebookdown became a global trending topic on Twitter in […]
