1. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in
the Middle East
Arabian Social Media Conference,
Kuwait, May 9-10

2. About Us
| Background
 The MENA region’s first and leading provider of Arabic social media analytics & engagement services
 Founded in November 2009 and officially launched in February 2010
 Core services include: monitoring, analysis, reporting, and engagement including OCRM
 Regional & Global presence in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, KSA, Kuwait, USA, UK and Argentina
 In partnership with Alterian, we have developed the world’s leading Arabic social media listening tool
 Over 120 staff members on the ground across the Middle East

3. What are we talking about?
According to Brian Solis
“Social Media is the democratization of information,
transforming people from content readers into
publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism,
one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in
conversations between authors, people, and peers.”
“Social media is basic communication, like what you do
everyday.”
“It describes the zillions of conversations people are
having online 24/7.”

4. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
Governments and Social Media
• Governments all over the world have been late to join the social media scene and slow to
recognize it as a legitimate form of media.
• In the past, Arab governments have either ignored social media or tried to control it.
• Social media has often been labeled as a kind of “yellow journalism” and its users accused of
being rabble-rousers. State access to conventional media has been used to fight this battle.
• Governments are now starting to experiment to different degrees with social media and
attempting to diversify their media policy and strategy to include and acknowledge social
media.

5. Social Media for Predictive Analysis – Egypt example
70% of online conversations directly called for a larger economic role by the government
Term February 2011 Mentions % Increase from January
Salary increase 1.2 million 63%
Food subsidies 800 k 54%
Job creation 1.5 million 46%
Public healthcare 700 k 21%
Sample Verbatim from social media users in Egypt:
"This is privatization: the government sells its
"I say no to privatization, and I call on the government
properties, which are originally owned by the people, at
to cancel it at all as it does not work for our interests.
very low prices for the interest of a bunch of corrupt
The state has to support its development institutions
people. Privatization means stealing the money of the
and do without any foreign aids. "
people.“
"Desert lands in Egypt are large and abundant, and it is our rights as lower-income
people to have wide and beautiful apartments with green areas around. “

6. Detecting Trends through Social Media
In Q 1 2010 57% of Arabic conversations
on social media included socio-economic Revolution
terms, this number drops to 37% in 2011.
Freedom Corruption
Income
Political
Salary Jobs Parliament Mubarak
Socio-
Economic NDP Minister
Police Minimum
Brutality Wage
In Q 1 2010 35% of Arabic conversations on
Corruption Housing
social media included political terms, this
number increases to 88% in 2011

7. User discussions on Social Media sparked a revolution
Egyptians anticipate the
popular sit-in of anger
day on the streets amid
security enforcements
for fear of chaos in the
country .
January 25 (Police Day) is
the confirmed date for 278,186
the Egyptian popular
Following the
uprising, to protest the
incident in
poor living conditions in
Fever of the Facebook users in Tunisia, an Egyptian
the country
Tunisian Egypt continue to man sets himself on
revolution discuss holding a fire outside the
Egyptian
spreads among revolution on Jan main gate of the
people still
the Egyptian 25th with the aim parliament. Two
contemplate a
public, amid of demanding similar incidents 137,486
possible public
calls by many improving the followed on the
revolution on
Egyptians to citizens’ 19th.
January 25
stage a conditions
revolution on
Tipping point from
January 25. socio-economic to
44,664 38,086 political
36,270
27,810
11,682
1/16/2011 1/17/2011 1/18/2011 1/19/2011 1/20/2011 1/24/2011 1/25/2011
Calls for the January 25th revolution became the 4th most discussed subject on social
media across the entire Arab world” on January 20th

8. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
Why Are Governments Shifting Towards Social Media?
1. The Arab Spring: Ignoring social media can contribute to unexpected outcomes

9. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
Why Are Governments Shifting Towards Social Media?
2. Social media is where the people are, especially the younger demographic.
Arab Social Media Fact Box*:
• There were an estimated 1,150, 292 active Twitter users in the Arab
region at the end of March 2011.
• At the end of the first quarter of 2011, the number of tweets in the
Arab region had risen to 155 million a day, up from 55 million a day the
same time the previous year.
• Between January and April 2011, the total number of Facebook users in
the Arab world grew from 21, 377, 282 to 27,711,503 users.
• Youth between the ages of 15-29 make up 75% of Facebook users in
the Arab region.
• There is an average ratio of 2:1 male to female Facebook users in the
Arab region, compared to 1:1 worldwide.
*Taken from the Dubai School of Government’s Arab Social Media Report

10. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East

11. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
Why Are Governments Shifting Towards Social Media?
3. Governments or leaders need to go to their constituent’s turf to hear what they have
to say and speak into the ear of the audience, wherever it is. Constituents are not
likely to come to leaders, and even if they do, their message will likely be distorted
by layers of bureaucrats and media elites.
FB users Penetration Twitter Penetration
(%) users (%)
Saudi Arabia 4,092,600 15.08 Saudi Arabia 115,000 0.42
UAE 2,406,120 29.13 UAE 201,000 2.43
Kuwait 795,100 22.82 Kuwait 113,000 3.24
Qatar 481,280 28.32 Qatar 133,000 7.83
Oman 277,840 8.95 Oman 6,680 0.22
Bahrain 302,940 24.54 Bahrain 61,900 5.01

12. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
Why Are Governments Shifting Towards Social Media?
4. Social media has become one of the fastest ways for governments to create dialogue
with the public and communicate their side of the story.
Egypt’s Supreme Council of Armed Forces joined Facebook on
February 16, 2011. The Qatari Interior Ministry joined on
September 6, 2011.

13. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
What is the added value of social media?
Elite-dominated platform
One-to-many
Public-dominated platform
One-to-many
Social
Public-dominated platform media
Many-to-many
New media
Traditional
media
With social media, every user has the right to produce content and messages are delivered
through dialogue rather than instruction or pedagogy. Successful social media strategies will
recognize that the most valuable element of social media is the user-generated content.

14. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
What are people talking about in the GCC?
Top political discussions in GCC countries in the past ten days:
Topic Volume
Bahrain protests on Labor Day 120,587
Bahrain MP survives armed robbery 90,470
Saudi Arabia withdraws ambassador from Egypt, closes embassy 50,267
Saudi Arabia stops issuing visas to Egyptians 20,847
Bahraini King accuses media of exaggerating events in Bahrain 20,795
Bahraini activist Nabil Ragab arrested upon return from Beirut 20,537
Qatar considers cancelling sponsorship program 20,394
Saudi hashtag “An Egyptian who impacted my life” trends on Twitter 10,899
Kuwait’s current and former PM’s quizzed over graft case 10,517
Dubai police chief makes statement about Iranian escalation over disputed islands 10,249

15. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
Social media at play: Citizens take initiative to thaw Saudi-Egyptian tensions
Louay AlKhlewy : “Some wanted to drive a wedge
• Users discussed the arrest of the Egyptian lawyer in between the Egyptian and Saudi peoples, but it
Saudi Arabia, the protests at the Saudi Embassy in turned out to become a good change to renew the
relations of brotherhood and love.”
Cairo, Saudi-Egyptian relations and the closure of the
Kingdom’s embassy in Egypt.
Noha Redwan : “I just want to say something to
• Responses ranged from anger with the Egyptian’s arrest the people who observe the hashtag # _ _
to criticism of both the Saudi and Egyptian governments’ _ : (Our problems lie in governments, not
handling of the situation. people). There’s a member of every Egyptian
family working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
• Following the embassy closure and attempts at the
official level to thaw the tensions, there was a parallel
movement on social media platforms to thaw relations Abdulaziz Arab: “The greatest blessing is that I
memorized the holy Quran and the Seven
on the popular level, sparked by Twitter hashtags such readings, and got a license to preach with the
as # and # . help of an Egyptian sheikh.”
• The hashtags quickly trended as both Saudi and Egyptian
tweeters began to express their appreciation for Yasser Hareb: “Thank you wonderful
influential figures and thinkers from both cultures. Saudis for what you wrote; it shows
maturity and popular wisdom.”

16. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
What are governments/leaders taking away from all of this?
• That social media is forcing them to compete to
convey a message and is no less important than
traditional media.
• That social media can and often does shape the
news.
• That social media can be one of the tools in a
process towards
responsive, negotiated, manageable change(s)
rather than explosive and unstable change. This is
an interest they now share with many Arab
publics that desire change and reform, but not
necessarily on the revolutionary models of today.

17. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
How are governments/leaders using social media?
• Basic monitoring to gather feedback on domestic and
foreign policy issues, officials’ performance, etc.
• To participate in public conversations that have been
taking place in the absence of governments and
officials for years.
• To better manage public services and make them
more responsive and user-friendly.
• The UAE’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA)
recently won Best Social Media Campaign in the
Government Sector at the Internet Awards Middle
East.
• Some governments continue to use social media to
identify and subvert critics and opposition.
• Threat detection and predictive analysis: trends often
emerge online before spilling offline.

18. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
The Arab Social Media Report of May 2011 found mapped calls for protest on
FB with actual protests offline. It found that in 9 out of 10 cases, protests that
were initiated on FB materialized on the street:

19. Public Sphere Revolution: The Advent of Social Media in the Middle East
What are the potential uses of social media in the Arab political sphere?
• For governments, unfiltered engagement at levels of policy and public service
provision.
• For politicians in countries with competitive politics, to build and communicate
with constituents, manage campaigns.
• For special interest groups, to find like-minded individuals and promote
causes/interests.
• For traditional media, a source of stories and an insight into emerging trends.

20. The 5 Step Process for Managing Social Media
Define Keep it simple
Objective
If you haven’t defined your objectives
yet, gather intelligence then build a more
informed decision
Measure Listen
Listen
Engage Analyze Measure Analyze
Engage

21. The Four Phases of Social Media Management

22. 5 Common Social Media Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
1. Showing up isn't enough.
Customers and prospects are busy, connected and interacting with everybody but you today.
While creating a presence is a start, it is how you engage with people that attracts them to
you. This requires an engagement program -- that is, a plan for using social media to meet
goals -- that extends beyond the typical marketing of "follow us on Twitter" or "Like us on
Facebook."
2. You can't be everywhere, nor should you.
Many entrepreneurs are excited about technology and they overextend themselves because
they want to be part of the latest trend. The key is to only be where your
customers, prospects and those who influence them engage.
3. Authenticity and transparency are nothing without a connection.
• The two magical ingredients to a successful social media effort are: authenticity and
transparency. The only problem is that they don't really equate to a strategy.
Rather, these two traits contribute more to a "digital way" or "guiding light" than they
do as a form of effective engagement.
• Without delivering value, conveying a meaningful mission and vision, or establishing a
connect-worthy presence, authenticity and transparency have nothing to reinforce.

23. 5 Common Social Media Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
4. Talking to people isn't a business/government strategy.
• Some people run effective social media programs by listening instead of actually saying
anything.
• But no matter if you converse with customers or not, you must have a purpose before
you can engage. They want tangible value and through research, you'll learn what a
desirable engagement program actually looks like.
• Don't get caught up in only replying to brand mentions. Your real opportunity is to also
engage and convert those people not already talking about you.
5. Keep your core customers tuned in – even if you’re a gov organization.
• Companies believe that uploading a video to Youtube is the key to anything going viral.
What they don't know is, 48 Hours of video is uploaded every minute to Youtube. The
chance of your video going viral naturally is basically nil.
• However, with the Old Spice and Evian Rollerbaby examples, they identified all of the
potential influencers in their space and reached out to them in advance of and during
the video release. They sought help to make sure that the video was shared.
• Remember though, going viral only counts if it impacts your brand. If it creates
lift, leaves an imprint or if it drives action or outcomes, that's when you're going viral.

24. Top Analysis Mistakes
1. Analyzing with no Context
2. Thinking followers & fans are worth money
3. Automating Sentiment Analysis
4. Focusing on a single SM platform
5. Measuring influence by number of followers / fans
6. Measuring with no objectives
7. Event-based & not trend-based analysis

25. Some great quotes!
“You are the tool for social media, Twitter is just an app for you to grow and influence
your society.” – Razan Khatib
“Social Media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people
and the people will provide for you.” -Matt Goulart
“ATA – be AUTHENCTIC, be TRANSPARENT, be ALTRUISTIC, and you will find enough
success in social media to have a satisfying career and experience.” – Nils Montan
“Networking is not about hunting. It is about farming. It’s about cultivating
relationships. Don’t engage in ‘premature solicitation’. You’ll be a better networker if
you remember that.” – Dr. Ivan Misner, NY bestselling author & founder of BNI
“You will make mistakes. If you are sincere about helping the community, the
authenticity will show and your mistakes will be forgiven.” – Zia Yusuf, executive vice
president for SAP’s global ecosystem and partner group

26. My favorite Quote
“If you make enough people angry
– you will be replaced”
Fadl Al Tarzi

27. Fadl Al Tarzi
Write to me @
fadl@newsgroupholding.com
Tweet @
@FTarzi
Visit our website
www.social-eyez.com
Read our blog
www.blog.socialeyez.ae
https://twitter.com/Social_Eyez