Meet the Geek: Osama Romoh
We’ve had the pleasure of meeting Osama Romoh (@osamaromoh), who is a prominent Jordanian Blogger at osamaa.com with over 1,800+ Followers on twitter and with more than 13,900K likes on his facebook page. Osama now works in Dubai with Dubizzle where he is the Digital Marketing manager, we thought we’d share his wisdom with the world when it comes to Digital marketing so we sent him a couple of questions and he gracefully replied. Below... Read More
1 on 1 with Mishaal AlGergawi UAE’s Social Media Expert (Part 1 of 2):
This article is sponsored by the Government Social Media Conference (@govsmc) taking place in Dubai on June 7th – 8th. I had the pleasure of speaking with Mishaal AlGergawi for those who don’t Know Mishaal he’s twitter and social media advocate that goes by the handle @Algergawi if you’re in the UAE or follow news from the UAE on Twitter you most probably read one of his tweets or even follow him. Mishaal didn’t always like Twitter... Read More
Red bull going Viral!
There are some funny videos flying around on the web and especially social networks titled I dare you not laugh, and they feature a professional driver scaring the life out of seemingly ordinary passengers with him. When I first saw it the red bull cap drew my attention, but I didn’t think of it much I thought it was some sort of red bull stunt. But then I read an article on Youngeberry’s blog, stating that in fact there is a campaign... Read More
Be surprised? More like Be Confused! #Fail
Last week at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, there was a mysterious looking stand in the main atrium with a giant block of mud and two people in lab coats kept padding it down and scrapping away at it. I was kind of curious as to what it was so I went and asked them what this big block of mud was doing in the middle of the Mall. They were very secretive saying they are working on molding a vehicle but they wouldn’t say who the manufacturer... Read More
Confessions of a social media expert: Arto Joensuu
This article is sponsored by the marcusevans Middle East Social Media Marketing conference that will take place on the 29th & 30th of May in Dubai. We will be writing more articles in this format leading up to the conference where we will ask the expert speakers of the conference different questions related to social media and in the MENA region. Our second expert is Arto Joensuu. Arto Joensuu is the Head of Digital Marketing, Middle East and... Read More
Middle Eastern countries growth on Facebook last month
A new article released on Inside Facebook today gives an interesting look about the traffic on Facebook from the Middle Eastern countries. And although there were upto 7 countries which have gained 100,000 users in the past month there is a bit of surprising and unexpected loss of users in a couple of the major countries of the region. Below is the chart prepared by Inside Facebook, as you can see Egypt is leading the pack with 500K users as previously... Read More
Confessions of a social expert with Racha Mourtada
This article is sponsored by the marcusevans Middle East Social Media Marketing conference that will take place on the 29th & 30th of May in Dubai. We will be writing more articles in this format leading up to the conference where we will ask the expert speakers of the conference different questions related to social media and in the MENA region. Our first expert is Racha Mourtada. Racha Mourtada is a Research Associate with the Governance and... Read More
5 free entries to attend the Government Social Media Conference
Yesterday the organizers of the Government Social Media Conference announced that they will providing 5 free entries to the conference by applying on the website here, all the request in return is for you to tell them why they should choose you. For those who aren’t aware about the prices for registering to the conference you can find that information here. There are two types of passes: One day pass for USD 999 Two Day pass to attend the... Read More
The Domino’s effect (Part 2): Social media use the MENA region can learn from
Earlier this week I wrote an article about Domino’s Pizza success with using social media to handle and manage a crisis that threatened to damage their brand. In this continuation we will see how they managed to turn around the brand and use customer’s negative feedback to their advantage leveraging the power of social media. After dealing with the video of the employees preparing the tainted sandwiches, Domino’s had to now bring... Read More
Mark your calendar for the Government Social Media Conference
On June 7-8 for the first time in the MENA a Government Social Media Conference will take place in Dubai, UAE at the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel. The conference is organized by The Business Council and after speaking with the conference manager Mr. Hijazi Natsheh he confirmed to us that this event will be the first of many with the possibility of it being occurring in different locations and not just in the UAE. When we asked Mr. Hijazi why Government... Read More
The Domino’s effect (Part 1): Social media use the MENA region can learn from
We are all fascinated with social media even though recent reports and surveys from the MENA region have stated that most marketeers in the region are facing difficulties with it especially dealing with negative feedback from consumers and creating value for their brands from it. So I did some research about social media case studies that have occurred recently and one that kept popping up is how Domino’s Pizza dealt with a crisis that... Read More
Middle East Social Media Marketing Conference
A very interesting event that will hopefully provide better insights for all the marketers in the region on social media will be taking place later this month. This is something we’ve been talking about a lot lately since all the reports and surveys from the MENA region always produce the same answer “The need to understand social media better” and so on. you can visit the conference’s page for more information, but it is definitely... Read More
Social media marketing is the gold rush of the MENA region
Last week I bumped into Amer Massimi, a Communication manager at Leo Burnett MENA & social media enthusiast working from the KSA. So we got to talk about social media and see how it was fairing in KSA so I thought I would share some of his insights into the Saudi market, and how marketers are using social media over there and what are the challenges facing them. How do you feel the MENA region and KSA are handling online and social media? In... Read More
The Internet Show Middle East Survey Report 2011
A report released by The Internet Show Middle East reveals important information about online and social marketing in the MENA region. The aim of the survey is to gain insight into how Middle Eastern businesses are currently dealing with internet business issues and the challenges they face now and in the future. The event which will take place on September 27 – 28 in Abu Dhabi will cover the major issues that the report raised. Background... Read More
Controversy or social evolution?
As I was doing my morning routine of checking whats going on in the world and reading the interesting things going on in the world of online media, I stumbled upon a new website developed by Mideast Youth a grassroots digital network that leverages the power of new media to facilitate the struggle of the MENA people against oppression. They are all about working against repression, discrimination and persecution they want people in the region to be... Read More
And you say social media doesn’t do any good!
We, people in the MENA region, know how powerful social media is, just ask the ousted leaders and they’ll give you a better idea. Not just pulling down governments can happen like magic through social networks, finding missing people is just another social service it can provide. Well, 2 days ago a 16-year-old youngster by the name of Faisal went missing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and it was the time to rescue. But guess who came to the rescue,... Read More
Etisalat and Nokia to partner up for OVI store payments
Nokia and Etisalat are looking forward to start a collaboration where users can download applications from the Nokia Ovi Store and get billed directly from through their mobile phone accounts. This collaboration will be available in all countries that Etisalat operates in i.e. UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt by this year. The good thing is that any Etisalat customer can use this service post and/or prepaid accounts. However I’m not sure how Nokia... Read More
Why Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Stopped Using Social Media?
Haven’t you noticed that High Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of UAE, has stopped using social media? HH Shiekh Mohammed has around 450,000 fans on facebook and around 380,000 on twitter and suddenly, boom, both pages stopped updating fans and it has been since January 20th, 2011. Previously the accounts were very active and used to share updates, news articles, and photos of the meetings,... Read More
Gaddafi Regime Detains Microsoft Country Manager
Microsoft’s country manager in Libya, Khalid Elhasumi, has been held in custody by Libyan authorities in Tripoli since the evening of Saturday, March 19th, 2011. Microsoft said in a statement that they have been working with Khalid’s family and international organizations to help get Khalid released and they currently have no information about the reasons for his detention. Ali Faramawy, Vice President Microsoft Middle East and Africa said:... Read More
ictQatar: Taking the lead on online engagement in Qatar
ictQatar, the supreme council of Information and Communication Technology and the most active government body responsible for setting ICT policy and regulation in the region, has released a comprehensive case study on their social media efforts. This paper showcase ictQatar brand engagement with various online stakeholders since 2008. The paper unveils ictQatar thought leadership among Qatar corporations and government bodies. There is a case study... Read More
