FASHION ISSUE
ISSUE 11 - Jun/Jul 2014
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Is Instagram Ruining Photography Standards?
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Cloud961mag
Meet Lebanon’s Youngest CEO,
JiHad Kawas
Lana Sahely:
Omar Christidis: The Middle East has the resources and talents to be able to compete on a global scale
I don’t blog for fame. This blog is my little baby!
Mindshare
Deema Saidi
Beirut:
on Online Fashion Marketing: There is no room for mistakes, the competition is severe
Original thinking is the best insurance we have for continued growth
Roula Nahas: I translate a reflection of me and my beliefs into words
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TEAM
EDITORIAL
MANAGEMENT
EDITOR IN CHIEF Mohammad Hijazi mhijazi@cloud961.com
PUBLISHER Cornerstone Public Relations SAL
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Selim Njeim selim@cloud961.com
info@cpr-lb.com
CHAIRMAN Bassam Karam bassam@cloud961.com
NEWS EDITOR Joelle Hajji joelle@cloud961.com
MANAGING DIRECTOR Hagop Manisajian hagop@cloud961.com
STAFF WRITERS Darine Sabbagh darine@cloud961.com
Lynn Bizri lynn@cloud961.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Rami El Khoury rami@beholdin.com
paul@cloud961.com
MARKETING & PR Michelle Nabhane
Sara Charbel
michelle@cloud961.com
Paul Gadallah sara@cloud961.com
CONTRIBUTORS Armen Bakkalian Ayman Jalloul Dalia Ramadan Dr. Cloud Fida Chaaban Joseph Maalouf Fred Bteich Lara Al Sous Layal Jebran Lynn Tabbara Manal Mohsen Maurice Rustom Mhamad Dankar Mohamad Faez Tarabichi Nadim Frenn Nour Rifai Nuhad Hamdan Raja Riachi Sarah Sabbagh Tarek Bekdache Trending Bytes Yara Abboud Yara Nahle PHOTOGRAPHY Patrick Sawaya
SALES MANAGER Hala Jack hala@cloud961.com
OUTREACH MANAGER Victoria Ghanem
HOW TO CONTACT US
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COMMUNITY EVENTS MANAGER Mia Saab events@cloud961.com
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WEB DEVELOPMENT Mindfield Solutions info@mindfield.co
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION Backstage Management Group CONSULTING PARTNER Online Collaborative ngo@onlinecollaborative.org
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PRINTING Byblos Printing
All rights reserved Š 2014. Opinions expressed are solely those of the writers or contributors and do not express the view of the magazine as an entity. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. Images used are credited when necessary. Some photos used are licensed under a Creative Commons Commercial License and are attributed. 3 CLOUD961
FROM THE EDITOR
Fashion Meets Social Media MOHAMMAD HIJAZI Editor in Chief @mhijazi mhijazi@cloud961.com
T
he two most discussed topics on social media have to be food and fashion. In October, we dedicated a whole issue to food on social media platforms, and it was about time that we discussed fashion. In Lebanon’s blogging scene, fashion and lifestyle blogs are the most evolved, most active and most numerous in comparison to other types. Fashion bloggers have different styles as well, some covering professional fashion shows and designers, others creating their own styles with weekly photo-shoots and styling tutorials. A few have even created their own YouTube channels, which constitute the earliest form of consistent v-logging in the country.
To keep up with this thriving fashion community, fashion brands and designers had to go online to benefit from the social spotlight. When we were brainstorming for a cover idea, I asked my team about ideas for the first cover shoot. While some suggested local and upcoming fashion designers, the vast majority agreed on Roula Nahas as she represents the crème de la crème of online fashion marketers in the Middle East. Her vision for Bestseller’s brands (mainly JACK & JONES and VERO MODA) led her to start social media marketing for the brands even before the mother company had begun considering this type of marketing. Her dedication to online marketing had won her the Best Fashion Brand on Social Media for VERO MODA at the 2013 Beirut Social Media Awards (SMAs). For the cover shoot, we have teamed up with photographer Patrick Sawaya and fashion designer Karoline Lang which resulted in a mesmerizing feature. In addition, we have an exclusive interview with the winner of Best Fashion Blog at the 2013
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SMAs, Deema Saidi, who has since moved to Dubai and left blogging. In the interview, she explains the reason behind that and gives community managers some tips on managing fashion brands online. We also had a one-on-one interview with SMA finalist Lana Sahely whose blog “L’Armoire de Lana” has become a benchmark for fashion bloggers in the Middle East. The fashion field also stretches over to start-ups such as Raghunter, the first-of-itskind fashion search engine in Lebanon, and to up-and- coming designers that are featured in this issue, in addition to a deep analysis of the presence of some Lebanese make-up artists on social media. This issue is our biggest yet, and we wish we could have made it even bigger as there are many more brands, designers and bloggers we could have featured. I hope you enjoy this issue as much as the team has enjoyed working on it.
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CONTENTS
#OP-EDS
Brand Basher’s Black List: It is time you know that we know! P.14
Dress Up Your Instagram Feed With Stylish Bloggers P. 45 Deema Saidi: From Beirut to Dubai, in Style P. 54
Instafail: Why my life is too aesthetically unappea ling for Instagram P. 15
Raghunter: The First-of-its-Kind Search Engine For Fashion Items In Stores Across Lebanon P. 58
Enough Selfie Campaigns: Because original ideas are overrated P. 13
Marie Jose Abed: GS Is A house Of Brands That Greatly Embraces Social Media P. 60
Is Instagram Ruining Photography Standards? P. 17
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Which Online Make-up Artist Should I Go For? P. 62
Dear Cloudy: Stay Online, Stay Safe P. 17
#ON THE CLOUD
#DESIGN
Yalla Condoms: Making Safe Sex Available P. 20
4-D Printing: Changing the design discipline fundamentally P. 67
#TurkeyFailed: Armenian traditions and stories live on P. 22
#FASHION
#BLOGOSPHERE
Blog of the Month: L’Armoire de Lana: I don’t blog for fame. This blog is my little baby! P. 48 10 Lebanese Fashion Blogs To Follow P. 50
High-Tech Chic: Burberry and the Use of Technology P. 66
#FOOD
Shake Shack: New York’s Most Popular Burger, In Beirut P. 68
Ten International Fashion Blogs To Follow P. 52
#FEATURE
#cover DESCRIPTION
Roula Nahas: I translate a reflection of me and my beliefs into words P. 34
Roula Nahas Photography: Patrick Sawaya
Five Apps For A Fashion Fix P. 44
Outfits: Karoline Lang
Beyond the Luxurious: How Fashion Brands Promote on Social Media P. 22
Locations: Trunk Concept Store and Vick Vanilian, Saifi Village
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PatrickSawaya@live.com www.karolinelang.com
HAIR STYLISTS & MAKE-UP ARTISTS Beirut - Verdun Plaza 1 - Tel: 01 801 380 Sour - Hosh Square - Tel: 76 551 585
Raafat.and.Ismail
Raafat_And_Ismail 7 CLOUD961
CONTENTS
Shhhhhh, I got it on Raghunter
#MOVIES
#MONEY
#POLITICS
Is There More To A Phone Than Calling? Latest payment trend in Lebanon P.92
Transcendence Movie Review P. 70
The Lebanese Digital Community and Politics: A political online persona dissection P. 71
#APPS
Edgard Chammas: None of the apps on the market provide the same features as Instapload P.75
#GADGETS
Product Recalls: Why you should register your product and follow up P.78
#AGENCIES
Agency of the Month: Mindshare MENA, Beirut: Original thinking is the best insurance we have for continued growth P. 84
#DIGITAL
Omar Christidis: The Middle East certainly has the resources and talents to be able to compete on a global scale P. 86
#MARKETING
How People Are Using Social Media To Launch Their Online Business P. 89
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A Bit-o’-Crime: Money Laundering and BitCoin P. 90
Karim El Khoury: From a startup company to the Lebanese online market P. 94
#STARTING UP
Meet Lebanon’s youngest CEO, Jiwad Kawas P. 96 Three Tips To Make That Winning Pitch P. 98
#EDUCATION
Web Science and Digital Economy Program at USJ: Interview with Stéphane B. Bazan P. 100 The CARS Checklist for Source Evaluation P. 101 Literacy and The Digital: Teach your children how to code P. 101 Campus Society: Bringing Together 15 Campuses P. 102
#CHANGING LIVES
Online Companies Encouraging Local Response to Emergency P. 105 De-Feet Cancer: A run against the malignant P. 105
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FROM OUR READERS
FROM OUR READERS We appreciate your feedback regarding our magazine, so feel free to share your thoughts with us on our social media platforms on Facebook.com/ cloud961mag, Twitter.com/cloud961mag, Instagram.com/cloud961mag or by email on editor@cloud961.com.
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Badaro Street Facing Chevrolet Offshore P.O.Box: 14-5679 Beirut, Lebanon Mobile: + 961 71-146 463 contactus@mindfield.co | www.mindfield.co mindfieldsolutions
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OP-EDS
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OP-EDS
Enough Selfie Campaigns: Because original ideas are overrated by Aline Chirinian
@nouchaline
«Selfie»
I know! I am sorry that I am bringing up the topic... but sharing my frustration has become a necessity, and I hope I am not the only one feeling this way. We are not here to talk about the average selfies, though; the ones you might take when you are out with your friends and cannot find someone to take a group shot or the ones that you take to show off your perfect winged eye liner—I’m still waiting for this day to come. No, my kind readers, we are here to talk about selfies and advertising. I have been working in the advertising field for almost seven months now, which I know is not a very long time to some, but it has made me understand how hard it is to come up with an original idea that is feasible, will click with your audience, will meet your marketing goals and most importantly, will meet your client’s budget. I am also aware of how tempting it is to “borrow” ideas from other campaigns, especially when the idea is not a creative one to begin with. But is it really worth diluting your brand image with this thing that everyone is doing
just to increase the amount of likes and engagement your fan page gets? It might have been cute when the selfie was not mainstream yet and a couple of brands started selfie campaigns, like Roadster and their #RDselfie. But then things turned ugly when every brand under the Lebanese sun hopped on board, whether the product in question could even be incorporated in a selfie context or not. It has come to the point that every brand wanting to launch a competition feels that it must incorporate a selfie in some way or another. News flash, dear people who made and still are working on selfie campaigns: not a requirement and please stop it. The whole point of advertising is to create some form of awareness for your brand for potential customers to buy and keep buying your products, right? But when you plaster the words “upload your selfie with X,Y,Z to our page” next to your brand name, my brain automatically dismisses your brand.
Not just because I will directly hate your brand for taking part in such a campaign, but mainly because I will read the word “selfie” and keep scrolling. Do you even remember the name of that car brand that made the selfie commercial with Olga Habre and “let’s take a selfie”? No? Me neither. I remember everything about the commercial: the over-played song in the background, the valley girl accent butchering the Lebanese car dealer’s name. Everything except for the points that would potentially make me want to buy the product—or at least remember the product’s name—. My frustration, though, can be applied to a lot of things that were once semi entertaining or cute which were then adopted by some marketers for their campaigns and then forever killed by mainstream media. Memes... remember those? They used to actually be funny. There is something especially irking about selfies, though, and by the time this piece goes to print, I sincerely hope that there are no new selfie campaigns. For my sanity’s sake. 13 CLOUD961
OP-EDS
Brand Basher’s Black List: It is time you know that we know! By Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
I have probably worked enough in social media and been privy to the details of many a business but I can easily guess at least three of the names of the people who have complained about your brand online, especially if you have a very online presence. And the very sad fact is, that most of these people work in the industry and (oh shocker) most of them are community managers or strategists at agencies or even self-proclaimed gurus. They do not know that we know… I have been doing this exercise for the past year: Walk up to people working in social media and start the conversation with a simple opening line: “So people have been becoming more negative about brands online in Lebanon.” As the conversation unfolds, they keep dropping the exact same names of people. And the sadder truth is that these people are the ones contributing to the majority of the negative and aggressive buzz, whereas the average fans have grown more lenient towards brands, opting to complain via direct messages or not complaining online altogether, just because they have given up on the brand knowing it is not the type to answer and it is just an agency bound with a standard reply. This is an open letter to these folks. The community managers know who you are. They know the brands you manage and the agency/clients you work for. And you most probably know the same about
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them. So, please, stop the charades, whether it is for attention grabbing, showing the superiority of your client, or gaming the system for free stuff. Just remember that Karma is out there! Last month, I had a few interesting talks. One of them was with Joe Alam who recently published a blog post entitled “Stop Brand Bashing on Social Media” (http://www.joesbox. com/2014/04/sop-brandbashing-on-social-media. html) where he also touches on the subject with frustration. To all of you asking: “Well isn’t social media meant to be an online Customer Service channel?” The answer is undoubtedly YES, and no one here is inferring that digital rights should be taken away. We should all be for constructive feedback anyway. However, we are talking about professional ethics and the responsibility that falls upon every individual complaining about something online. You are killing the credibility behind social media, both to the face of consumers and your own industry’s clients! What is more, you are demining your own credibility. You may not realize it now, but we do know who you are, we can google your name, read all your past tweets and know which other brands you have managed to harass!
OP-EDS
Instafail: Why my life is too aesthetically unappealing for Instagram By Raja Riachi
@rajariachi
You may have caught my article on my difficulties with Twitter last month, and as you probably guessed (if you have), I am not great with social networks. I am actually not great at being social at all, but that is not your problem; it’s my therapist’s. Here is why a relationship with Instagram won’t work. The bottom line, I have nothing worth sharing. Between a soon-to-be balding head that is shaped like a deflated rugby ball, four plain walls with nothing of note between them as a home, a diet constituting mainly of Saj, and generally not going anywhere outside the main neighborhoods in Beirut, the four main things I can share on Instagram are out of the question: self, home, food, and places (He’s single, ladies). Downloading the app is a stressful enough ordeal, with sample pictures on the store page showing me just how unbelievably unattractive my life is. Apparently, beautiful sunsets are everywhere and I have just been looking in the wrong place. Then it asks me which of my friends on Facebook I want to follow, which drives me to a near panic attack. My friends do not know I live like this. Why would I want them to know? It is like I need more people judging me, showing me, literally, how to live life.
spider or blasted with gamma radiation or some other superhero origin reference (have I mentioned he was single, ladies?), which somehow left mine behind in the mortal world. Either that or I am just too lazy to learn what all the buttons do. After finally forcing myself to complete the step that asking me to follow friends (by skipping it) I am prompted with a list of suggested users which were chosen based on who will make me feel most horrible about myself. All I see is clever one-liners captioning pictures of delicious food, gorgeous views, beautiful blonde babies that make my ovaries throb (seriously, ladies, he’s single), and the profile of a hunter living in the middle of the woods in a cabin like he’s Crocodile ****ing Dundee. I look up out the only window of my room and see a wall. I look out the hole in the wall designed to let me look outside, and I see another wall. The search for a social network continues, but it definitely is not Instagram.
Instagram is like everybody’s smartphone was bitten by a radioactive
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OP-EDS
Dear Cloudy
Instagram Ruining Photography Standards By Sara Charbel
@saracharbel
Mayfair, Hudson, Valencia and Nashville. These titles are no longer the sole names of beautiful areas in Europe and America. These are only few filter names that pop up on your screen when you attempt to post a picture through Instagram. A few years ago, the ability to feign a special effect on an image required photography skills, an artistic eye, and a digital SLR camera. Moving onward with time and with the help of technology, a picture was to be held in process of editing and filtering through Photoshop. It also required skills, time, and a computer to do so. Nowadays, Instagram has given smartphone holders a mobile “Photoshop” that enables anyone to enhance and beautify an instantly captured picture. This photo and video sharing platform provides one’s followers with unique visual content, making an image seem like a piece of fine art photography. Photographs are becoming replicas of one another. Juggling between the same 19 filters, no image is being personalized. No picture is ever being praised for its artistic and unique sense; no artistic pictures are taken with “little” effort anymore. Suddenly with all the viable features of applications and technology, art is born in a split of a second only when you tap your smart phone screen. Phone cameras are becoming more and more advanced, detailed and sensitive. However we are
all taking the same pictures using the same 19 filters. Can we say that technological advancement is abolishing the art of photography? Are cameras becoming rapidly obsolete? Well, the trend is real. More than fifty percent of the photos and videos being produced nowadays are created using smart phone softwares. And what is more real about this is that all photographs being taken today are an attempt to add this humanly artistic touch. I salute all the photographers out there who possess the skills and work really hard to capture special moments at the right time from the very right angle to catch it in the best way possible.
Cloudy gives you advice on a monthly basis. Send your inquiries or question to editor@cloud961.com This week’s food for thought is about online safety. Even though we are in the year 2014, and most of us are educating our parents and the elderly on how “to be online”, this very batch is mainly still oblivious to the threats that prey at our online info as we sleep. As usual, I am always here to help: I’ll be sharing with you some easy steps you can take to ensure your online safety is not threatened; nothing too fancy—just the basics. First and foremost, always secure your passwords. Never write a password if you suspect anyone around you might be taking a peek and may harm you. Never save your password on anyone’s device, for most devices nowadays save passwords automatically and thus make your accounts vulnerable to prying eyes. Furthermore, always double-check your privacy settings; you would not want anyone getting hold of your prized information. Secondly, never let the internet control you; you can always say no to anything you do not want to accept online. Do not click too quickly on links and popups, for any non-secure link may cause harm to your devices and spread information you do not wish to share publicly. Always protect the things you want to keep private. Finally, the most important thing is to always be aware of what is going on around you when you are online. Be suspicious of any link that comes off unreliable. Do not trust bogus e-mails showing you the way to fast fortune and fame, and never send your passwords to anyone unless you trust them completely. Hopefully, this will be a little bit eye-opening to everyone reading. Online safety is no joke, especially when it comes to our privacy.
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NEWSFEED
Local
International
1-Gmail Is Heading For a Major Redesign The new features are similar to the updates reportedly in the works for Gmail’s mobile app. A new «pin» feature would let you drag and highlight an email at the top of your inbox. A major change will be added to the menu layout on the left, which is similar to the look Google has rolled out for YouTube’s menu. In addition to filtering e-mail groups such as social, promotions, forums and updates, Gmail adds tabs for travel, purchases and finances. There is also a collapsible Hangouts feature on the right-hand side, so you can easily connect with other users.
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2-Facebook Withdraws Poke Button Facebook quietly withdrew its Poke app from the iOS App Store. Poke allowed you to send ephemeral messages, photos and videos to your friends that would last up to 10 seconds before disappearing. Even the Facebook page detailing exactly what the Poke app is all about has been taken down.
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5-Facebook Adds In-App Camera, Video Sharing to Messenger A new update to Facebook’s stand-alone messaging app, Messenger included a new camera option for taking photos within the app. A camera icon above the keyboard surfaces the phone’s camera, which can also be flipped for front-facing photos. The photo is both captured and sent with just one click. Users can still send photos the old-fashioned way within the app by attaching an existing photo from their camera roll, but the new in-app camera allows users to do so without having to leave a conversation. Users can also upload and send videos from the camera roll. 6-Samsung Said To Be Prepping New Tablet With Super High-res 13.3-inch Display
Lately there were rumors about two new Samsung tablets, the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and Galaxy Tab S 10.5, which will reportedly feature 2560×1600 AMOLED displays. Now a new report claims that those are not the only high-res Android tablets. A source speaking to GSMArena says that Samsung is working on a new tablet featuring
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3-Facebook Improves App Permissions, Introduces Anonymous Logins Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is improving the way Facebook apps handle access permissions. Users will be able to decide what permissions they want to give to an app before signing up and logging in. Apps will also have to ask for your permission before they can post to Facebook on your behalf. The new Facebook Login will roll out over the next few months. 4-Twitter Finally Adds A Mute Button Twitter has announced the addition of a mute feature for users of its website and the company’s app on iOS and Android. «The muted user will still be able to fave, reply to, and retweet your Tweets; you just won’t see any of that activity in your timeline,» said Twitter product manager Paul Rosania in a blog post on the company’s website. This feature can be particularly useful when a person you are following begins tweeting from an event you have no interest in, or is engaged in public conversations that you would rather not participate in.
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NEWSFEED a whopping 13.3-inch display at a resolution of 2560×1600. The device, said to be codenamed “Warhol,” will reportedly feature an LCD display rather than the AMOLED panel found on its high-res counterparts. The device is expected to arrive in Wi-Fi-only (T910) and 3G (T911) variants.
“Mobile is doubling on every traffic metric we have,” she said. But it does not mean that Yahoo’s mobile strategy is already successful. Yahoo ended 2013 with no apps in Apple’s top 100. So now that Yahoo is going with this centralized strategy, the company hired a lot of mobile developers and designers. In Mayer’s Yahoo, there are three areas of focus: search, mail and digital magazines. And the company released new design-oriented apps, such as Yahoo Weather, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo News Digest.
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7-Google Glass Enters Into Open Sales For Everyone Google announced that Google Glass is entering into an open beta phase of sales, meaning that it will once again be available to everybody. But, it still costs $1500 and Google is continuing to call it an Explorer edition. But for that $1500, you get Glass in any color, with a free frame for prescription lenses or shades, if you are into that sort of thing. The usual accessories are also bundled, including a carrying pouch, charger, and mono ear bud.
12-Facebook For iOS Tries Popping Up Cards Of Related Content To Browse After You Post A new test on iOS surfaced related to content cards including photos of restaurants you say you are at, friends who have checked-in where you did, photos of friends you check-in with or mention in a status, and friends who listened to a song you just posted. The cards make News Feed feel alive. How will the cards look? If you posted a status message or photo and tagged your friend, you might see the card on the left above. The card on the right could appear if you posted a status, and tagged your friends. Along with music, and videos, the cards can respond to books you are reading too.
8-HTC One mini 2 Arrives: 4.5-Inch Screen, No Secondary Camera. HTC has officially launched the HTC One mini 2, a compact, trimmed-down version of its flagship Android phone, the HTC One M8. Visually, there are no big surprises here. The HTC One mini 2 has a 4.5-inch, and its looks are pretty much the same as the previous phone. It also has the 5MP UltraPixel camera, but no secondary depth camera, metallic body, HTC’s BoomSound sound, and the Sense 6 user interface. And, just like the One, the One mini 2 will be available in the Gunmetal Gray, Glacial Silver, and Amber Gold choice of colors. 9-LinkedIn Hits 300 Million Users LinkedIn announced that it has reached 300 million registered users, a jump from 277 million members at the beginning of the year. LinkedIn announced the 200 million user milestone in January 2013, which means the company, has added an average of 6.6 million new users per month over the past 15 months. LinkedIn is growing, and the company plans to continue doing so with mobile as a focus. LinkedIn expects that 50% of its user traffic will come via mobile by the end of 2014, and it recently added an Android app for SlideShare in an effort to build out its mobile offerings. 10-Snapchat Adds Ephemeral Text Chat and Video Calls Snapchat is adding features on top of its highly successful ephemeral messaging platform. Two new features have been added: chat interface and a new FaceTime-like video calling feature. You can swipe right on a friend’s name in your Snapchat inbox to enter a new chat screen. It is a regular chatting interface. You can write and send text messages, send snaps, and send photos or videos from your camera roll. Also, there is a new button as well at the bottom of the screen. Whenever it turns blue, it means that he or she is currently in the chat screen, reading your messages. If you hit the button, you will start a call. If the other person hits the button, too, you will see both ends of the calls at the same time. 11-Yahoo is Doubling Down On Mobile, Again Ever since Mayer joined Yahoo in July 2012, Mobile has been one of the company’s main focuses. And it turns out that the company is doubling down on Mobile once again.
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13-LG’s New L90 Smartphone Officially Launched In the Lebanese Market LG Electronics recently launched its L90 smartphone in Beirut, a device that has been globally greeted as the premier model in LG’s popular L Series lineup. The L90 delivers a host of features that guarantee stellar functionality and easeof-use, including a sturdy lightweight build, a 4.7-inch qHD IPS display and a high capacity 2,540mAh battery. Measuring only 131.5 x 66.0 x 9.7mm, the phone’s body is made from sturdy, lightweight plastic that is braced by a metallic finish for added protection. The rims perfectly complement the 4.7inch display, which delivers great color and detail at a resolution of 960x540. 14-Cherfane Trading (Chetraco) Launches Huawei Smart Phones in Lebanon Cherfane Trading Company (Chetraco) launched Huawei smart phones in Lebanon. The press conference that took place at Le Royal Dbayeh, welcomed a crowd of technology and lifestyle journalists to discover and experience the smart phones which made an impression on the Android market globally. Mr. Elia Haj Elias, Devices Sales and Marketing Manager of Huawei phones in the Levant, showcased the various models in the Huawei mobile phones range, highlighting the state-of-the-art technology and distinctive design, features and specifications of the phones. 1- 30% more power saving than any other phone in its segment. 2- 25% faster charging than any other phone in its segment. 3- Innovative design for ease of use, high durability, and Unique Identity. 4- Emotion UI, Huawei’s own flavor of android customization built for Ease of use and high personalization. The Huawei devices are initially available at Cherfane Trading approved suppliers shops all over Lebanon.
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ON THE CLOUD
Yalla Condoms: Making Safe Sex Available By Raja Riachi
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@rajariachi
Zadi Hobeika (L) and Robert Tabel (R), founders
ON THE CLOUD Robert Tabet and Zadi Hobeika started Yalla Condoms, an online condoms delivery service, in March 2014 with the objective of promoting safe sex in Lebanon. Robert is a pharmacist who used to work in pharmaceutical companies. Now he owns his own cosmetics company, Lexy Cosmetics. Zadi used to work for Google in Dublin and moved to Lebanon to start his own business, Seerdigital, on web advertisement. I sat down with Robert and asked him a few questions on Yalla Condoms. How did you come up with the idea?
My partner Zadi and I both went to the Lycée Français. We were at a farewell party for one of our former classmates. I was in the pharmaceutical field, he was in the online promotion field. He had an idea for an online condoms delivery service but he needed someone in my field. I suggested calling it Yalla Condoms more as a joke than anything and thirty minutes later he told me he had bought the domain name for the website. Were there any challenges?
There weren’t too many challenges because we made the perfect team. We complemented each other. Each of us had a specific skill set geared to a certain aspect of setting up and running the business. He handled the marketing side and I handled the products side, and we came away with a pretty good end result that people are happy with. What about discretion when it comes to delivering condoms to people?
We’re using a third party to deliver the products. We started off with a company whose name we won’t mention. When they learned what they were delivering, they suddenly stopped, they returned all pending orders, breaching our contract. They didn’t want to work with us. They were ashamed of delivering condoms. We got in touch with Pinkdot. They understood the delicate situation and adapted to it. They insured the discretion. You can specify what time and where. You can even use a fake name. We just need your number to verify that you’re real, your address and
if you give us the name Abul Abed, we’ll call you and say Abul Abed, we have your order. The goods come in a plain A4 envelope which hides the contents. The people delivering the products don’t even know what’s inside. Why did you start this business?
This business fills a very big need in Lebanon. Everyone knows that sex here is mostly a Taboo but it’s also no secret that people engage in it. Lebanese people are ashamed to use condoms. I worked in a pharmacy and people would wait for everyone to leave to actually start browsing. There’s such a large variety and, and choosing the condoms should be something both the guy and the girl participate in. A guy and the girl never go together to the pharmacy to choose together. You also get a bigger choice on our website. Not all pharmacies carry all the products. There’s also the discretion our service offers. In pharmacies, I’ve personally seen situations where a guy goes back and forth showing his girlfriend waiting in the car the different products so his girlfriend doesn’t have to go in and choose. There are delicate matters which a customer would like to avoid. What if you asked for smaller sized or extra-large condoms? There are also other delicate topics like delay gel, which we also carry. No one wants to go to a pharmacy and reveal that they need help with something like that. Most of all, there’s the issue of buying a pregnancy test. There’s a big need for sexual education in Lebanon. There shouldn’t be sexual taboo in Lebanon. We’d like to contribute to opening up the sexual taboo because this helps reduce diseases and raise awareness. Yallacondoms is not something that we’re expecting to generate lots of income. It’s more of a fun side project. We also understand the influence it could have on raising awareness, breaking taboos, and being innovative. It also gives us experience to start new projects. Have you faced any criticism?
We haven’t faced any public criticism. We wish we got more criticism because it gives us more publicity. We’ve been careful.
We’re promoting the health aspect of sex. There’s no denying that sex happens in Lebanon. We just want to make sure it happens safely. A lot of people asked for sex toys and erection pills but that’s something we stay away from because it’s illegal in Lebanon. We basically sell any sex-related product you’d find in a pharmacy. How would you describe your presence on social media?
We have a Facebook page and a Twitter account, the basics. We’re not really using ads. We just shot one video to promote the website. We’re basing all our publicity on media, and word-of-mouth. We’re not generating our own publicity yet. Have you started seeing the fruits of your labor on the awareness front?
People are sending awareness e-mails. It’s the first time with his girlfriend and he just came for advice. We have all these links for a case-by-case basis and we appreciate and welcome all e-mails. A big part of what we stress is awareness. There are questions you wouldn’t expect, there’s an affinity with knowing there’s someone you can relate to answering your questions instead of just typing into a search engine. When the website started, there are companies who didn’t really take us seriously, and now we’re getting more attention. Preventor, one of the brands offered samples whenever we want to organize events to raise awareness. Any final thoughts?
It’s been a really fun experience. The community has been really supportive. Zadi always says that it’s really fun to answer the question: “What do you do for a living?” with “I’m a condom salesman.” The most enjoyable part for me has been the innovation. It opens up new opportunities. You meet people you never thought you’d meet and it definitely opens your eyes to social situations you didn’t think were there. You can check out this initiative at www.yallacondoms.com
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ON THE CLOUD
#TurkeyFailed Armenian traditions and stories live on By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th Century and showed the horrors of ethnic cleansing. The genocide took place in 1915 in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Starting on April 24, 1915, 250 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul were arrested and executed. Armenians were seen as enemies of the state, signaling the beginning of a hate campaign against Armenians that included deportation and mass murder. Ultimately 1.5 million Armenians, along with other minorities died in Turkey’s cleansing campaign against them, many of them taking refuge in Syria, Lebanon, and other former Ottoman provinces. To add insult to injury, the newly formed ultra-nationalist Turkish state denied the genocide ever took place, and been carrying out and sustaining this decision until today. Turkey has used its geopolitical importance as a NATO member and growing 22 CLOUD961
economic power to stop states from officially recognizing the genocide, much like what happened with Turkish lobbying stopping the US Senate from passing a law that would officially recognize the genocide in fears of Turkey restricting airspace to US troops. Every year, activists use April 24th as a day to raise awareness about the genocide as well as pressure Turkey into recognizing it.
traditions all related to Armenia to show that despite that Turkey has been bent on covering up the horrific genocide, Armenian traditions and stories live on. A perfect example is from @ZokLara:
Usual hashtags are #ArmenianGenocide or #RecognizetheGenocide. This year, activists decided to change their approach. Instead of just pushing for the recognition, they created a hashtag that could celebrate and show defiance, #TurkeyFailed. The hashtag broke with previous hashtags that were pushing for the recognition of the genocide and started emphasizing Armenian culture and traditions that persevered despite the Ottoman agenda to exterminate them.
The hashtag went viral and soon started trending. The hashtag reached over 4 million people and had over 20 million impressions, making it the most successful Armenian Genocide recognition campaign yet. Although Turkey has yet to recognize the Armenian Genocide, this campaign was a smart way of using social media to turn beliefs into a rallying cause as well as a tool for cultural celebration and remembrance.
The hashtag was used on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. People shared statuses, pictures, memories, and
“I graduated from Haigazian University, ate panirov byorek, dated an aghvor hay dgha, learned to argue thanks to Lusin, danced the kochari and sang glorig mlorig shakarov hats because at some point, and without doubt, #TurkeyFailed”
ON THE CLOUD
Heartbleed: ZunZuneo A Twitter-like service in heavily restricted Cuba funded by USAID By Raja Riachi
@rajariachi
Last April, the Associated Press (AP) broke a story on a social media service in Cuba that mimicked Twitter and bypassed stringent internet laws by using text messaging. This service, called ZunZuneo, was funded by USAID (US Agency for International Development), and implemented by a Washington-based contractor with a history of projects with the USAID in Lebanon, Creative Associates International. This service was launched in 2009 and closed down in 2012 due to unsustainable nature, which saw USAID footing the bill for the free texts it offered. As the project ran out of funding, USAID reportedly approached Jack Dorsey, to invest in the project, though it ended because it was unable to secure additional funding. According to USAID, this service had 68,000 subscribers at its peak. This service functioned like Twitter, where subscribers got their notifications by text messages. According to the report by AP, USAID planned to attract subscribers with non-controversial content like soccer news and hurricane warnings, and once the number of subscribers reached critical mass, sow unrest in Cuba by sending messages encouraging revolt. If that was part of the plan, it never came to fruition as the service closed down. AP also claims that this operation was deemed covert, which means it should have been approved by the President of the United States first. Shortly after this story was published, USAID contested these claims in a post on their website saying that while they were discreet about the matter, the information was never classified and thus unfitting of
the label covert. According to this post “USAID works in places where we are not always welcome. To minimize the risk to our staff and partners and ensure our work can proceed safely, we must take certain precautions and maintain a discreet profile. But discreet does not equal covert.” The USAID and US government also contested claims that they were trying to establish smart mobs by saying “The project initially sent news, sports scores, weather, and trivia. After which, the grantee did not direct content because users were generating it on their own.” Papers uncovered by Al-Jazeera puts these claims in question, as they revealed the private firm CAI were aware that the information they were working on could be classified, and that the work they were doing could lead to political unrest, as they included in the contract: “Even the best-intentioned assistance can be ineffective if the situation is not ripe for change. OTI (Office of Transition Initiatives) cannot create a transition or impose democracy, but it can identify and support key individuals and groups who are committed to peaceful, participatory reform.” While these words do not directly implicate the US government on trying to create unrest in a largely dictatorial state, it is at least an acknowledgement on their behalf that the work they were doing could lead to strife. While the US government might be protected from implication by wording, there is no doubt that its aid and development programs aim to advance its interests, and it would be naïve to think that it spent USD 1.5b to disseminate Cuban soccer news.
Wading through the technical jargon of one of the biggest internet security flaws By Raja Riachi
@rajariachi
Heartbleed is a bug, not a virus, which made its way into the latest OpenSSL major update implemented over two years ago. OpenSSL is an open source encryption technology used by most website servers to protect your account information, passwords, credit card numbers and other information they may have. Heartbleed, the name, is derived from the way the bug works. An extension in OpenSSL named Heartbeat, which functions like a heartbeat as it sends packets of information one after the other, is where the bug presides. This means that these packets of encrypted information could be accessed by anyone with knowledge of the bug without leaving a trace, which also means the extent of the damage the Heartbleed bug caused can never really be known. After being discovered by a Google engineer, this bug was quickly patched by the OpenSSL team, but changing your password may not help. Changing your password is only effective if the website you are using has implemented the patch to OpenSSL which fixes this bug. This is why Codenomicon, an internet security team made sure this issue got massive media coverage. They achieved that by quickly picking up the domain name heartbleed.com, which previously held a music lyrics site, and gave the bug a distinctive logo. This gave the bug the recognizability and the catchiness that would allow media outlets to grab onto, making it easier and more appealing for them to cover. As it stands as of mid-May, however, several TechRadar reported that over 300,000 servers are still affected by the heartbleed bug. Luckily, there is an easy way to check if your favorite websites are still affected. Going to https:// filippo.io/Heartbleed/ and simply typing in the URL of the website in question. This should give you an answer of which websites are safe to access. For the ones that have not implemented the patch yet, there is no choice but to wait. Most major social media websites have been affected--including Gmail and Facebook-- and they definitely have not behaved responsibly, neglecting to notify users to change their passwords. From the tens of services and websites I have personally subscribed to, only any.do, a Calendar app for Android, notified me to change my password. That is what you should all do after reading this article. Change all your passwords. It’s that serious. 23 CLOUD961
ON THE CLOUD
Is No Longer Registering Your Phone A Good Thing? Interview with Amer Tabsh about removing the new phone regulations By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
They should seek their help in taking the telecom sector to a level that can compete worldwide
Nearly a year ago, on June 1, 2013, former Telecommunications Minister Nicholas Sehnaoui announced that all mobile phones being brought in from abroad had to be registered on Lebanese grounds and certain limits were put in place. Many consumers bemoaned that this move would limit their options and leave them at the mercy of Lebanese importers who charge significantly more for popular smartphones, while the government believed this would help regulate the market better. One year later, and current Telecom Minister Boutros Harb has now dropped the law. But is this a good move? Tech consultant and TV producer Amer Tabsh elaborates. What do you think of the recent move to no longer register mobile phones? Although the move brought positive feedback among the users and retail phone sellers (shops) and despite my opposition to the law from the start, a total and sudden stop shouldn›t have happened. Governance is a continuum process, laws should be respected and laws should be given time to be applied before reconsidering them. The law should have been modified or repaired where need be and maybe then gradually reducing it before taking the final step of fully stopping it. Every minister has his vision and plans. Minister Harb wanted fast results and I think he got what he wanted and it was politically successful, since the people always think and believe that the money going into the government accounts is money for theft by the corrupted governing system. Do you think it is fair to the mobile phone sellers here in Lebanon and to Lebanese citizens? Shop retail sellers stopping the law was a very important step for them (all shops from all of Lebanon related to all political parties). The process of selling a mobile phone brand new had become hard for them and the process of selling used cell phones had become harder. Many shops had deactivated used cell phones they lost had hope in selling… loss for them. Lebanese citizens had problems when buying a phone, borrowing one, and even if they wanted to buy a mobile phone from outside Lebanon because the brand doesn›t exist here and they can›t buy by mail as the process is very had, basically internet shopping for phones was killed.
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ON THE CLOUD
Wholesale brand distributors: stopping the law for them was a big loss. They basically can›t fight the gray market as sometimes their phones are 30% more expensive. I understand their point of view and if they decide to add after sale services, offers or any more investment we need to give them proper security. Everyone is allowed to import phones but everyone should import the phones equally and under the Lebanese law. Then open the market for competition. This way all prices will be cheaper supported by the international brand itself. Couple of years back, Nokia managed to do so and had a 30$ price difference with the gray market. People bought the warranty phone because it saving only 30$ wasn’t worth buying a ‘gray phone’. Other brands should refer to this example. Also note that mobile phone operators had a big loss in this issue (Alfa and Touch) because of the law (which was not in their scope of work). Their service centers and call centers had increased load by 40% and had to dedicate a whole team to solve those queries which dropped the help center capabilities by 40% to tackle other issues. For a certain period, Touch had to use the cafeteria area for its staff as a support center just for the IMEI calls and visits by clients. Do you think not having phones in Lebanon registered is a positive or negative judgment Negative for the consumers, positive for the government. Negative for the sector, positive for the brand distributors. Was the past system efficient? The past system had a good base, but it needed a lot of tweaking and constant modification to reach near-perfect application. This never happened, which resulted in a rigid system in a very evolving sector. Would you suggest a better system or better way to track phones coming into Lebanon? Minister Sehnaoui, when he implemented this law, had a first interest which was the government and its
rights. Minister Sehnaoui›s responsibility compass was right in regard to his role as responsible person. The problem, however, wasn›t in his department and he was trying to solve a much bigger issue: trafficking, which was supposed to be the work of the Customs, the Lebanese Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Economy. All those departments are not doing their work: Customs and Ministry of Finance should not allow trafficking and if it happens, the Ministry of Economy (The Agency for the Protection of the Consumer) should crack down on shops selling illegally imported products. Everyone can import mobile products if they have the proper import licenses, pay their taxes and compete legally in the market. Their products might be cheaper then the brand representatives in Lebanon, but all this falls in the best interest of the consumer, and government will always be a winner; they are getting the taxes, getting the people to use the mobile platform more—which is owned by the government—, and increasing smart phone penetration, thus selling more services like mobile internet and data services. My personal opinion is that neither Minister Sehanoui was wrong in implementing this law, nor Minister Harb in stopping it. The absence of the TRA, the absence of the civil society, the strong presence of the brand representatives (at the end of the day, business men who want to make more money), the absence of other government agencies, the short-sighted vision of some advisors and the prehistoric way of thinking by some decision makers are all the result of the big mess happening in our telecom sector. A full revamp is needed and all decision makers should understand very well that the knowledgeable people, the professionals and the experienced answer holders are all outside the government and part of the civil society. They should seek their help in taking the telecom sector to a level that can compete worldwide.
New Touch And Alfa Rates Implemented, Boosting Consumption At Lower Prices
30% Both Touch and Alfa, the two main mobile telecommunications operators in Lebanon have implemented as of June 1, 2014 the Lebanese Council of Ministers’ decision No. 75 dated May 2014 related to the approval of new, more affordable rates. According to the new rates, prepaid lines customers benefit from a 30 percent discount on their local calls, a decrease from 36 cents to 25 cents per minute. Similarly, postpaid line customers are entitled to 60 free minutes per month. SMS rates are also now reduced to 5 cents for both postpaid and prepaid lines. Internet plans have also been restructured. Bundle sizes have been increased up to 4 times, while existing prices went unchanged. Thus, the new rates are now $10 for the 500 MB package, $19 for the 1.5 GB package, $29 for the 5 GB package, $49 for the 10 GB package, $69 for the 20 GB offer, 30 GB for the $99 package, $119 for the 40 GB package and $149 for the 60 GB package. For more information, you can visit www.touch.com. lb and www.alfa.com.lb 25 CLOUD961
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ON THE CLOUD
When Hacking Helps Pay Tuition: Interview with Nxd, a student hacker
By Yara Nahle
@yarabee2
Here is a glimpse at the life and driving force behind a Lebanese hacker’s world: one that is imbued with commitment; a world which doesn’t recognize external laws but has its own self-made rules and ethics. When did you start hacking and what was your first act of piracy?
I started about five years ago, I was seventeen then. The first thing I hacked was my personal Facebook account. What kind of websites do you hack into and why?
I mainly hack for fun and to entertain myself during my free time. I hack anything if I feel like doing so, and if it presents a challenge for me. But the system I regularly hack is the university’s system. First, because I hate the university [the institution] and the second reason is to delay paying the tuition fees, or get financial aid. So I basically infect the website with a virus that brings it down for 2 or 3 days. What you do is illegal, so do you not fear being caught by the police?
I’m a person who lives by his own rules, principles and laws, so I don’t fear the state’s law. Moreover, they can’t find any tangible evidence to charge me. Do you ever use hacking to blackmail people and cause them damage?
My objectives are really far from this. I never aim it against people who do me no harm, but it’s of course a weapon that I can use for revenge.
spies who hack our systems. Will you ever stop hacking? I love hacking and I hate it at the same time. In general, my friends love that they have a hacker friend and brag about it, while other people hate it because they fear it. And of course there will come a day when I would have had enough of it. I can stop it. After all, I’m not an addict.
What were the most challenging and most dangerous hacks you have ever carried out?
The American and Israeli Ministries’ systems were the toughest. Do you ever hack your way into our state’s electronic systems?
It would not bring me any benefit. We don’t even have a state to hack its systems. Did you participate in the Anonymous movement which aimed at pirating Israeli accounts last year?
Yes, I did, because Israel has a network of
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Blogosphere Blogs Newsfeed By Joelle Hajji
@joellehajji
wielded post about the World Cup and his childhood, Lebanese history, the civil war, and examples we and the older generations can easily dig up from our collective memory. In this post, shared hundreds of times on Facebook and Twitter, Sharro relates the evolution of his knowledge about football and his growth as a human being.
Massive Online Fundraising Campaign To Help Cancer Patient Achieves Amount Needed
Go over to Karl Sharro’s blog, Karl remarks, for reams of sharp pieces on Middle East politics, culture and satire.
http://blogbaladi.com/online-fundraising-campaign-to-help-simon-is-finished-total-amountneeded-for-the-surgery-was-collected/
“Simon Badaoui is 23 years old and needs your help to defeat leukemia. Simon dedicated his life to helping people since his early age. He volunteered with the Lebanese Red Cross and helped saving lives since he was seventeen.” This is a clipping of the letter that was shared in order to collect donations with an online campaign. Simon’s family was able to raise the money needed to cover the expenses of his surgery a couple of weeks before the campaign’s end date, and they have received huge support from the Lebanese community. We wish Simon a full recovery.
Lebanon: The Only Government That Opposes Bikes Lanes http://ginosblog.com/2014/05/14/lebanon-the-only-government-that-opposes-bikes-lanes/
Brazilian Football Legend Pelé Played For Lebanese Nejmeh SC In 1975 http://blogbaladi.com/brazilian-footballlegend-pele-played-for-lebanese-nejmeh-scin-1975/
Four World Cups and One Long Civil War: A Football and War Memoir http://www.karlremarks.com/2014/06/fourworld-cups-and-one-long-civil-war.html#more
Karl Sharro is a household name in Lebanon and abroad for all of you fans of satirical blogging and some of the most incisive, punniest political criticism out on the internet now. In this blogpost, Sharro steered away from satire and open up in a wonderfully 28 CLOUD961
This picture was taken from AbdoGedeon and Najib posted it on his blog. Who would believe that the legendary Brazilian football star Pelé played with the Lebanese team Nejme? Pelé played a friendly game with the Lebanese team and scored 2 goals which were never included in his career-long tally of 1281 goals. Check out the blog post and see the videos depicting the football star during the game which occurred only one week before the start of the civil war.
This image is so funny. First, the bikes lane should be on the street not on the sidewalk. However, it seems the mayor of Beirut thinks it is illegal, because a predecessor OKed it, and not him. This is Lebanon and no one follows traffic laws. So usually, riding a bike on the street means certain death. You should check this post by Gino and know all the details about the lane and all the issues that occurred after doing it.
Blogosphere Blogs Newsfeed
© Ok Magazine
A Letter To George Clooney From An Arab Guy http://www.joesbox.com/2014/05/a-letter-togeorge-clooney-from-arab-guy.html#.U3TyTvmSw1Y
Following George Clooney’s engagement announcement to Lebanese lawyer Amal Alamuddin, Amer Zaher wrote a hilarious open letter to Clooney. A part of the letter reads: “Dear George, Congratulations. Mabrook. You’re marrying Amal Alamuddin, an international award-winning barrister (for us Americans, “barrister” means lawyer, but I wrote “barrister” because it just sounds so much cooler). And on top of that, she is one of us. You hit the jackpot. CNN has called her “discreet.” It looks like you found the only Arab woman who wouldn’t blab to the whole world that she is dating George Clooney. Lucky you. I do have some words of advice for you, from one Arab guy to another soon-to-be Arab guy. Yes, you are not currently an Arab, but you will become one soon enough. See, when one of our women marries a white guy, she doesn’t become whiter. He becomes more like us.” The letter goes on and it is absolutely hilarious; in case you have not read it yet, check Joe’s blog post on his blog “Joe’s Box”.
8 Reasons Why Arab Men Won’t Marry You http://ivysays.com/2014/04/25/8-reasonswhy-arab-men-wont-marry-you/
Ivy lists 8 reason why Arab men won’t marry in this blog post, and they are spot-on. 1. His buddies are still single; 2. You’re too controlling; 3. Your dream wedding may land him in small claims court, that or a jail cell; 4. His mama loves him; 5. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free; 6. You’ve hinted too hard; 7. Let’s just say his family doesn’t think too highly of you; 8. You’re not marriage material. Read the full article and know what each reason means. That is a good report of why you are still single, boys and girls
Dancing To The Rhythm of Lebanon’s Cedars http://michcafe.blogspot.com/2014/05/ dancing-to-rhythm-of-lebanons-cedars. html
“3,000 Years” is the first track in history created using a rhythm extracted from inside a Lebanese Cedar tree in the Barouk Forest and is now the focal point of the “Save the Music” campaign for Cedar conservation in Lebanon. The initiative to give the Cedar a voice for conservation was launched by the Lebanese Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. You should all read the blog post by Mich Café and check the video because it is absolutely beautiful, and we should all sustain one of Lebanon’s identity pillars, “The Cedars.”
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Campaigns By Joelle Hajji
@joellehajji
P.F. Chang’s Photo Contest The competition was to take a picture of your favorite dish at P.F. Chang’s ABC or BCC, and upload it at https://www.cloudssite.com/pfchangscontest.html. Then share it with friends and get the highest number of likes to win 2 tickets to China for 4 days including full accommodation. The competition ended on May 15, 2014.
Start From Sketch With Persil The competition consisted of people submitting a fashionable design made from old clothes. They had till the first week of May to submit their designs. Afterwards, the voting procedure started and people also had the chance to enter the draw for a chance to win a one-year supply of Persil Gel. People who submitted designs had the chance to win one of the prizes below: - Workshop at NABA Milano, Italy; - Paris Fashion week; - Internship at Tony Ward fashion house. The application only ran on desktop.
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Crepaway’s 30-Year Anniversary Contest The competition was to take a photo wishing Crepaway (“Happy Birthday Crepaway”), send it to 30years@crepaway.com and. The picture would then be uploaded to their Facebook competition tab. The one who gathered the most votes for their picture won a trip for two to Mykonos.
Campaigns
Paint The Town Green With The New Renault Clio Upload a picture of your good times at any of the Crepaway branches (or next to your Crepaway delivery order) on either Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter using the hashtag #Crepaway30Years. Make sure to tag Crepaway on Instagram (@Crepawayofficial). Every week, one lucky winner will get a Crepaway Good Card with LBP 100,000 worth of points to consume the most delectable treats.
Check-in And Win With Bank of Beirut Check in at any Bank of Beirut Branch, scratch the ticket and win money instantly: Prizes for $100, $75, and $50.
#SupergaLeMall Pay-Per-Tweet Superga have launched the Pay-Per-Tweet competition at the beginning of June. All you have to do is to take a picture of Superga Le Mall or of you wearing Superga inside the shop. Then, you share it on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #SupergaLeMall. Finally, you show it to the counter and you get a 10% discount. The “Pay per Tweet” concept was established for companies to pay prominent and not so prominent Twitter users to tweet and retweet their content, and with this campaign, Superga are planning to promote their new shop that opened recently in Le Mall in addition to becoming more active on social media and interact with the people more. Here are a couple of shots of people who shared their photos:
Fransabank Gives Out Tickets To La France à Beyrouth A Fransabank competition gave the chance to win 2 tickets to La France à Beyrouth. People had to take a fun and “Frenchie” selfie, and share it on Instagram and Facebook using #GoodStartLeb. The winners were announced on May 5, and here is the list: - wisob - Lama Naimi - johnnybgh - Hady Jarkas - Marc Dfouni - toni attieh hadchiti - samira hadchiti - raniakassir2 - Mazen Asmar - Ghassan El Bakri
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Campaigns
#LiveLoveLebanon Campaign By Sara Charbel @saracharbel
Tourism Minister Michel Pharaoun has launched the campaign “Live Love Lebanon” as a new plan to boost internal tourism in Lebanon and to attract international tourists to discover the country and its various beautiful regions. The campaign seeks to challenge the touristic image of Lebanon after all the crises and instability the country has been facing. The campaign’s website, www. livelovelebanon.com, includes a number of promotional packages. It shall be considered as a guide for locals and international tourists and expats. The packages include Lebanon’s most prominent touristic sites from various Lebanese regions. The program is under six categories: Adventure, Nature, Wine, Culture, Beach and Festivals.
Instragram Customizes Shoes With Adidas By Manal Mohsen
@Manally
This summer, Adidas Originals will be launching a brand new brilliant approach to its footwear customization. They have stepped things up to a whole new level with the re-launch of their ‘miadidas’ feature, flaunting a new type of technological innovation to sneaker customization.
A video was also released by the Ministry and it was a collection of photos and videos made by the people showing traditional food dishes in Lebanon, the nightlife and natural sites.
Adidas’ new approach uses their new ZX Flux sneakers as part of the original and creative innovation. In August, they will launch their impressive new mobile app where sneaker fanatics will be able to customize their ZX Flux through their own Instagram photos.
The campaign is on with its hash tag going viral on Twitter, and some restaurants and businesses promoting their offers, in addition to people sharing photos of different Lebanese sites.
Now you will be able to create your own unique sneakers with any photo perfectly wrapped around it. Think of it as an originally advanced and groundbreaking way of making a statement and standing out from the crowd. A new trend in sport and fashion.
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Roula Nahas:
COVER FEATURE
Seasoned expert, at the forefront of the region’s marketing and communications Interview by Mohammad Hijazi Editor in Chief @mhijazi
As the Regional Marketing & PR Manager of Bestseller, Roula Nahas has been leading the marketing and communications efforts for the Middle East for over a decade. Nahas is responsible for defining and executing the marketing strategy of Bestseller brands which now stretch across multiple countries including VERO MODA, JACK & JONES, NAME IT, PIECES and ONLY. She previously worked with renowned media and communications agencies in Lebanon. Eager to share her positivity with others, Nahas created pars, a line of motivational charms that invites people to promote their own self development and seize the opportunities to make things happen. She has a very active social media presence with a predominant influence on Twitter. She is currently enrolled in ESA’s Executive MBA program. Roula is always discovering Beirut, her natal city, where she lives with her husband and two children, and her Instagram account is a reflection of her encounters and indefinite passion towards life itself. Roula’s love for sharing images and thoughts transcends her own social media platforms to pervade and define the individual identities of the brands which she thoroughly operates.
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COVER FEATURE
Influence is not the main criterion we use when choosing people to work with, but rather their lifestyle and how it com- plements the brand. 35 CLOUD961
COVER FEATURE
You will always face negative comments and client complaints on social media, but the important thing is to always reach a common ground in terms of how to answer all the complaints and solve the problem.
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Tell us about the team that is responsible for the social media of Bestseller ME and the ways you guys coordinate with each other. My team is formed of 2 people handling all social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and the blog. We work closely together on creating content, brainstorming for new ideas and finalizing the plan. As for monitoring all posts, each one of us is responsible for specific platforms to ensure continuity of thought and guarantee that we can always be present and leave no comment hanging. You started the social media presence for your brands before your mother company started it internationally. Did you face any difficulty convincing them about this move? And why did you feel it was important to start it then? When we first started with our Facebook pages, we knew that it was the natural move to take. Our curiosity to know about the newest social trends and constantly ask ourselves “what’s next” was the main drive be-
hind this step. As part of our internal policies, we have the freedom to do things when they serve the brand the right way. It is with this notion in mind that we took the decision to go ahead with what we perceived as a beneficial strategy for the brands. Even though it’s unconventional to open a page before the mother company, we were able to convince head office that it was a move in the right direction. After appraising our operation, they were convinced that we succeeded in terms of reach, interaction and consistency. What is the difference between the audience of different social networks that you manage— Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blog, others? The audience differs from one platform to another and we cater to their specific needs. People on our Facebook pages are directly concerned in the brand’s location and products in terms of pricing and availability. On Instagram, people tend to be more passive when it comes to product knowledge but are concerned in the 37 CLOUD961
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Fashion brands should be online because their target audience is there and because social media is a good marketing tool to be able to reach out to your audience.
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COVER FEATURE beauty of the picture. On Twitter, people are conversational—they like to discuss all things related to fashion and lifestyle. As for the blog, it has a broader scale of interest: we communicate a lifestyle—all what is important for the VERO MODA women whether it’s fashion, beauty, lifestyle, technology or places to visit. On Pinterest, it’s a mix of everything since posts range from mood pictures, brand’s products to blog posts. Which platform do you think is the most effective for fashion in in Lebanon and the Middle East?
For both Lebanon and the Middle East, we have to choose 2 platforms with the highest presence of fashion lovers: Facebook and Instagram. How do you work with influencers/ fashion bloggers in Lebanon and the region?
Influence is not the main criterion we use when choosing people to work with, but rather their lifestyle and how it complements the brand. The influencers we choose to work with are people we scout for around all social platforms because we think because we think they are the perfect representatives of our brand and based on their activity, we decide which operation to conduct. What is your proudest social media moment relating to your brands?
One of my proudest moments was when we were taken as an example by our mother company among all marketing teams worldwide for our effort and success. This was clearly reflected by our important role played while merging with under the global page. The second proud moment has to be winning in the first edition of the Social Media Awards as the Best Fashion Brand on social media. This award was important to us because it was a genuine choice by both the people and a panel of experts. What is the biggest crisis that you managed online relating to your brands and how did you deal with it?
You will always face negative comments and client complaints on social media, but the important thing is to always reach common ground in terms of how to answer all the complaints and solve the problem. The biggest crisis we faced was when one of our Facebook fans posted on the wall a complaint regarding a specific logo found on one of the items. We managed to solve this issue by finding valid explanation for this usage and getting back
to the mother company on that and then, we succeeded in diverting the conversation to a one-to-one talk with this client which made him apologize on the wall for his misleading post and thank us for our explanatory talk. What are three tips you would give to other fashion brands online?
Those are the 3 most important things online: - BELIEVE in the brand you are handling; - RESPECT the audience; - LISTEN to what people are saying, they deserve your attention.” You have launched your own accessories brand, paRs. Is it harder to manage a start-up brand online than an international brand? What challenges did you face? How is your strategy different for both?
Launching my personal brand, paRs, online was an easy step to me because I knew what message I wanted to portray which is that of empowering people. There’s no set strategy for my Facebook and Instagram profiles; the posts and captions you will see are a reflection of me and my beliefs translated into words. Should all fashion brands be online? Why or why not?
Regarding the presence online, I think that fashion brands should be online because their target audience is there and because social media is a good marketing tool to be able to reach out to your audience. The important thing is that fashion brands shouldn’t be on ALL social media platforms. Analyzing their target audience, their brand’s message and their consistency is the key in choosing the right platform. What should fashion brands be aware of when managing their social media accounts?
When managing social media accounts, we have to bear in mind that social media is about socializing first and this is why people like to hear a certain tone of voice, one that allows them to relate to these posts and be sure that the brand is listening and will answer any comment or question no matter how uninteresting it may sound. 39 CLOUD961
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Sarah’s
Bag: Empowering Women, With A Modern Twist
By Tarek Bekdache
@tarekbekdache
Born and raised in Lebanon, Sarah Beydoun is the Creative Director and Founder of Sarah’s Bag. She belongs to a generation of Beirut-based designers who came of age during the country’s sixteen-year civil war and are now contributing to rebuilding the city’s cultural life through their creative passion. Beydoun was one of the first designers in Lebanon to bring Middle Eastern pop culture into the mainstream, and to revive and reinvent the region’s rich traditions of craftsmanship, embroidery, crocheting and textile making. After studying sociology at the American University of Beirut, Beydoun earned her master’s degree from the Université Saint Joseph (USJ) where she wrote her thesis on prostitution in Lebanon. Soon after, she launched Sarah’s Bag and opened her atelier in Beirut in 2000, bringing together her love of design and fashion with her desire to empower and work with underprivileged women. Her line of handmade handbags and accessories is designed around the skills of prisoners and ex- prisoners she has personally trained and worked with for the past thirteen years. Today over 150 artisans form the backbone of this project, making it one of the most successful social entrepreneurship brands in the region. And stylish women from Tokyo to Caracas via Beirut and Paris are sitting up and taking notice. You completed a master’s thesis on prostitution in Lebanon. How did the transition from that field the field of design and fashion happen? A part of my field research for my thesis, I worked with ex-prisoners at an NGO called “Dar Al Amal”. I realized how important it was to teach these women skills that could help them earn an income, while incarcerated and after they leave prison. So I started Sarah’s Bag as a social project. Since then, I have always designed my handbags to showcase the skills we teach the prisoners, such as beading, crocheting and embroidery. Many of the women 40 CLOUD961
FEATURE who started working with us when we first launched Sarah’s Bag almost 14 years ago are still with us today. How did the idea of working with underprivileged women come to you? During my visits to Baabda prison for my research, I noticed that the women spent their days doing nothing that would alleviate the hardship of being prisoners. In other words, they had nothing to look forward to. So I thought it would be great to give them the chance to work, learn new skills and earn an income. I started giving them designs that they could bead and sequin. As time went by, after some of the women completed their prison sentences, they continued working with us as it was very important for them to be financially independent. I also have a passion for traditional crafts that in today’s fashion industry are endangered by the rush towards mass production and the next hot trend. Moreover, I always believed in the potential and the talent of the women who work with us, and they in turn inspired me to believe Sarah’s Bag could succeed. It must be incredibly rewarding to not only practice a profession that you love, but also be able to give back to society thanks to your “Artisans” program. Can you share a story with us about an artisan you work with, that has touched you in a way? We encouraged the artisans who completed their prison sentences and went back to their communities and villages to recruit their friends, neighbors and families to work with Sarah’s Bag. As a result, these ex-prisoners become proactive, valuable members in their communities, helping other women support their families. This helped soften the stigma of being ex-prisoners and this positive ripple effect is an incredible reward for me: we’ve touched many lives for the better and there is a deeper purpose to the work we do beyond profit and creating unique bags and accessories. Story of Maryam: “I was charged with my ex-husband’s murder ten years after he passed away. His family accused me of killing him by poisoning his food. In this country you are guilty until you are proven innocent”. The charges stuck and Maryam found herself in prison serving a life sentence. A quiet woman in her late 40s when she started training with Sarah’s Bag, Maryam worked diligently and saved enough money to hire a lawyer to reopen her case. Three years later, after
a successful appeal, she was declared innocent and released from prison. A conscientious worker, Maryam soon became the team leader of a group of women in her village.“I was able to regain the respect of people in my community because they now depend on me to provide them with work”. Two years ago, Maryam delegated all her work to her colleague Aida to stay home and raise her grandchildren. You speak of ‘Middle Eastern pop culture’. How would you describe that culture? And where/how do you see this culture prevail? I mean it in the literal sense of popular culture; it’s the music we listen to, the films we love watching, the movie stars we adore, the street food we grew up eating, etc. For us at Sarah’s Bag it all started when we gave Um Kulthum the Warhol makeover on a printed leather clutch. It is to this day one of our signature pieces. We have also immortalized Sabah and countless Egyptian movie stars on our bags; we sequined lines from eternal love songs onto evening bags and celebrated Lebanese street food with our Man’ousheh bag, our Kaak purse and the Bonjus bag. I think we were the first fashion house to use Middle Eastern pop culture on accessories and now it’s the new normal in the design scene in the Arab World. People like having their everyday culture celebrated and reflected back at them. You’ve showcased & exhibited your designs in some of the world’s major cities like London, Paris, and Washington. How did the people of those cities receive your designs that are pop-culture inspired, but still have an apparent Middle Eastern feel to them? When we do exhibit our work in Europe or outside the Middle East, we work on adapting our designs to the international market and we usually do not restrict our inspiration to Arab pop culture. This is especially the case when we participate in major trade shows like Tranoi Women Show in Paris. Nevertheless, sometimes we’re invited to exhibit because we are known for our Middle Eastern-inspired work, for example we showed our Arabic calligraphy bags at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and our Um Kulthum pop art collection at the “Institut du Monde Arabe” in Paris. Your next collection comes out next month. What inspired this collection? And how is it different from its predecessors? Tropique C’est Chic is our next collection. It’s a celebration of summer and its bright, uplifting colors! Instead 41 CLOUD961
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of blues and gold and bronze, I wanted to focus on lush greens and juicy fruits; a more verdant, tropical island feel. I think in this collection our artisans outdid themselves with the beadwork on the clutches. I am thrilled with the results! From all your designs, do you have a favorite piece? One that is special to you? Which one, and why? I usually love the collection I am currently working on! I am also very proud of our signature pieces such as the Um Kulthum bags and the calligraphy clutches, that have never waned in popularity and still look great. I also have a soft spot in my heart for the first bag we ever made: a small black bag with a pink rose sequined onto it. My mother bought it and she gave it back to me recently, so I had it framed and it currently hangs in my office. What is in your bag right now? I am carrying a handbag from our Brad Darling! Lichtenstein-inspired, pop art collection. Inside I have my iPhone in a summery, cartoon pineapple phone cover, which I am very fond of as it makes my phone easy to find in the depths of my bag. I also have a pencil-shaped, my black YSL wallet, a small, dainty white make-up pouch and two little books by David Baird for daily inspiration: “A Thousand Paths to Creativity” and “A Thousand Paths to Wisdom”. Oh, and my yellow framed, rose-tinted (sun)glasses because I am an eternal optimist! Look through the appealing collection of bags and clutches and contribute to empowering women, fashionably, at www.sarahsbag.com 42 CLOUD961
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Beyond the Luxurious: How Fashion Brands Promote on Social Media
By Elsa Abi Khalil
@ak_elsa
We have all become so addicted to social media, yet we, the individuals, are not the only users on there. Fashion brands, too, have seized this opportunity in order to build an online presence and reach a wide audience globally, perhaps now more than ever before. We, as individuals, represent the consumer society and social media represents the tool or the arrow to target us. So how do fashion brands sell their image on social media and build a following? And what strategies do they follow to avoid turning into an on-line store? First, and to be successful, a brand does not just display products on its social media networks. If they do that, fail is inevitable. For instance, a story is told alongside every picture posted on Instagram. The product or service the brand is looking to promote and sell is a small but an essential characteristic that contributes to the meaning of the story. A case in point is Diesel’s advertising effort for their fragrance “Only the Brave”. Diesel did not regard the product as only
a mere perfume, but also an emblem of urban culture with an intrepid character of nerve and self-confidence. The consumer, in this case mostly young men, aspires to be such a person similar to the one they get to know online. When consumers buy the product, they want to become one with the product that was invented by the media. The social media sell more than a product or a service; they sell a lifestyle you can acquire through buying particular products. Collaborating with bloggers has been another major strategy that fashion labels use to build brand and product awareness. Although it is now somewhat an old trick to do just that in the United States and Europe, it is still an emerging trend in Lebanon. It is only recently that fashion brands in Lebanon have started to understand the concept of promoting an item through a blogger. Besides, the Lebanese blogosphere is less than half a decade old, for the most part. This concept resembles a lot that of debuting a brand on the
market through a celebrity. Except that the blogger can not only offer a true and real-world use for a product, but also, the blogger has a unique voice and platform to convince their readers. And this is what gives some more credibility to the brand, through blogging. The most efficient and effective use of social media lies in conquering new territories where the frontiers have become absent and outreach has become boundless. Luxury Fashion labels such as Chanel and Diane Von Furstenberg are experimenting with Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging platform akin to Twitter with more features and more than 250 million users, to target the niche of Chinese consumers. Weibo has become a crucial marketing tool on the Chinese market since Facebook and Twitter are bothbanned by the law in China. To sum up, social media’s main strategy is to follow its target audience and act as a bait to attract all prospective customers. 43 CLOUD961
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FIVE Apps
For A Fashion Fix by Aline Chirinian
@nouchaline
1 1-Instagram Yes, Instagram. Who would have thought that this app was not just made for people to share their filtered selfies and food pictures?! If you do not know what Instagram is, well— welcome, it is the 2st century, year 2014—it is a photo and short video sharing application that lets users pick filters and #abuse #hashtags. It is also the most popular application in the fashion world. Everyone who is anyone in the industry is on it, granting you the quickest and easiest fashion fix. All you have to do is follow some popular fashion pages which vary from big fashion houses to amateur fashion bloggers. 2-Pinterest The application famous for its inspiring yet hard to recreate Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects is actually a great place to get fashionably inspired. Pinterest allows you to pin images from anywhere on the internet to boards which can be categorized as you wish (Beauty board, nail inspiration board, summer lovin’ board, among others), making it the perfect way to keep your outfit inspirations organized! 3-Rag Hunter Satisfy your shopping addiction with the Rag Hunter app which lets you window shop—and actually shop—at
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5 a number of stores in Lebanon. After signing in with your Facebook or Rag Hunter account, you can browse around to see what is new on the Lebanese market or look for specific items according to price, color, location, product type and gender. The app allows you to create a list of items that you fancy, and also offers the handy “sale alerts” service which notifies users when a certain item is on sale. 4-Pose “What should I wear today?” a predicament that many of us have found ourselves grappling with on more than one occasion. That question is easily answered with Pose, dubbed the “Instagram of Fashion.” It is a platform upon which users are able to share their latest fashion and beauty finds which in turn provide other users with outfit inspiration and item suggestions based on their location, weather, and type of outing. 5-Polyvore Probably the most fun app on this list. Polyvore allows you to create outfits and a mood board of inspiration. Granting you access to images from countless online sources that range from online shopping sites to fashion magazines, you are free to play around with these images and create collage masterpieces.
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Dress Up Your Instagram Feed With These Stylish Bloggers By Manal Mohsen
@Manally
•@riri_dahdah
Rita Dahdah is sartorial perfection, pure awesomeness every time she steps outside. Her Instagram account is a mix of her colorful wardrobe, snaps of New York City, and other beautiful countries she has visited. You may think of stepping up your Instagram game out of glorious envy after scrolling through her photos. •@lebanesestreetstyle
This colorful Instagram feed reflects the energetic, lively, and vibrant fueled personality of Lebanese fashionistas. Lebanese Street Style acts not only as a showcase of fashionable style lovers, but is also an addictive daily dose of street
culture and urban style inspiration. •@norahabbal
Also known for her Shut Your Face styling, Nora Habbal depicts good taste and style through her eclectic outfit choices. If you are looking to change your wardrobe, then by all means follow this girl for inspiration. Banish your fear of playful outfits, mixed prints, and unusual patterns. It is loud, risky, dripping cool Shut Your Face styling. •@notrecloset
Two sisters, One closet, One love for fashion. Looking as though they have jumped straight out of Chictopia’s fashion page,
these sisters will never disappoint. Their style can be easily emulated which is great if you are on-the-go and your style for the day ahead just is not working out. Look out for how they style their accessories if you are a fan of jewelry. A perfect way to dress up your outfit seamlessly. •@veromodame
Catch the latest styles and trends on the official Vero Moda page and see how they creatively put together killer outfits showcasing their daily ensembles. Expect to see some creative styling tips, competitions, bold yet colorful styled items, and lots of chocolate. They have a sweet taste in both fashion and desserts.
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#InstaFashion #InstaGlam:
The past few years have witnessed tons of brands embracing social media platforms to promote their products or services. Many fashion brands and designers, such as Elie Saab, Zuhair Murad, Rami Kadi, Moe Shour and many others, have used the platforms to display their designs and masterpieces and reveal some behind the scenes or making-of shots.
By Nuhad Hamdan @nuhadhamdan
Alongside that have risen many influential fashion blogs: L’armoire de Lana, IvySays, Fashion to Tracy, NouchAline, le Blog de Chanty - that made an immense change online. They became not only references, but also trendsetters under the spotlight, whose tips and tricks are followed and implemented.
Being fashionable is not even an option anymore
Add to that the make-up artists who are showcasing their work and revealing some ‘secrets’ online especially Bassam Fattouh and Hala Ajam. And do not forget the millions of small boutiques and general pages that just curate styles and mix’n’match different items for different apparels.
So let us run a quick check:
Dress How to wear the dress Accessories Make-Up
See? Being fashionable is no longer an option! Anyone has free access to abundant information, styles, pictures, trends, and the list goes on. So, ladies, do not freak out whenever a wedding or a cocktail comes out of the blue, just log in to your Instagram and you will definitely find many ways to wear that little black dress you got! However, there is a thin line between being fashionable and being obsessed. The mere purpose of dressing up has become to Instagram the outfits and share pictures of the entire wardrobe as if the platforms are the stage of several beauty pageants. Many are forgetting about the event itself and missing out on beautiful memories just to Instagram, Tweet & Facebook the “look”, disregarding the precious moments they are living. At the end, style is a matter of taste. A fashion blogger is not always right and a designer’s dress is not always the most perfect one. However, and thanks to social media, our fashion crimes can now be mitigated.
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L’Armoire de Lana “This blog is my little baby” By Darine Sabbagh
myself either I do it right or I stop. I’m not doing this blog to achieve any kind of fame or anything. I really love it and it’s like my little baby that I want to keep on feeding to see it grow as fast as it can. What do you consider the biggest achievements of the blog?
@sdarine
First of all, being able to collaborate with amazing brands, meeting a lot of people, but especially all of the love I get from my readers. I just love bumping into them at events or random places. It gives me the biggest boost. It actually shows me that my blog has gone from online to offline, it gives my blog a more tangible existence. What is your favorite collaboration so far on the blog?
I couldn’t really choose because each collaboration is very different. I love working with Barbara Bui and styling my favorite outfits for a very urban photoshoot. I loved creating a pair of shoes with Poise Design but also all the fashion shows coverage and all the interviews that actually helped me grow. When in discussion about fashion bloggers in Lebanon, one of the first names likely to pop up is “L’Armoire de Lana”. It is the blog that has been oozing passion for fashion and the clear dedication of Lana Sahely who works hard on making it one of the first Lebanese blogs to monetize and show innovative collaborations with brands and fashion lovers, all under the dome of the online space. I was glad to have Lana share with me some of the lessons she has learned throughout the four years L’ Armoire’s has been around so far, as well as some exciting plans and updates shared exclusively with Cloud 961. In this interview, you will discover a very different side of Lana and a lot of endearing personal notes different from our fashionista’s online persona, so keep on reading. When you look back at how your blog has grown and transformed what would have you done differently?
Honestly, I would not have done any differently because I do take full responsibility of all the mistakes that have accompanied me along the way. I believe they were necessary for me to become who I am today. Maybe, I wish I was even more selective with the content right from the start. What is the thing(s) that keep you dedicated to your blog and drive your passion for it?
Personal satisfaction! I’ve always said to 48 CLOUD961
Everyone is curious about your collaboration with Nancy Ajram. Could you tell us how it is linked to your blog? Can you share how you help her? How has Lana changed after working with Nancy?
My work with Nancy is on a complete different level and I personally try not to link it to my blog at all. It’s an amazing opportunity that truly happened by coincidence. My makeup artist Fady Kataya, who’s also Nancy’s personal makeup artist, asked me to prepare few outfits for an upcoming shoot with Nancy and this is how it happened. Nancy and I immediately clicked on a personal level. She’s truly adorable and very professional in her work. Lana has changed in the sense that I’ve earned another type of experience, working on picking clothes that would look good on camera and in accordance with the set, etc. These little things were details I had never experienced with my blog. There’s a huge responsibility because millions and millions of her fans await each look with a lot of excitement! You are the first Lebanese blogger with a fanclub—how did you react when you saw that?
I honestly don’t know what to say! At the time of this writing, there are 6 Instagram pages and 2 Twitter accounts, it’s simply amazing. It’s not something I would have expected, I’m someone extremely shy, even if on my blog the persona that appears shows a lot of confidence and strength. I hope I’m worth these pages and I hope I will never disappoint my readers/fans
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out there. I just want to keep on being a very good example to follow, whether on a fashion or lifestyle level. How much time does L’armoire De Lana require everyday?
and hours!!! It’s all about the preparations and the photoshoots and the drives here and there to create nice content. The posts in of themselves are the fastest things to do. What are the main challenges you face in monetizing L’armoire De Lana, as I know it is one of your main objectives to create sustainability for the blog?
I want to stay as genuine as I can so I don’t get paid by post; this wouldn’t be genuine. The idea is to work collaboration-based. It’s not easy but it’s my job and many bloggers around the world have been there and done that so why not try to adjust to these international standards? There is a lot of envy towards fashion bloggers for getting free things. How would you respond to that?
Well, I’ve been working for 4 years. I didn’t wake up one day, launched a blog and started to receive free things. Plus, it’s not really free; brands expect you to do something
about it, which is very tricky. I don’t necessarily like everything I receive. What would be your advice to other fashion bloggers in Lebanon?
To stay true to themselves and to always make sure it’s truly their personal state that they translate to others because that’s how they can reach their goals. As your readers grow and as you become better known do you feel it is harder or easier to maintain your personal life personal? Are you sharing less online and on your blog as a result?
Yes! I am not sharing less. The idea is that I decided to blog less than before, I used to blog 14 times a week, now I try to post somewhere between 4 to 7 articles a week, I think it’s wiser to avoid over exposure. As for my personal life, I’m careful about what I share and what I don’t but still my readers are constantly updated with what’s going on with me. Your readers are excited about your engagement and wedding. What will you be sharing about it on your blog? Would there be a delay in sharing?
pictures of my engagement on the blog. I simply waited until I felt I was ready and I shared my pictures just like any other outfit picture. As for my wedding, I’ve decided to take my readers on this journey of preparations with me, because I’m sure there’s a lot of nice discoveries to make along the way! You mentioned you may be living between Lebanon and abroad. How will this affect your blog?
It won’t—it’s a question of planning carefully. You know that when it comes to online work, you can work on creating content for 2 weeks and then spend the next 2 months posting them. This is particularly true for fashion as well because we have two main seasons per year where it requires a lot of photoshoots. Also, with my new life, I want to turn my blog more towards lifestyle. I believe it can be even richer in terms of content. On June 14, part of Beirut Design Week and my event with Plastik Magazine for their pop-up show in Saifi, I re-launched L’ Armoire de Lana under an updated identity, full of new features!
There was a 3-month delay with the
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Fashion blogs have been mushrooming in Lebanon lately, but there was a time when there were just a few. We have selected a diverse mix for you to enjoy, from the upscale fashion to street style looks and beauty tips and reviews. But, if scrolling through fashion feeds is what you seek, make sure to head to LebaneseBlogs.com for live updates from these bloggers and much more!
Lebanese logs B Fashion w ollo F o T By Darine Sabbagh
1-Nouchaline: My Fashion Blog www.nouchaline.blogspot.com
@sdarine
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Aline is your normal shoe-addicted girl who loves and appreciates fashion, who also happens to live in one of the most fashionable cities in the world: Beirut, Lebanon. If you want to enjoy a look at affordable fashion and beauty items selected by a young person, your should definitely follow Aline. And if you find a gap in Aline’s posts, make sure you also follow her on Twitter for a more day-to-day feed of fashion news. 2-Le Blog De Chanty www.blogdechanty.wordpress.com
Chanty’s blog is a collection of stories about her daily life: at work, with her friends, at the gym and her passion for cosmetics, fashion, sports, bachata, and tea. Chantal also religiously covers all beauty releases, new lifestyle products and of course fashion events across Beirut.
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3-Notre Closet
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www.notrecloset.wordpress.com
A blog by incredibly fashionable twins with unique styles and incredible picture-taking quality that can compete with magazines. These ladies truly have a flair for mixing and matching outfits and enticing you to do the same. 4-Sunset De Amor www.sunsetdeamor.com
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Sisters Salma and Ginan believe that fashion is a projection of where we are going in life, of who we are or wish to be. They like to share their quests of injecting their dose of individualism into each and every one of their outfits because passion is at the base of everything and our passion is fashion. 5-L’Armoire de Lana www.larmoiredelana.com
You cannot miss out on this star-blogger. Lana has been leading the scene of fashion blogging from its nascence in Lebanon and inspiring others to follow suit. Check out her blog for collaborations with top design50 CLOUD961
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ers and some haute couture looks as well as everyday styles. 6-Bowtie Arabia www.bowtiearabia.wordpress.com
Lebanese blogger George H. Khabbaz offers fashion content and plenty of useful tips not for women, but males, for a change. “We love fashion too,” read the “About us” section of the blog. Bowtie Arabia is a website worth checking out not only for outfit ideas, but also for bestbuys-of-the-day, news, as well as relevant announcements and opportunities.
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7-Playing with Fashion www.playingwithfashion.com
For amazing money-saving tips, remixing outfits sensibly and tips on sensible shopping make sure to follow Maya’s blog. You will get amazing ideas for everyday items and how to spice up any look through detailed tutorials and much more. 8-Pretty Capricieuse www.prettycapricieuse.com
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Elsa Abi Khalil is studying business administration at the American University of Beirut and she likes to share her interests in cuisine, health, style and couture sometimes. On her blog you will find some amazing do-it-yourself tips, recipes, products reviews and a raving youthful spirit! 9-Fashion to Tracy www.fashiontotracy.com
“Fashion to Tracy” is a reflection of Tracy’s approach to the world of fashion. The vintage classic style that she follows, talking about the greatest couturiers that shaped style and the way women dress up, her latest makeup picks on her beauty counter, to her activities in Beirut by covering the biggest events and supporting Lebanese designers from A to Z. 10-Style me Maria www.stylememaria.com
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With more than a few experiences under her belt, Maria has started her blog “at the ripe old age of 30”. Maria is pro-smart shopping, simplicity, elegance, and being comfortable in your own skin, regardless of age, size, color, shape or budget. You would truly enjoy her tips and tricks! Make sure you are following these bloggers on Twitter and Instagram for more glam.
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International Fashion Blogs To Follow by Aline Chirinian @nouchaline and Mohamad Faez Tarabichi @mfaezt
Well, it would not be a legitimate fashion issue of a social media magazine without mentioning the words «Fashion Blogs», now can it? The internet is home to countless numbers of fashion blogs that have sprouted from every corner of the globe. You do not have to be immersed into the fashion world to read and admire fashion blogs; they can be quiet fun actually, actually. That is why we have compiled the best 10 international fashion blogs to check out, at least once in a while.
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1-Highsnobiety.com: Gentlemen, this blog is for you. Covering everything you need to know about men›s fashion and style, with a little dose of manly lifestyle pieces.
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2-Swide.com: Everything related to lifestyle, from fashion to tips, against an Italian backdrop. This platform features topics such as where to have Gelato in Rome, or why Italian moms are the best.
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3-Theblondsalad.com: In two words: Chiara Ferragni. The Italian sweetheart law-student-turned-shoe- designer, model, entrepreneur and the girl that everyone wants to be. She has collaborated with the biggest fashion brands in the world, and has become one of, if not the, most popular fashion blogger. Her blog is definitely one you should keep your eye out for! 4-Thesartorialist.com: Scott Schuman knows how to take perfect pictures of outfits and the people, which is why he is the king of the street-style scene. Check
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FEATURE
6
out this blog for all the hottest, sometimes peculiar outfit choices of random people on the street. 5-Hypebeast.com: Originally from Honk Kong, this blog is well tailored for the male trendsetters. 6-Fashiontoast.com: California-based Rumi Neely mirrors her eclectic lifestyle with well taken photos of her and her outfits.
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7-Refinery29.com: Combines the best parts of a women›s magazine with the best parts of a blog to bring you the latest in fashion, lifestyle tips and tricks, and just downright fun articles. 8-Iamgalla.com: Fresh men fashion blog with beautiful shots of outfits that are updated on a daily basis.
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9-ManRepeller.com: With a name like that, you obviously would not think «fashion», would you? ManRepeller is the blog with an attitude, with posts that go beyond the typical fashion blogger outfit shots. 10-Garancedore.com: This blog has grown from being a website with beautiful pictures to a go-to cache for all beauty and fashion lovers. Garance, the French photographer behind the blog, manages to captivate her readers with every post she publishes.
10
8
Now it may differ from a person to the other whether they like a blog or not, but that is exactly why there are so many blogs to navigate. Each person can find a part of him/her somewhere in-between the words or pictures. Tweet to us @nouchaline and @MFaezT and let us know what your favorite fashion blogs are!
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FEATURE
Deema Saidi: From Beirut to Dubai, in Style “There is no room for mistakes, the competition is severe. The right image has to go with the right text.� Interview by Mohammad Hijazi Editor in Chief @mhijazi
Deema Saidi studied Marketing at the Lebanese American University (LAU). With a committed passion for the arts and everything glamorous, she had the chance to work for prestigious, well-established designers and companies such as Elie Saab, Oscar De La Renta, Missoni, Diane von Furstenberg, Y3, and Furla. Armed with experience in social media for fashion and hospitality, she now resides in the UAE where she works as a luxury and PR marketer.
What is the biggest challenge, in your opinion, when managing fashion social media accounts? Fashion social media accounts have a lot of challenges, just like any other product or service you have to make sure that you are consistent with the voice, the brand image and the quality. As you may know, fashion is a form of aesthetics and maintaining the image of a brand and especially if it is a luxury product or 54 CLOUD961
a multi brand luxury store.
What are the best fashion brands in Lebanon and in the Middle East, in your opinion? Krikor Jabotian, Bashar Assaf, Hussein Bazaza, Dima Kassis, Zayan and Madiyah Al Sharqi. Which fashion blogs in Lebanon and the Middle East do you read the most? The Fierce Diaries, The fashion Hub, Five Five Fabulous and The Style Drifter. Why did you stop blogging after moving from Beirut to Dubai? I did not entirely stop blogging; I still do it every once in a while and I am very active on all social media platforms. I mostly did not have a lot of free time on my hands. My new job in a luxury fashion PR and Marketing was taking all my time. The fashion industry in Dubai is quite different than the one in Beirut as well as there are bigger budgets involved whilst bigger commitment and expectations from the brands. On a personal level, I do not believe in fashion blogging as much as I used to. People are bored of reading; they want to look at a lot of beautiful things in the minimum amount of time possible. If I want to be an influencer, I would rather be it on Instagram.
Deema’s Tips and Tricks
FEATURE
every fashion community manager should take into consideration There is no room for mistakes, the competition is severe. The right image has to go with the right text. If a follower messages you, answer them ASAP. Have a proper answer sheet and be consistent when responding to everyone. Remain professional. Fashion is a lifestyle. People like to see things that they can relate to. Have more lifestyle images when setting your social media plan. Don’t get your followers confused; always remain consistent and follow the brand guidelines. Always take geography into consideration. Who are you addressing these posts to? Who are your followers? Will they find this offensive? Working in the Gulf has taught me a lot when it comes to censorship; some people might be offended by a photo or even a text. Plan this ahead with your brand›s headquarters before getting in trouble.
Who do you think the target audience for fashion brands in Lebanon and the ME is online? It really depends on the brand and its price point, target audience is everyone. If I follow both LVMH and H&M on social media, that doesn’t mean that I am customer, I could be a potential one, but nothing is definite. Everyone wants to look pretty. However, everyone has their own preference and different levels of purchasing powers. It is hard to specify the behaviors of retail consumers. What does it take for Middle East fashion e-commerce sites to succeed? Which ones are your favorite? Creativity, variety, originality, quality, and professionalism. If you cannot deliver products on time, then why even bother. I am big fan of Boutique 1 as well as Sauce and West La who both have recently launched in the region.
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FEATURE
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FEATURE “Fashion fades, style is eternal”: this is the motto Jeanette Mansour Abbas is loyal to in her JJ’s designs. In the below discussion we had over a cup of coffee in her workshop, Jeanette takes us through her journey in the accessories design business which she ventured into few years ago. I would like to go back to the very beginning. What were you doing before becoming a jewelry/accessory designer? And where are you based? I have a Master’s degree in Business Administration «International Affairs & Diplomacy» but always had an eye for fashion and jewelry so I decided to create my own designs. What is the opportunity you saw and what inspired you to start your business? My love for unique pieces. When you were establishing your brand, what challenges did you face? Why JJ’s? And do you find difficulties in finding new design ideas? I get inspired by everything surrounding me. The biggest challenge I face is finding and collecting the subjects to materialize my designs. JJ›s is the initials of Jina Jewels. Do you wear accessories in general? All the time. What is in your opinion the most important accessory a woman should not go out without? If she has long hair, a necklace and a ring. If her hair is short, earrings and a ring. Where do you exhibit? And what about the impact that digital innovation has had on your business? Qatar and some regional exhibitions. Social media makes my designs known on a wider scale; it makes the brand be known internationally.
Accessories: Only for a season? Fashion fades, style is eternal Interview by Mhamad Dankar
@MhdDankar
Who is your fashion icon? I like unique pieces no matter who designed them or who is wearing them. Tell us a bit about the newest trends in the line of accessories Big statement colorful accessories. How do you define luxury in few words? Luxury is the ability to be stylish, trendy and fashionable, but classy and unique at the same time. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned? Hard work pays off at the end. Is there anything you would like our readers to know that they may not know yet? I think readers are widely knowledgeable about everything related to fashion. My advice is to be brave in trying and mixing and matching new trends to come up with their own style. What’s next? Sky is the limit. Stay tuned to my social media channels to get the latest fashion tips and trends. JJ’s Facebook page: JJ’s Jewels Instagram: @j_jjs
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FEATURE
Shhhhhh, I got it on Raghunter
Raghunter: The First-of-its-Kind Search Engine For Fashion Items In Stores Across Lebanon Browse online, shop offline By Tarek Bekdache
@tarekbekdache Jad Sarout
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FEATURE Online shopping is a growing trend in Lebanon and the Middle East region in general. However, Raghunter is not about online shopping at all. By kicking off your shopping experience through online search, Raghunter helps you cut down on time spent on the road, and directs you to the closest and most relevant stores that carry the fashion items you are looking for. You can search for specific fashion items by gender, product type, color, store, price, and location. So far, the items on the website include clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, jewelry, and intimate wear. Serene Abbas, Narina Najm, and Jad Sarout are the founders of Raghunter. Serene and Narina met while working together for a few years at JWT Beirut. They both left around the same time, deciding to venture into entrepreneurship together. Along the way, they met Jad, who was the missing link in their project, being an expert in design and programming. You both come from an advertising background. How did the idea of starting Raghunter come to you? The idea for Raghunter was actually the product of months of marketing research in which we assessed the shopping experience in Lebanon both online and offline. Where does Raghunter stand now, in contrast with where you envisioned it would be? After a year and half since being launched, Raghunter is exactly where we want it to be; we are getting ready to expand the business. What are some of the challenges that Raghunter faces as an online-based business in Lebanon— knowing that the culture of e-business is relatively new in the local market and that the necessary infrastructure is somewhat weak? The biggest challenge that Raghunter or any other e-business would face in Lebanon is not so much the poor internet infrastructure as much as the lack of a high volume of engaged users in Lebanon. Our users are not advanced when it comes to using the online world to aid their shopping experiences, in stark contrast with the West for example, whose consumers totally rely on that. Do your clients know the added value that Raghunter offers, or is it a challenge to explain the benefits of a presence on your website— knowing that your clients do not
Narina Najm and Serene Abbas actually sell through your website? When we started, it was definitely more challenging to explain the benefits than it is now. We have gotten a lot of clients to experience being on Raghunter, most of which had positive experiences. Being in a small market like Lebanon helps because word-of-mouth goes around if someone had a positive experience. At the same token, we have grown to understand our own business and what we can offer better. Nothing is ever completely set from the beginning, things always come up and the business grows and evolves. Raghunter has a mix of small & upcoming local designers, in addition to some big names. Which category appreciates the concept of Raghunter more than the other? I wouldn›t use the word appreciates, but instead the category that feels the most direct impact of Raghunter would be upcoming designers. They usually don›t have searchable online presence in a portal where anyone can find them without previously knowing who they are. Also, they benefit from getting the chance to be marketed on Raghunter just by being present on the website. Upcoming designers would see the value in that because any penny they can save is really meaningful at that stage in their career.
You launched about a year and a half ago. Is the market still the same when it comes to online advertising and business in general? When it comes to online advertising, more and more fashion retailers are investing their marketing budgets in that space. They are understanding the high impact it has relative to many other traditional media. I›m afraid to say that about business in general, our country is going through a rough patch. It›s slower today than it was a year and a half ago, specifically for the retail industry. We simply don›t have tourists coming to Lebanon to shop anymore. Do you plan on ever having an e-commerce section on Raghunter? We are still in talks about that, but we will most likely not become an e-commerce platform. Rather we will link up with already existing e-commerce platforms and redirect traffic there. Do you have any local competition? If so, who is your biggest? We know of one website that sprung up a year after we launched that displays cool fashion items around Beirut, but it›s not a search engine. Other than that, not that we know of. Don’t forget to search up all your favorite items at www.raghunter.com
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FEATURE
Marie Jose Abed: GS Is A house Of Brands That Greatly Embraces Social Media
Social Media, a key to raising brand awareness By Sara Charbel
@saracharbel
As many clothing stores in Lebanon, GS Stores has surely jumped upon the social media bandwagon. Sara Charbel sat with Mrs. Marie Jose Abed, Regional Communications Manager at HST (GS), for some insights about the ways social media ties in with raising brand awareness and driving sales up. Do you think social media drives sales in your stores as much as it affects the exposure of the brand and what other added value does it give to your brand?
GS is a house of brands that greatly embraces social media, as we know its importance and the great impact it has on society. Through social media, we have been able to show our customers how credible, interactive, and reliable we are. Customers know that when they walk into our store, it’ll be exactly like what they’ve seen or read on our social media platforms, and this kind of dependability indeed drives sales to our doors. Have you ever faced unique challenges or issues when dealing with your social media presence?
As the use of technology rises, so will the expectations of our consumers, and keeping up with their demands will always be a challenge. There is also the risk of the wrong kind of information spreading quickly, or uploading outdated content, or even uploading content that is not even interesting. However, we are grateful to have a team of dedicated content managers who are always giving our customers high-quality and engaging content for a unique online experience, making our experience on social media a successful one. Do you think the new forms of social interaction used in digital media nowadays will eventually take over traditional media?
It is true that the internet and social media are shaping the world in which we live in, as information has become faster and much easier to access. However, I don’t believe traditional media will ever take a back seat. When radio came into existence, people assumed newspapers would fade away, but that was never the case. Print, radio and television are different sources of information than digital media, but they are sources of information nonetheless. We adapt to new forms of media, but we don’t abandon any.
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GEEKYFEATURE Gadgets
What is the GS smart phone application all about and what results do you expect from it?
Smart phone users who download our GS application could check the latest collection present at GS Stores, benefit from the latest activities and promotions, access our GS magazine, follow their reward points, and get the location of all our GS Stores, in addition to many other exciting features. Our aim with this app is to make it easier and more convenient for our customers to scroll through all of our collections and access all of the information needed in a click of a button. You have presence on almost all social media platforms; which medium is the most impactful in your opinion?
All social media platforms are impactful, as they are all communication and collaboration tools. We have a wide variety of followers of different age groups and they all have different needs. Some even have Facebook but don’t have Twitter, or Instagram but not Facebook, and some have all. We therefore cater to our customers based on those needs, share all kinds of information on all of our social media platforms in order to better connect with them, and that in itself is the most impactful. Will your upcoming blog be a typical fashion blog or will it showcase the clothing line as well?
Our GS Blog is a unique fashion blog that not only posts fashion-related content. We also include travel destinations, book recommendations (related to fashion of course) as well as all kinds of tips and tricks. We use our latest collections from our fashion brands to help readers choose what to wear and how to accessorize properly in order to stand out. GS Fashion Blog is not your typical fashion blog; it’s about creating a whole mood and bringing fashion to life. We also have contributing fashion bloggers who are posting content on our blog, because we believe their diversity is what shapes the fashion world in Lebanon, so what better than to have them contribute to GS Fashion Blog? How do you use the likes on Facebook and your followers on Twitter to the benefit of your brand?
ment. We are extremely happy that our fan base on all social media platforms is growing by the day, but what we see as success is how our fans connect with us and who show interest in our content, whether pictures, links, or competitions, and we use that to evaluate brand awareness. What do you think the social networking world will look like in a couple of years? And what would you prefer to see?
Access to information will definitely be even faster, wider, and more dynamic. However, what we would still like to see years from now is constant engagement, as this is the measure of success when it comes to digital media. As long as our fans are communicating with us online, we would consider it rewarding. What is the main axis you adopt in your digital media strategy to target the right social media platforms?
Each social media platform is used in a certain way for a certain reason, and we manage our content accordingly. People who spend more time on Facebook are looking for more newsworthy content, while people who are bigger fans of Instagram are more interested in fashion / lifestyle-related visuals. As mentioned earlier, we have a very diverse audience, and the success of our online presence is based on the fact that we are very aware of social media tendencies, the needs of our audience, and their feedback. Describe GS stores brand awareness before and after the social media rise.
Social media has made access to everything all the more easy, and definitely all the more quick. Our readers are more aware of GS and the brands it houses, as they are constantly updated on all of our new collections, as well as when we introduce a new international quality brand to GS. We now connect to thousands of more readers, fans, and customers, and this is definitely due to the rise in social media. We answer their requests instantaneously, and post content on our GS blog based on their demands. It’s rewarding to see more brand awareness due to our success in managing our social media portfolios.
For us, it’s not about how many likes we get on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter; the most important thing is engage61 CLOUD961
FEATURE
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Which Online Make-up Artist Should I Go For? Appraising Lebanese make-up artists’ online presence, a thorough report By Yara Abboud
@slidingskater
Whether you are a woman who loves putting on make-up, hates it or simply applies it on social occasions, you will always find good advice and ideas online. Remember, though, to follow only make-up artists who not only give you tips and tricks but who also engage and interact with you. Fortunately, our Lebanese make-up artists have managed to do so. Let us start with Roula Karam. Her website is very basic compared to others. It is all pink with a big makeup face and a few model faces on the side. Well, at least the words make up, eyebrows and tattoo—the services she offers—are highlighted. Though her website links to her Facebook page, it does not offer a link to her blog, Instagram or Twitter. She primarily engages the audience through Facebook by posting Before-and-After pictures of tattooed eyebrows using the latest micro-pigmentation technique, or posting pictures of her “Look-alike Campaign.” She is always asking for the audience’s opinion. You can tell she is authentic, as nothing is photoshopped. However, you only come across her blog, Instagram or Twitter handles in a specific post on Facebook. Twitter, too, is relatively new. There was a time she got off and came back on but still nothing special. Her blog is simple, yet heartfelt; she shares both personal information as well as relevant make-up tips. You will enjoy reading it though its design looks like the artistic creation of a five-year-old. Simple and down-to-earth, she is the girl next door, the one who shares with
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you her Greek bridal experiences, her wedding experience, and good make-up advice. Unlike Roula, Bassam Fattouh, Hala Ajam, Fady Kataya, and Samer Khouzami hold the upper hand in social media. Bassam Fattouh and Hala score higher on their websites, with Bassam’s being more concise. He has no blog, his site features his BFC cosmetics make-up line, point-of-sale in the MENA region, as well as a Lookbook, helpful tips, and videos. Like Hala, he links to all SM channels, and has a Share button to all. They are the only make up artists with official Pinterests, too. Hala’s site links to more channels, such as Linkedin. Her book and blog are also on the website. Her blog features product reviews, make-up tutorials, and posts by guest bloggers. Her writing is a bit more elaborate and professional than Roula’s. Her website is comprehensive and all-encompassing, giving directions to any upcoming contest, like the Twitter competition she hosted last year where the make-up snapshot with the most retweets won. Though she does not have the most followers, her social authority score is higher than other makeup artists on Twitter. This is because Followerwonk sorts out the active Twitter followers from the inactive ones. A breakdown as well as a Twitter audit is shown below. Roula and Samer are not shown in the follower comparison since they have less followers as well as lower social authority scores (Roula’s score is 1, while Samer’s, 35. (reference: Followerwonk—analysis done May 16)
Comparison of followers of Bassam Fattouh & Hala Ajam & Fady Kataya Twitter audit : who has more fake followers?
(Reference: Twitteraudit.com— Analysis May 16, 2014)
Moreover, when comparing websites, our personal judgement leads us to choose Hala’s as the best. Alexa.com confirms our judgment by giving her site a higher global ranking than others: Hala’s comes first, Bassam’s second, Fady ’s third, Samer’s fourth and Roula’s last. Fady’s website is interesting, however. It greets you with music that never stops unless you turn on the mute button. Though it links to all other SM platforms, you would notice the absence of a link to Youtube since all official videos are posted on his site in the media section. His wordpress blog was last updated in February. Most of its recent content is pictures with titles, and barely any writing. Unlike his previous 2012 blog posts.
@BassamFattouh
62% real
13,260 real, 8231 fake
@FadyKataya
60% real
10,432 real, 6839 fake
@Roula_Karam
77% real
17 real, 5 fake
@HalaAjam
70 % real
6387 real, 2686 fake
@Samer_khouzami
79% real
2071 real, 554 fake
His followers’ comments are in Spanish as well as other foreign tongues. On the other hand, Bassam and the others all receive comments either in Arabic or in English. You might think Samer has fake followers, but when you find out that he has been to Michigan for his latest workshop, it makes sense that his followers are international. He also appears on several episodes of “B Beirut” on LBCI, giving contouring tips, and essential make-up tutorials. He makes sure that each episode is posted on Facebook and Youtube. Seems he knows hashtags create more traffic. Though he might have gone a little overboard with them, the guy is still demonstably popular.
Samer, on the other hand, features a simple website linking to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The only drawback is that the only Facebook page he has is his personal one: you only reach it once you have clicked on one of the posts linking to it. As for Facebook comparison, all makeup artists post pictures: bridal make-up, transformations before-and-after, as well as celebrity looks with opinion questions under each posting. However, a recent competitive report has revealed Bassam Fattouh’s fanpage to be the best performing. Samer’s make-up artist page the second, Hala’s third, Fady Kataya’s and Roula’s last. You will notice, too, that Samer uses hashtags whenever he posts something. 63 CLOUD961
FEATURE Make up artist
Website
(data retrieved on May 16)
roulakaram. com
Very basic links to fb only. Rank 5
13,377 likes, 864 talking about this Rank 4
@Roula_Karam 12 tweets, 11 following, 22 followers 77% real Rank 5
Roulakaramfacecouture 370 posts 1096 followers 122 following
No official channel
None
Wordpress blog; drab design yet heartfelt tips.
Bassamfattouh.com
Stylish, informative promotes BFC line, links to all SM platforms Rank 2
101,036 likes 8480 talking about this Rank 1
12.2K tweets 289 following 21.5K followers 62% real Rank 2
465 posts 122,033 followers 394 following
639 subscribers, last uploaded 6 months ago
14 boards, 379 pins, 323 followers 49 following
No blog
Halaajam. com
Comprehensive, informative, links to all SM platforms, hosts blog on site. Has search tab; arabic and English version
83,965 likes, 2284 talking about this Rank 3
8922 tweets, 726 following, 9073 followers 70% real Rank 1
1046 posts 35,416 followers 213 following
870 subscribers, Last uploaded 5 months ago.
7 boards, 195 pins, 13 likes, 208 followers 67 following
Hosted on the website. Professional, and helpful.
1204 posts 682,424 followers 184 following
18460 subscribers, Last uploaded one month ago.
None
No blog
675 posts, 41,521 followers 286 following
No official Channel
None
Wordpress blog Yet not updated regularly; last post was in February. Detoriarting due to lack of content.
Rank 1 Samer.A Khou- 1054 tweets samerkhou- Brief, links to fb, twitter, and zam Make –up 109 following zami.com instagram. The Artist 2626 followers fb though is his personal fb not his make up artist one.
Rank 4
Make up artist fb page: 131,693 likes, 8214 talking about this. Links to Twitter
79% real
Rank 4
Rank 2 Fadykataya. com
Greets you with annoying nonstop music. Comprehensive links to all SM platforms.
68620 likes, 305 talking about this Links to twitter, and instagram
Rank 3
Rank 5
5336 tweets, 381 following, 17.2K followers 995 favorites; 580 photos/ videos 60% real
Rank 3
All in all, Bassam, and Hala are the best, with Bassam having the most followers on nearly all channels except Youtube and Instagram. On instagram, he is second after Samer (who uses a lot of hashtags and whose pictures may be photoshopped since a few commented on that, yet no comment on his end as of yet). Consequently, Bassam’s Twitter social authoriy score is close to Fady’s, but a simple examination of the nature of his content, and the percentage of real followers he has allows us to place him second. With regard to Instagram, and other 64 CLOUD961
platforms, ranking was avoided since no fake follower checks were done. The table below summarizes each artists’ SM presence. As for which is best? If natural is your choice, go for Roula, Hala or Fady; and if theatrical, go for Bassam or Samer. It’s all a matter of personal preference, and to each his own.
© Tommy Ton
CULTURE Fashion
GQ and Esquire: The key to becoming a modern gentleman
By Mohamad Faez Tarabichi
@mfaezt
As we all know, the fashion world is dominated by a female flair, leaving little space for men to express their à-la-mode identity. GQ and Esquire have been making it easier for us to be immersed in such an interesting industry without having to bear with the heavy burdens of being unfashionable. Originally, GQ (Gentleman’s Quarterly) and Esquire are hard copy magazines, but as the world is being led into a digital era, they had to endure having a foot in the real world and another one upon the internet. One of those publications’ strongest fortes is their exact knowledge and understanding of the modern-day man and their commendable ability to depict him in the most illustrious way for us to see. Their topics vary from fashion, of course, to lifestyle, books and movies, politics, health, food and drink, to women. What else can we ask for? Now when it comes down to which one is better, it is a whole other perspective, and it depends on the reader. GQ has a has a
tendency to have a more colorful and fun layout which makes it easy on the eye with a laidback interface. On the other hand, Esquire has a more monotone layout with simple colors, which gives it a more serious tonality. GQ has this way of making topics more desirable no matter how useless they can be.
www.gq.com/ And Esquire Magazine, the digital edition, at http://www.esquire.com/
The key to their success is being aware of the necessity to bridge the physical with the digital and give their readers what they want to read. However, they are not perfect in every sense, because lately they have been clearly trying to imitate each other—well one of them sure is—which is leading to some overly commercial and meaningless articles and columns. They, however, still manage to be insightful and interesting on different other levels. So, if you are a gentleman looking to modify your lifestyle, sense of fashion, or just need a change of scenery, you might want to check out both those websites to have a clearer idea about which publication appeals to you more. You can check out the GQ Online at http:// 65 CLOUD961
S/S 2014 collection Projected on the screen in London’s Regent Street Flagship Store (Image source: TimeOut.com)
CULTURE Fashion
High-Tech Chic: Burberry and the use of technology By Ayman Jalloul President, AUB’s Online Collaborative
@amnjay
When Angela Ahrendts left her job as the CEO of Burberry to join Apple, I was personally curious about this switch from heading a luxury fashion brand to heading retail at a consumer electronics firm. As soon as the news started making headlines, I became more aware of Burberry’s usage of technology, and it became clear why Apple sought to have Ahrends on their team. For those who do not know, Burberry flagship stores are a technological feat. Ever since September 2012, Burberry started to implement the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology within some of their flagship stores. RFID technology provides Burberry with a way of identifying individual product items using radio signal. Besides quality control and stock management, RFID technology has helped Burberry to shape their in-store customer experience. 66 CLOUD961
RFID technology allows shoppers to view bespoke multimedia content specific to different products and ranges on in-store display screens. For example, the London flagship store on Regent St. has a 7-meter high screen, beaming images of the latest collections, with sound blasting through around 500 speakers. Moreover, various garments are fitted with interactive screens and the mentioned RFID tags. This means that when a customer tries on a garment, the mirrors turn into an interactive display, projecting images of Burberry’s long history and specific details relevant to the item—such as a handbag detail or a raincoat lining. Ultimately, this serves to enhance the shopping experience and make the customer aware of the craft and the history of Burberry.
More recently, in the Spring/Summer 2014 runway show, Burberry took its relationship with apple to new heights and shot the whole show using the iPhone 5s and then streamed the content directly on their website and through their social media channels. By doing so, fashionistas at home had the opportunity to see the lline-up before front row seaters saw the collection and got an exclusive feel of the runway, in an alternative format. With the mastermind behind Burberry’s store strategy moving to Apple very soon, it is extremely exciting to see how Apple’s notorious retail store model will have the Ahrendts uplift, and the way that the in-store shopping experience is meeting technology.
CULTURE Art
4-D Printing: Changing the design discipline fundamentally By Ayman Jalloul President, AUB’s Online Collaborative
1-D
@amnjay
2-D
It comes as no surprise when one hears of how 3D printing is likely to change the discipline of design fundamentally, with examples of such applications are popping every now and then, the question is of course: what’s next? The answer to that might be the rise of 4D printing. «4D printing» is basically 3D printing with the addition of the fourth dimension, which in this case is the self assembly over time. The process of 3D printing is an additive form of manufacturing, that is particles of a certain material are fused together in incremental layers to finally produced the object. The process of 4D printing differs from 3D printing in that it uses shape-memory polymer fibers that are deposited in key areas of a composite material item as it›s being printed, rather than having the object printed form a single
3-D
material arbitrarily. By carefully controlling factors such as the location and orientation of the aforementioned fibers, those areas of the item will fold, stretch, curl or twist in a predictable fashion when exposed to a stimulus such as water, heat or mechanical pressure. So far, the process has been done at a micro scale but researches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) led by architect and computer scientist Skylar Tibbits. are directing their research to enlarge the scale of the process to the macro scale while still enabling the 3D printed materials to be programmed in a way that will allow them to self assemble into predefined shapes and structures. The applications of such a technology will allow for CAD/CAM (computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing) applications to happen in extreme environments where construction can be dangerous
4-D or expensive, such as building in space or on other planets. One application could be a solar panel that can be printed flat, exposed to water so it folds in a certain way to be shipped to outer space and then when that solar panel is exposed to solar radiation, it will unfold into a form that caters for a ultimate solar ray exposure. The applications of 4D printing are still underdevelopment but the interest in this technology is avid. With the US Army Research Office investing in it and researchers trying to advance it, the frontiers of this technology are only starting to materialize, but sooner or later, 4D printing is going to become an essential player in the design process and pushing construction and manufacturing to new frontiers.
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CULTURE Food
Shake Shack New York’s Most Popular Burger, In Beirut Rosati: We make it a point to be active players in the social media scene By Sara Charbel
@saracharbel
New York’s iconic Shake Shack, known for its unrivaled selection of burgers, hotdogs and custards, has opened its second branch in Lebanon at ABC Achrafieh. Given our interest in these delicious burgers and indulging in mouth-watering deserts, we had to have a few minutes with the person behind Shake Shack’s current menu. Mark Rosati is currently the Culinary Director of Shake Shack. He is the person held responsible for spoiling our taste buds. Posting pictures of food in restaurants is considered kind of free advertising. Do you think that some pictures can ruin the dining experience? When people post pictures of food it means they are offering a passion and they are excited to be fans of this specific restaurant. However, when a negative feedback is posted, I try not to read about it because those will ruin the actual experience. When I go to a new restaurant, I want to be surprised and the only way to get there is to put the phones away. Personally, I do take pictures of food; it’s a trend and people are passionate about food; that’s why they tend to share their experience.
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CULTURE Food
Have you ever posted a negative comment or review about a specific restaurant? If I love the food, I’ll share my experience, if not I wouldn’t. Do you think social media is a way to increase footfall? Absolutely. I might follow someone on Instagram, and get to a restaurant I never heard about. I might be the extra guest of the restaurant because of my friend’s post. How do you handle disappointing experiences at Shake Shack through social media? We try to reach out to people and have a dialogue with them. It’s hard to get to everyone but we make it a point to be very active on social media. We take social media very seriously and we insist on being an active player. If a guest cares enough to take a photo and comment on our food, it’s feedback to us, we value it and this helps us improve and focus on improving what has been criticized. Responding in real time through social media gives the chance to rectify any situation. We appreciate the comments and criticism and consider them as a love letters from our fans. Taking into consideration the feedback helps us meet our clients’ standards. Do you recommend to other chain restaurants to take an active step on social media platforms? Definitely. Being on social media enables the restaurants to be connected to their fans. It is encouraging and helpful to engage with the clientele online. We actually have a phenomenal social media team and they are inspiring to me and I think they’re doing a great job. However, we are growing and we need more people to stay connected with everyone. Do you think chefs themselves should get involved in social media networks to help promote their business? It’s good to be involved—I actually do it myself on Instagram. People should know more about the person behind the scene. Fans should know from where the chef gets his inspirations.
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CULTURE Movies
Transcendence Movie Review A failed attempt to make me fear my smartphone
By Raja Riachi
@rajariachi
So, apparently, once you have hired Morgan Freeman and Johnny Depp to be in your movie, you can stop trying to make it a good one. I will do you a favor. Go watch the trailer on YouTube. Then go watch Interstellar’s trailer. It just came out and it is looking really good. Seriously, though, it will take you about halfway through Transcendence’s trailer to figure out the plot of the movie. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) finds a way to create a fully intelligent computer, a concept he calls Transcendence. Anti-technology extremists do not like that so they shoot him. The only way for him to survive is to upload his consciousness to the computer. I am sure you see where this is going. Will Caster, now living in a computer, starts demanding to be connected to the internet, to gain more 70 CLOUD961
power and control. Eventually, the world has to choose between going back to a prehistoric age and abandoning all technology, and succumbing to Transcendence and living in a perfect world with no disease crime or death. Spoiler Alert: They choose the worse option. In case you are wondering, here is why we are reviewing this movie. As a magazine that deals with technology, we have to acknowledge and discuss pop culture’s take on it. The problem with this particular effort is the plot ignores the fact that technology has caused as many of the world’s problems as it has solved. It is kind of like how beer is the cause of and solution to all of Homer Simpson’s problems. To say that a supercomputer will have a chance to control all aspects of the world and fix it is naïve. If God wanted to do it (depending on what you believe in), he would have
done it by now. What is possibly even worse is the premise. The whole bit about a conscious super computer controlling all our technology followed by its destruction with everything it is connected to in an attempt to symbolize humanity’s over reliance on technology and what would happen if we suddenly had to live without it is unrealistic and uninteresting. These are problems we face every day. Google servers go down and we have to manage. The power goes out and we survive. A good science fiction title would take a problem relevant to the world, and launch it in a completely new direction building a plot around likeable and interesting characters. That Interstellar, it’s really looking like it’s worth watching.
CULTURE Politics
The Lebanese Digital Community And Politics: A political online persona dissection By Mohamad Faez Tarabichi
@mfaezt
Politics: the most controversial, yet most anticipated matter in the Lebanese society has forever fueled the most compelling debates and has been one of the favorite hobbies of Lebanese kids and adults, alike. With the reign of the digital becoming more palpable by the day, the internet and the social media platforms have powered up political scenery to turn it into a wider battlefield of interactivity between followers of all parties, leading to racist comments and hate messages among entities of the same country, a sad-but-true type of scenario. In my opinion, the first US politician to truly understand and use social media effectively was President Barack Obama amid 2008 presidential campaign. However, in Lebanon, the first politician to ever join Twitter and set off the social media frenzy was former PM Saad Hariri, who was followed by most Lebanese politicians. A lot of curious minds ask why is it that the Lebanese digital community is
attracted to politics. The answer might not be clear, but one thing is certain: Lebanese people are attracted to arguments and games such as “my father is stronger than yours�. We can dissect several types of people attracted to politics online: The one who is always opposing everyone: No matter whom he favors, and no matter the argument, this person always finds a way to leave a bitter taste in an online conversation and you would not want to get in their way. Unfortunately, more than half of the digital community (and non-digital) in Lebanon are that kind of person. The one whose arguments are invalid No matter how superficial the conversation is, there are some who just do not know how to get themselves in the discussion. They crave attention, and want to get noticed as the ones who got something to say. However, what they try to say has no meaning whatsoever,
most of the time. The Problem solver No matter how deep the problem is, or how edgy the cockfight is getting, there is always this blessed angel who tries to make peace with his fellow countrymen. The Lurker No matter how dumb the argument is, there are some who are attracted to the art of observation, not any observation of course: they would rather stalk the word fights and try to get to the root of it. Politics is an essential pillar in every society and should be taught to everyone with no exception, and its activity is growing with the entanglement it is creating with social media and seeping into our everyday lives. Nevertheless, Lebanese people should know how to control it, to be able to take advantage of its perks and not let it engulf us with hatred.
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CULTURE Travel
Waving our national colors worldwide
By Fred Bteich @fredbteich62
In 2008, they crossed paths for the first time. Nader Diab and Imad Berro, 27 and 26, respectively, left their home country of Lebanon a few years back to pursue a common dream: travel the world in search of adventure. Today, what started 6 years ago as a fun journey has turned into a lifetime dedication of help and humanitarian efforts. Here is what the 2 Lebanese-born “Globe Jumpers” had to tell us in this special interview.
Where did you get the inspiration to start this project? We simply started by travelling solo at the age of 18. Then, after we became great friends, we combined our drive for adventure and began traveling together around the world. For the last few years, our trips have derived on a more humanitarian way. Every year we choose a destination, and make from our travels a mission to get out there and try and help out in any way we can. Travelling is great, but turning your passion into something that can be useful for others while discovering and adventuring is how we GLOBE JUMP.
Tell us more about you guys! Your work, your studies. We are both Lebanese, born and raised, but we moved to Canada at the age of 18 in order to study. Imad is graduating in geography at the UQAM. He also works in a primary school as a chess teacher. I [Nader] am a biology graduate
Horse back riding in Central Mongolia with Aya
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from the University of Montreal, currently working at the Saint Luc Hospital as a Medical lab technician. We live in Montreal, Quebec at the moment.
How do you manage to pay for your trips around? We manage well our money. We move around by public transportation and use our bikes. We cook our own food. We try to make the most out of our lives without spending too much. We love outdoor activities as well as extreme sports like biking, skiing, climbing and tennis, so we keep ourselves busy with them, and work hard during the twelvemonth to save as much as possible for our trips.
Have you sought some local attention back in Lebanon? We have, actually. Every time we go to Lebanon, we get in touch with contacts and friends from the media world. We spoke about our past adventure on MTV Lebanon and answered a few journalists and magazines’ interviewers. We have loads of followers from Lebanon, and we are so grateful for their support! We also carry with us around el mundo the NGO “Donner Sang Compter” to help raise awareness about the importance of blood donation.
What plans do you have in mind for the near future?
one adventure at a time’. So every year, we embark on a different adventure that involves that cause. This year we have chosen ‘mental disability’. Our next trip will bring us to Central Africa, more precisely to Burundi. During the entire month of July, volunteers from around the world are meeting in Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi, to participate in the building of a support centre for children with disabilities. Here are some of the types of activities they will offer once the centre is up and running: 1. Activities designed to strengthen your senses; 2. Fine motor skills development; 3. Psychomotor-based activities; 4. Body-expressions activities; 5. Creative art; 6. Outdoor games; 7. Social and human-interaction development. People from around the world can join us on this! Simply visit our website www.theglobejumpers. com for more information about how to do so! Follow Globe Jumpers on social media: www.facebook.com/theglobejumpers www.youtube.com/globejumpers www.instagram.com/theglobejumpers www.twitter.com/theglobejumpers
Our motto is: ‘turning dreamers into jumpers,
Abandoned ship in North Zanzibar Africa.
Rice fields in Guilin South China with Aya.
CULTURE Travel
TripTogether’s Social Travel App Brings Exciting Options To Vacation Planning
TripTogether’s travel planning tool assists a stress-free vacation with real-time chat, up-to-date advice, and a steady stream of travel partners Many travelers planning a vacation often find it easy to decide on the dream destination they would like to visit, but encounter more difficulty when So, the trip, finding a compatible travel partner and deciding the right time to go. Earlier is always better when researching a vacation because accessing reliable, up-todate and specific advice about a country or destination can take time.
The Travel Planner feature in TripTogether’s app for iPhone and Android helps members plan ahead by getting friendly advice in real-time. Using the TripTogether app’s Live Chat and messaging features, planners can easily find other members interested in the same destination and locals more than happy to share their experience and knowledge of the area being visited.
Social travel has pioneered TripTogether. com to give travelers a unique opportunity to research and plan vacations, the ability to talk to locals and find other travelers to go with.
With TripTogether’s travel planner, the dates and destinations of other member’s planned trips can be easily viewed. This helps single travelers discover potential travel partners who may want to share their journey with them. Interaction with other travelers gives a flavor of the vacation even before any traveling has taken place, in turn boosting the relaxation and enjoyment of the trip.
It is always best to put some serious thought into any destination being visited, and allowing plenty of time for fact-finding from real people helps uncover the best deals and the most important information.
With the daunting task of planning out of the way, members can continue to get to know each other and discuss the finer details of the dream vacation they have been looking forward to for so long.
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GEEKY Apps
Edgard Chammas:
None of the apps on the market provide the same features as Instapload By Armen Bakkalian
@ArmenBakkalian
Instagram has gained a lot of popularity in the last two years. At first, it was underestimated by many and used only for “fun” and personal use, until when businesses started to use it as one of their social media channels. Unlike Twitter where you can use multiple accounts in one app, or Facebook which has a separate apps for pages, Insagram allows you to use only one account at a time and you have to log in and out in order to switch between accounts. Instapload has overridden many limitations in Instagram. Here is Cloud961’s interview with the developer of Instapload, Edgard Chammas.
needed to log in and upload an image. Later, I started thinking of what is the best idea to exploit my findings. And so it was Instapload. How do you plan to generate money from the new app?
Instapload is already at 0.99$ in the AppStore. How much revenue will your strategy generate, approximately?
This depends on how much it hits the Apple Stores worldwide (especially the US store). The App revenue is growing exponentially and so is the rank. It is estimated to reach good positions with
Instapload is a mobile application released on Apple AppStore. It allows managing multiple Instagram accounts along with other features like multi-image to multiaccount upload and image download.
There was a bug in Instagram on some Android versions of Samsung mobiles. After I updated my Samsung Galaxy S3 to Android Kitkat, I wasn’t able to upload videos to Instagram. One day, I thought maybe I could upload images and videos to Instagram out of the box (not from within Instagram application itself). I had to reverse-engineer the application to learn more on how it interacts with the servers and then I was able to decipher the protocol and all the information
I haven’t seen this. I read some complaints about the application crashing when using non-ascii characters in the hashtag field. This is true and was fixed in the version 1.3. It should be available on the market in few days (waiting for Apple review). How much time and money does it take to make a similar app?
Is it worth the time and money to build such apps? It is always good to try things out, especially if you are doing things by yourself. Who knows? You might be the next Mark Zuckerberg.
What have you studied and what is your profession?
What was the main trigger behind creating Instapload?
Many users are complaining that the app crashes when more than 2 hashtags are used. Are you following up on these problems, and do you have any plans to fix them?
It depends on how much developing/time you put on it. However, this app exploits some high-end technologies which makes it a non-trivial task for a normal mobile app developer. That is a good reason for why you don’t see apps on the market to provide similar features.
What is Instapload, and what does it do?
I studied computer engineering and then got my Master’s degree in Information and Networking. I’m now a PhD student in the field of handwriting recognition. I work as a part-time university instructor (faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering) and as an independent IT/ Security consultant for some private corporations and government agencies.
missing features to it. However things are expanding. Who knows, we might end up with a full-featured application.
If Instagram adds the same features, will your app have any use?
the upcoming updates.
No. But I would be glad if they do so.
Why is it only on iOS and not on Android or Windows store as well?
Do you have any plans to improve Instapload with more features?
There is a plan to port it to Android. Just waiting for things to get more mature. What makes Instapload unique compared to similar apps—such as Fotogramme—?
There is already a number of apps on the market that provide managing multiple Instagram accounts. However, none of these provide the same features as Instapload, like image upload or even multi-image upload. The initial idea was not to replicate the user experience of Instagram application itself but to add
I will keep adding more features as my time allows me. As I mentioned, version 1.3 will be available in a few days with some cool features. I also have lots of ideas in mind that I will implement in the future versions (like receiving notification if someone added an new image… etc). Do you have any similar projects for the future?
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GEEKY Apps
Facebook’s New Moves By Manal Mohsen
@Manally
without having to adjust and record anything on it manually. This is exactly what Moves does, and more. It is a delightfully smart app that grasps the type of activity you are doing, whether it be walking, running, cycling, driving from one place to another, then records and measures the time as well as how many calories you have burned off. No extra accessories needed for this, like Nike’s Fuelband and Jawbone require. Moves brilliantly eliminates all those forced, complicated steps to take so you can get moving immediately. It is free and runs in the background of your phone. No more excuses. So if you were on the bicycle for 15 minutes, walked for 10 minutes, and ran for 30 minutes, Moves would have all that figured out without you having to disrupt your workout by grabbing your phone, checking the time, choosing the activity you were doing and all that other demotivating nonsense. Moves offers you easy, motivating and awesome solutions. No wonder this was bought by Facebook. But how does this simple, smart app function?
Facebook knows what they’re doing. After acquiring Whatsapp, and other numerous addictive applications that keep us staring at our smartphones for hours during the day—and night—, the company has decided to go down a new route: Moves, a popular fitness and activity tracking application for both smartphones and tablets. Facebook wants you to get moving! No...really—As ironic as this may sound. Consider a very simple mobile application that will track all the physical activity you do during the day 76 CLOUD961
Moves acts as a pedometer through its ‘location data’ hooked in the phone. So it is with you wherever you go throughout the day. It is then able to recognize the type of activity you are doing, where it was done, and the amount of time spent on it with its neat and colorful timeline. This way, you can always look back and check your progress. As you continue to move and grow, so will the graphic colored circles on the app, indicating what you are doing most as well as how you are improving. Smart and simple move by Facebook. It will be interesting to see how Moves will grow with this new venture and compete with other large and popular apps such as Nike Fuelband, Jawbone, Runtastic, and more.
GEEKY Apps
Swarm:
When one app becomes two By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
More and more companies are taking their apps and splitting them into multiple ones like we have seen with Google and Dropbox. A prime example is Facebook who developed an app just for messaging Facebook friends on Facebook so you no longer had to log in to the main Facebook app to reply to messages. These splits, in theory, help developers add more functionality to an app without making it clunky and allow people more choice if they want to use just one app for one thing. In an unexpected move, Foursquare has jumped onto the diverging bandwagon and split into two. There will now be the Foursquare, and a brand new app called Swarm. Swarm will be an app for checking-in to locations while Foursquare itself will become a guide more akin to Yelp. But will this make things more efficient for Foursquare and what are the company trying to do as a brand?
On first try, Swarm seems great. The colors are a lively yellow, orange, and white. The app now has the checkin button in the top right corner and categorizes your friends into sections determined by distance (within 500 meters, several kilometers, or farther). You can also see a full list of all friends and where they have checked-in and it is now easier ‘like’ their location by hitting a heart next to the check-in. A new feature that I really liked is “Nearby Plans” which acts similar to the Twitter timeline where you can post a status like “On the corniche, who wants to talk a walk?” and see if you can actually get plans going with friends nearby. You also get all your new notifications much like you would on Facebook and you can add a sticker to your check-in. The new app also seems to be much faster and more accurate at picking up your location than of Foursquare.
popular. With Swarm now taking on check-ins, it seems that Foursqare wants to grow their brand into a guide/travel app that will offer people customer reviews and tips, possibly making the brand a competitor to TripAdvisor and Yelp. Foursquare has been able to maintain its popularity in the past four years which shows it can survive in the constantly evolving tech-world, so I have full faith that they know what they are doing with the brand. Swarm’s efficiency and new functionality keeps alive the fun of checking-in with your friends, giving the brand the space it needs to explore new directions. Hopefully other apps can match their success and give us more variety.
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GEEKY Gadgets
Product Recalls:
Why you should register your product and follow up By Raja Riachi
@rajariachi
Product recalls, from Sony Vaio’s recent burning batteries, to Iphone 5 sleep/wake buttons that do not work, to Toyota’s faulty brakes: it is something many companies have to face at some point. Some are more publicized than others, usually because of the dangerous nature of the flaw in the product which led to a recall. What a recall is exactly, is your product being called back by the manufacturer, because of a flaw in the manufacturing process. Recalls are usually issued either to all products of a particular model, if the problem is dangerous, or to affected products upon the request of the customer if it is not. 78 CLOUD961
When it comes to tech products, registering your product online should entitle you to a recall, but as always, living in a developing country, no one really cares about usually leaves us hanging. While there have been some manufacturers to provide replacements or fixes when flaws are found, others simply ignore us completely. This goes back as far as last decade with Vaio’s infamous overheating problem, where customers were largely ignored. Today, I have yet to hear back from Dell concerning my brand new XPS 12 convertible Ultrabook which has a screen retention problem. They have been replacing models with faulty screens in the US, but have not gotten back to me yet
despite registering their product. When it comes to the Iphone 5 Sleep/ Wake buttons, their International Replacement Program began on May 5. Navigating their site, however, yielded no results for Lebanon. Affected customers can try complaining directly to Apple Customer Service or have it fixed if your warranty is still valid, but other than that there is not much to do. Registering your product is definitely important but does not always yield results. If there is something wrong with your product, do follow up, even if you do not have a warranty, as manufacturing errors have to be fixed by manufacturers regardless.
GEEKY Gadgets
LG Rolls Out Smart Appliances That “Chat”
LG Electronics (LG) announced the launch of its premium smart appliances with revolutionary HomeChat™ messaging service in South Korea. HomeChat™ employs Natural Language Processing (NLP) and LINE, the popular mobile messenger app with over 300 million users, to let homeowners communicate, control, monitor and share content with LG’s latest smart appliances. Introducing a whole new level of convenience, the company’s premium smart appliance lineup includes a camera-equipped refrigerator, a washing machine that allows users to start and download washing cycles remotely via HomeChat™ and a Lightwave oven that supports NFC and WiFi for convenient control from any location. LG Smart Refrigerator
LG’s most advanced smart refrigerator incorporates several breakthrough innovations, such as the Smart View feature. Using the industry’s first built-in internal refrigerator camera positioned at the top of the main compartment, users can monitor exactly what’s inside their refrig-
erator on their smartphones or tablets. The wide angle camera can show content not only in the upper shelves, but also food items on the bottom-most shelf. The built-in camera detects the opening and closing of the refrigerator, capturing images of the food items stored inside when last opened. Using HomeChat™, users can immediately see exactly what they need to buy when they’re at the grocery store or supermarket.
LG’s smart washing machine will ensure that the laundry is finished by the time they get home. And by texting What are you doing? Users can receive real time updates on the washer’s progress.LG’s smart washing machine is equipped with an intuitive smart touch display that makes it easy to selector download appropriate wash cycles via WiFi connection.
LG’s unique Health Manager can make recipe recommendations as well as daily and weekly meal plans based on the user’s personal profile. Age, gender, weight and height information are used to determine body mass index (BMI), which is then used to create an appropriate, personalized meal plan.
home owners can converse with their smart LG oven to recommend recipes for specific dishes. SelectReturn-home using HomeChat™ and the smart oven will ask What dish would you like to make today? and open the Recipe Search window. When ready to cook, the oven will automatically set the oven’s temperature and cooking time for the particular dish. Users can receive alerts on their smartphones when new recipes areavailable, encouraging family members to try new and interesting dishes.
LG Smart Washing Machine With HomeChat™, consumers can
remotely control and monitor their LG smart washing machine from outside the home. By texting startwashing cycle and providing an estimated time of arrival,
LG Smart Lightwave Oven With HomeChat™ and Recipe Search,
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GEEKY Social Games
Need For Speed Rivals
A legacy of car race gaming, NFS needs no introduction By Layal Jebran
Lub vs Dub By Layal Jebran
@iPr1ncess
@iPr1ncess
Similar to its predecessors, Need for Speed Rivals has its tint of high adrenaline- pumping street racing, and the unrelenting rivalry between racers and cops. In a close-to-reality gameplay environment, you can play as a racer or a cop, whereby as either personas, you gain achievements to increase in either notoriety as a racer—by escaping the cops and gaining speed points—, or estimation as a cop—by capturing speeding racers or knocking their cars off the road—. Points are collected as game advances naturally. These points enable the gamer to buy new cars and upgrades. A multiplayer feature is also available. As most NFS games, you are able to communicate with players and challenge them to races. A new feature added there whereby players can switch easily between online and all-drive mode. Graphics are stunning and the music the newest and hippest to drive to as usual. Playing the game is undeniably exciting at all times, whether it is with friends, or just to pass some time during the weekend. Verdict:
Vroom! Gear up, the game is worth at least an 8/10. NFS Rivals is available on all consoles, from PC to XBOX One, XBOX 360, PS3, PS4, and as Digital Deluxe for PC through Origin.
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Judging by the name, one immediately thinks of something funny. In fact, Lub vs Dub is a new definition of fun on the iOS platform. The game is basically about collecting as many hearts as possible while flipping and jumping around the big and small heart beats. You may find occasional upgrades throughout the path which may help you speed up or gain shields or magnets which attract the hearts towards you. Social-sharing ability for scoring is enabled via Twitter, while the score is automatically uploaded to your Game Centre account. Playing along that EKG designed theme, Lub vs Dub’s main feature, though, is its multiplayer option. The screen displays two sets of controls and you and a friend can play simultaneously on the same device. The game gets very interesting when it starts flashing and changing orientation making it more of an uphill climb, literally. Verdict:
I’ll dub it a strong 9/10. The fun force is very strong in this one, not mentioning its graphics and music, and the fact that its user interface is very well planned. Lub vs Dub is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. You can download it now for 0.99$ from the App Store.
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GEEKY Smart Software
HySpell:
The first Armenian Spellchecker A joint project by Haro Mherian & Nayiri Institute By Armen Bakkalian
@ArmenBakkalian
The Armenian Language is one of the oldest Indo-European languages. It has two standardized forms used today: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. Eastern Armenian is the language used in Armenia, Georgia and Iran, whereas Western Armenian is used in the diaspora. In 2009, Western Armenian was mentioned in UNESCO’s “Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger” as a definitely endangered language. As we all know, the dominant and main language of the internet today is English. Even if we are expressing thoughts in another language, we type using Latin letters. The same problem is found in Arabic, Armenian, and some other languages. Hyspell is a new spellchecker by mathematician, physicist and software architect, Haro Mherian, which corrects your spelling mistakes whether in Eastern or Western Armenian. It is a highly needed tool for the ease and continuation of electronic
communications in Armenian, since the language has many similarly pronounced letters. There are two of the following letters which have a very slight difference in their pronunciations: P, R, K, T, TS, TCH, V, O, and E. If you have not mastered the language, it is somehow difficult to spell the words correctly. This is a major drawback that is causing many people to refrain from typing Armenian letters, and turning to the “Latinized Armenian”. HySpell is now available for free on Firefox and OpenOffice only (Both are free softwares). You can mainly do everything with these two. Even if you use Microsoft
A Visual Delight: Fileminimizer Suite Compress files, preserve quality By Fred Bteich @fredbteich62 How about your family anxiously waiting for your latest trip’s photo album to surface on Facebook, or your friends to start studying for a certain course they are expecting you to send them by e-mail, while you struggling to upload the huge files online? Sounds familiar, right? The solution, however, is present, and I am sure you will fall in love with this software as soon as you start using it. As the name suggests, Balesio’s Fileminimizer Suite reduces the size of your files, but thankfully keeps the same original quality. Optimizing Powerpoint, Word, Excel and PDF files as well as the main types of images, you will end up gaining hundreds of megabytes and some very precious waiting time. Easy to use with a simple interface, it will also integrate into your Office programs and email clients (Microsoft Outlook and 82 CLOUD961
Lotus Notes) to allow you to shrink the files on the spot and attach them before sending them over. Of course, one cannot expect such software to be free! It will cost you about 78€ but it is worth every penny. A cracked version of it is always available around, but if we are talking legal, and you cannot afford it for now, you can always try it for 30 days, or use just Fileminimizer Pictures for free, both available on the same website! So head over to www.balesio.com/fileminimizersuite and get this must-have software installed onto your pc now.
Office, you can still work on it and then paste it in OpenOffice, correct the spelling mistakes and then work again on Office. If you do not like to do this, you can get a HySpell license for Office, which is at $30. Installation is easy. For Firefox, it is a plugin that is downloaded directly from the website (www.HySpell.com). You have to create an account first, and then choose whether you want the Spellchecker for Eastern or Western Armenian. The process is similarly for OpenOffice, but with a lighter software. HySpell is one of the best solutions created for the revival of the Armenian language. Many who were hesitant about writing in Armenian can now write confidently. It is a vital tool, especially for the youth. If you support this project and are willing to donate, you can donate on Nayiri Institute’s website, at www.nayiri.com.
GEEKY Smart Software
Connectify Hotspot: Turn your laptop into one! By Fred Bteich
@fredbteich62
How many times have you been forced to remain locked at a particular location just to be able to grab an internet connection? Would it be a dream-come-true to have excellent signal strength anywhere around the house; in the kitchen while eating, perhaps in the bathroom while showering as well? In reality, this has become feasible with Connectify Hotspot, a software able to transform your laptop into a hotspot or router.
your devices (mobile phone, tablet) while wandering freely and comfortably in a larger area! How to use it?
You will be able to distribute your internet connection all around, with intensified signal strength, and use it on all
This way, “Connectify Hotspot” will generate the connection you’ve just created, and open the “Clients” tab for you, to
1. Connect to the internet; 2. Download and install the software at: http://www.connectify.me/hotspot/; 3. Open it, name the hotspot and set its password under “Settings”; 4. Choose the “Internet to Share” then start your hotspot.
identify and monitor the devices that get connected to it! Amazing, isn’t it? You can now link all your gadgets and friends to this special WiFi network! The software itself comes in a Lite version which, compared to the paid “PRO” one, has understandably a few setbacks: 1. The hotspot stops working every 90 minutes; 2. No possible 3G, 4G and tethered connection sharing; 3. Signal strength and the hotspot name option are more limited.
Buying a Windows 8 License: Beware the OEM version By Raja Riachi
@rajariachi
Buying a Windows License is not something you want to do more than once in your life. With the convenient option of upgrading to any new version of Windows for a reduced fee you really should not have to, especially when you are paying around $130 for it to begin with. This is why, when you are buying a license, make sure you stay away from Vir-
gin Megastore and pcandparts.com. These retailers carry the OEM version only. OEM licenses are still fully functional windows licenses, but come in packaging that is sent to manufacturers (a white envelope). Retailers have opted to sell OEMs because they are cheaper to acquire, and thus can be sold at more competitive prices. The practical things you lose out on, other than the manual, are MS life support, and
most importantly, the ability to transfer the license from one PC to another. Once installed, the license is immediately tied to the motherboard, which would make upgrading for enthusiasts and PC builders a more expensive process. A better alternative is buying a Windows license online for as low as $120, and bypassing the hassle of physical media while making sure you will always be able to use the OS you paid so much for.
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Agency of the Month:
Mindshare MENA, BEIRut By Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
For our monthly behind the scenes sneak peek at the digital work of agencies in Lebanon, we have interviewed Rasha Rteil, Digital Strategist at Mindshare MENA in Beirut. Apparently, Rasha is having some serious fun managing and leading digital thinking, strategy and operations for the Levant and specific Middle East markets at Mindshare Beirut, as she delivers vibrant and echoing campaigns across MENA markets. Check out which of your favorite campaigns has this agency been behind!
Jordan and landing in Lebanon. We build an AR set up inviting women to try on Marks & Spencer’s fashionable outfits in a frictionless manner and share their favorites with their social circles of friends. Adding to the above, we had a great challenge to digitally launch Vape in Lebanon with an objective to compliment the outdoor campaign and increase sales. With a challenging budget, we created a smart response to the Mosquito curfew (“Hazer Al Tajawol”) and we invited Mosquitos to take vengeance online, and invade the audience’s cyberspace. A creative, fun and comical campaign which was shortlisted for Best Social at the Dubai Lynx 2014. Do you feel that Lebanon is still lagging behind the world digitally?
First off, can you share with us how have digital thinking and strategies changed in Mindshare since you started working there and where are they going?
The reason why I joined Mindshare was due to this agency’s culture in being agile and accelerative. Our digital product was established over a decade ago. However Mindshare Lebanon kick-started servicing clients with digital media as of 2011. And now, we are equipped with the best in-class digital specialists ranging from performance, social, mobile, and connection architects who act as a backbone support to our integrated mix. We are the 1st agency to integrate its media and communication planning offerings amongst their planners since 2012. What are the most interesting digital or integrated campaigns done in the past year by the agency, in Lebanon and the Middle East?
2013 was a fun and exciting year which brought many great achievements with our partners, such as GAP launch in Lebanon and “Hello Lebanon” which encompassed a mix of social, gaming, outdoor, radio, and so much more. The combined mix made this campaign a winner of multiple awards, my favorite being the EMEA Original Thinking campaign of the year announced by Mindshare Worldwide. Another would be launching the 1st fashion virtual closet in the Levant, starting in 84 CLOUD961
Let’s be more factual here. In Lebanon, and as we speak, smartphone penetration has risen up to 63% out of which 85% have mobile internet access, internet penetration rising to 61%, social networks penetration is 87% of internet penetration. This denotes that we have a population with a digitally-enabled mindset. All of Mindshare’s clients are digitally enabled, on social, search, even mobile responsive. We prepare our brands to be immune to the traditional, accelerating into an agile digital space, where the Lebanese consumer effortlessly engages with creative and exciting brand experiences. When we launched our M&S virtual closet, we had the chance to witness women’s inspiring reactions when experiencing a “1st time” techie fashion incident. This shows that we are not lagging behind, yet we have borderless opportunities to ride the digital wave and as brands we create the most culturally exciting connections with our consumers. Do you feel the world has something to learn from Lebanon in terms of marketing and advertising?
The world has a lot to learn from Lebanon’s marketing and advertising industry. Advertising spent in Lebanon is somehow trivial versus other markets, specially other GCC countries. That being said, we are more challenged to create the most creative and culturally relevant campaigns. An example again is Vape, how we were faced with a task to create an experiential
user journey across social media, and used online content, display, and style relevant to the Lebanese audience. Do you feel Lebanon is too small a market for astounding integrated campaigns?
Gap, “Hello” Lebanon” is a perfect example of how integrated marketing is applicable in Lebanon. This campaign was a winning case study which translated into worthy return on investment to the client, social buzz and proof of how Lebanese consumers can be captured through multiple media touch points when using intelligent, agile media and communications planning specialists. So I would say this has nothing to do with the size of the market; it has to do with audience readiness, media usage, and their expectations out of a brand’s communication. Lebanese are quiet exposed and sophisticated with high expectations. How does Mindshare work within the digital agency eco-system; Which areas are handled in-house and which ones are outsourced?
In order to control and ensure a successive digital product across partners, we adhere to controlling and connecting the user journey across paid media, owned assets and generating earned buzz. That is why we are equipped with the best digital specialists ranging from performance, social, mobile, and connection architects acting as a backbone support to our integrated mix. Production-based content such as mobile applications, gaming, and immersive technology are all collective collaborations with our technology partners. What would you advise clients going digital? Where should they focus their efforts, where do you see gaps in the region?
The edge digital media has over any other communication channel, be it social, display or even digital content, is the ability to retrieve and exhaust on data mining. The beef lies where the data is. Being adaptive to what consumers are saying, reacting and even creating about your brand is what the future of best marketing practices holds.
BUSINESS Agencies
“Original thinking is the best insurance we have for continued growth” -Rasha Rteil
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BUSINESS Digital
Omar Christidis:
The Middle East certainly has the resources and talents to be able to compete on a global scale
Banking on Arab talent and digital technologies By Mohammad Hijazi, Editor in Chief
@mhijazi
Omar Christidis is the Founder and CEO of ArabNet, the leading events and media company focused on the Arab web and mobile industry. ArabNet organizes the leading conferences for the digital sector in the MENA region, including the ArabNet Digital Summit, the premier international gathering for Arab digital professionals and entrepreneurs. The Summit was held for the fourth time in Dubai in June 2013 and brought together more than 800 attendees from 35 countries and received more than 9,100 tweets and 42,800 hits on the live-steam. In 2012, Omar was selected by GulfNews Magazine as one of its “30 under 30” list. He is a graduate of Yale University and the Co-Founder of the Yale Arab Alumni Association.
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BUSINESS Digital At the last ArabNet Beirut, the issue of language of the conference was raised. Why do you think it is better for the conference to be conducted in English in both Dubai and Beirut? ArabNet Beirut and the Digital Summit are held in English because of the significant number of speakers and attendees coming in from abroad. This allows both the speakers and attendees to converse with each other smoothly. English today is the global language of business. As this is a business-focused conference. It makes sense for us to keep that platform open for people from outside the Middle East, so that we raise interest in our market. In your experience, what are the challenges facing digital entrepreneurs in the Middle East? How do these challenges differ between Beirut and Dubai? There is a number of challenges facing digital entrepreneurs today. The first would be launching, and by launching I mean taking the leap of faith from their jobs that they are in to launching their own company, a team and get a product out there. The key challenge around this is that people have a lot of financial responsibilities which makes it harder for them to be able to leave their job and start something. It is also difficult for people to find a co-founder who has a complimentary skill set, believes, and is willing to take the risk with them. Beyond that, if they are able to come up with a product, and raise money, I think the second biggest thing is around scaling and finding customers, and brining in revenue. Today we have seen companies go out and build a product and get financing, but what’s left to be determined is: can those companies scale across multiple and different markets. That’s a key challenge in the Middle East because of the cultural differences and the borders between different markets. Being able to actually do high-level partnerships and sales to big corporations especially as so much decision making is concentrated within the hands of very senior people, the CEO or a small group of decision makers within most of these corporations and it is difficult to access them as a young entrepreneur. I think what’s more important is the differ-
ence in the type of entrepreneurs we’re seeing between Beirut and Dubai. In Dubai, we tend to see entrepreneurs that are a little bit older, have more experience, and tend to be mid-career professionals who are leaving an established career to start a company. Oftentimes, that company is in a similar space to where they were working, so they’ve already built experience and relationships. I think this gives them a leg-up in terms of their opportunities and possibility for success.
In your opinion, what are the newest digital trends and what can we be expecting in the near future? ArabNet Digital Summit will focus on the latest trends in digital business and entrepreneurship. We have multiple tracks within the event, one of which is focused on business. We’ll discuss global e-commerce and commerce across borders. We’ll also be touching on the latest trends in payment like Bitcons, which is taking the payment landscape by storm.
be discussing the transformations that are taking place in online video. Major players are getting involved in this place, like MBC which is pushing its Shahed platform. ICFlix, launched in Dubai, along the Netflix model. As well as Yahoo who recently started making a big push in video, and signed a contract with U-turn in Saudi Arabia. We’ll be discussing the rise of the multichannel network in the Middle East, which is becoming a global trend. Disney acquired Maker Studios, one of the largest YouTube multichannel networks for 500 million dollars. We’re seeing the successes in the multichannel networks across the region like Qsoft videos which does the Bassem Youssef show in Egypt. Kharabeesh in Jordan and a number of channels like U-turn, Telfaz 11, and others in Saudi Arabia. The future of the agency is a topic we’re interested in. The lines between creative advertising agencies, media agencies, and publishers continue to blur, which will transform the landscape of agencies in the Middle East. We’ll be exploring that with some of the CEO’s and regional Md’s of these businesses. From a technology perspective, we’re really excited to talk about 3D printers, wearable technology, and smart hardware. Things that are the revolution in hardware technology, partly that been inspired by cheaper technology. Today we can buy 3D printers for a couple of hundred dollars. Cheap computers like Raspberry Pi which will cost 30 dollars. Kick-starting and crowd-funding more broadly which has opened up an avenue for funding smart and new hardware innovation. Do you think that the Middle East will catch up to the Western digital wave any time soon? What is needed to catch up with? The dynamics of the global economy are shifting and certainly shifting east. I think
In terms of digital media and marketing, which is a major topic of the event, we’ll 87 CLOUD961
BUSINESS Digital that Dubai is making a bid to become not only the capital for business in the Arab World, but also the capital for business in emerging markets. I believe that the Middle East certainly has the resources and talents to be able to compete on a global scale. I think we’re starting to see this anyway. As we’ve mentioned in terms of hardware we’re already seeing Arab companies compete on an innovative level globally. Especially when it comes to new platforms like mobile and social, the Arab World is not behind in terms of usage of these platforms. What are your personal favorite established start-ups and start-up ideas that you have come across during ArabNet events so far? There are tons of amazing ideas. One startup that I think has a really great opportunity is Anghami. Globally, people are interested in investing in the business model of streaming music and so they are very much on a global trend. They signed deals with some of the biggest content owners in the Middle East. They have strategic partnerships with Choueiri Group, MBC, and others. They are well funded with good investors, and have a strong team of founders. They’ve also built a strong team within the company, and I think that all of those things set them up to have high a potential for success. Beyond that, I think some of the most interesting entrepreneurs most likely to succeed in the Arab World are the Youtube entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. Most people don’t usually think about the Youtube channels in Saudi Arabia as entrepreneurs, but I think they are the most successful ones. They have built massive followings. Each of their episodes has views in millions. They are working with brands directly and building revenues, they have credibility. They’re being approached by regional and global players in term of partnerships. We’re going to see a lot of disruptions in the media industry caused by these Youtube entrepreneurs. The last one is a space that I am really interested in, which is around children. Whether it’s from the side of content, edutainment, apps and games that help teach kids. This is a space that a lot of parents would be willing to pay for. Content around this is underserved in the Arab market. We don’t have any clear winners in this space, and no one has grown a scale properly in it. What makes the UAE the regional digital hub right now? Should
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Lebanese—and Arab—entrepreneurs pack up their bags and move to Dubai? The key thing the UAE has going for it is infrastructure. They’ve got amazing connectivity, accessibility, reliable and reasonably priced internet. A stable market, so people can plan their work which is an advantage for doing business in Dubai. This is certainly an advantage, as other Arab countries are unstable today. The lead that Dubai has on other Arab markets was less five years ago than today. The other thing that Dubai has, as it has built itself into a regional business hub, is that today a lot of the big global and regional corporations have their headquarters there. That makes access to decision-makers and budgets much easier in Dubai. No, I don’t think that entrepreneurs should pack up their stuff and go, because talent is at a premium in Dubai. By hiring people, you’re going to be competing with some of the biggest companies that are able to pay bigger salaries. You will be unable to compete for talents in that market. In addition, life in Dubai is significantly more expensive, so trying to bootstrap your startup in an expensive city like Dubai is much more challenging. While the UAE market is maturing rapidly, I think there are more support organizations in Lebanon that are active in working with entrepreneurs. Maybe as the country is smaller, there are more support communities that exist here. Which industry in the Middle East is benefiting the most from the digital advances? How do you see the digital/ social impact in the next ten years on the commerce, healthcare and political sectors? I believe that all industries today are facing rapid digital transformations. Digital has become a key item on the CEO agenda across sectors. E-commerce is booming, stores of all the major retailers that are moving into this space. We have super markets that are transitioning into e-commerce, so you will be able to order your groceries online. There are tons of products out there in the market. I think the successful companies are those that will help us find the best and the right product for our interest. In term of healthcare, we’ll be wearing devices that will let us know in advance if we are going to have a stroke, and monitor our insulin levels. I was sitting with an investor who invests in
healthcare, he said, “Today the internet has replaced general practitioners as a doctor; people go into the doctor’s clinic having thoroughly researched their own diseases and illness.” So, I think there’s going be a shift of power to the customer in the healthcare space and they’re going to be able to access their data in a better way. Politics, we’re going to see more and more of a dialogue between citizens and governments. We’re seeing the trend of open data that is allowing developers to leverage government data and create apps that improve the life of citizens (apps that allow citizens to take photos of traffic violations or pot-holes on the roads and report them to authorities and municipalities.) It will allow government to share data with home owners and real estate developers around their energy use and how to optimize the consumption. I believe we will see as well a lot of transparency in term of governments. There is an opportunity for these governments to be more transparent when we see what western markets are doing; we see that the UK government already puts online the ministerial minutes for meeting that are taking place, expenditures that are above 25K pounds are all documented online so citizens are able to see what their governments are doing. How is the digital sector different in Saudi Arabia? Do you notice any major difference elsewhere in the Middle East as well? I think Saudi Arabia is one of the most underappreciated markets and the key reason is that most people outside the kingdom see it as a consumer market only. They underestimate the amount of innovation and production that’s happening in that market. Particularly in Saudi Arabia, innovation takes place at the edge of limitation. We’ve seen the Youtube channels that have emerged and become extremely successful come out of the lack of relevant local content available on local channels. We’ve also seen Saudi women who have challenges in term of mobility and employment create stores for themselves on Instagram, to be able to sell products that they make at their own homes. The entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia have an advantage, because they know the market better than anyone else. They are able to create apps, content and games that are really successful in the Saudi market. People like Ibtikar Technologies who’ve created Ibalout which is a very big game in Saudi Arabia, that we don’t play at all in the Levant area, and that is doing six figure revenues. I think we will see a lot of great successful startups coming out of Saudi Arabia, serving both the Saudi market and the overall regional market.
BUSINESS Marketing
HOW TO LAUNCH AN ONLINEBUSINESS USING SOCIAL MEDIA 9 do’s to get your online business up and running By Lara Al Sous
@ElleSous
1• Observe results and respond appropriately Social media is measurable! Evaluate how many people were able to see your update, how many new followers you have gained, where they are located, how many people may have clicked to go on your website, and much more.
4• Acquire a plan Figure out who will be handling the daily management, as having one tone of voice is necessary to keep your style and type of information you disseminate consistent. Remember, the world of social media is always expanding, and adapting your
7• Connect with your audience Use your social media platforms to keep the conversation alive among your audiences. It is a great opportunity to attain genuine feedback and gain a new fan base. and adapting your plan is just as important.
plan is just as important.
8• Be real, be accessible and be transparent
2• Advertise Companies who revert to effective advertising on social media tend to reach a larger audience than those who choose to grow organically. Advertising not only allows you to grow your audience, it delivers your messages to a larger scale.
5• Don’t hesitate to seek professional help Companies often make the mistake by referring to an admin or an intern to handle their social media platforms. Social media community managers must be highly efficient in communication skills and have the knowledge on the tools, style and the conception of social media. Do not be afraid to consult with an agency to get some help.
3• Ask questions Do not be afraid to ask questions. Social media is a two-way communication channel and asking questions to your target audience and network is part of engaging with them.
6• Build and reward your online influencers Thank your followers. They are the reason behind the span of success you have achieved on your social media platforms.
Listen to what your audience members are saying. Your audience simply wants to get to know YOU. Ensure that you have the proper tools (Smartphone apps) to ensure your availability when your audience reaches out to you. Note that whatever you say may be used against you, therefore anything you add may be subject to further inquiry.
9• Know your audience and what inspires them Understand who you are trying to reach. Different platforms speak to different audiences.
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BUSINESS Money
A Bit-o’-Crime: Money Laundering and BitCoin By Ayman Jalloul
@Amjay
Dark Wallet’s interface showing the Coin Join function, Wired.com
Last February, Charlie Shrem, a prominent Bitcoin entrepreneur who is also known as one of BitCoin’s most visible promoters got more visibility when he was arrested in New York. Shrem was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to sell more than USD 1m in Bitcoins to the users of Silk Road, an illicit marketplace where users browse anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring. Note that due to illegal practices, the FBI shutdown Silk Road in October of 2013. The above financial crime would not have been facilitated were it not for the nature of Bitcoin. The digital currency is conceived around anonymity, is not backed by any government or central bank and fluctuates in value according to its users’ demand. Moreover, it allows users to transfer Bitcoins to each other online and store the currency in digital “wallets.” Regardless of the minimal footprints that Bitcoin keeps record of, these transactions can still be tracked and accordingly, the FBI was able to track Shrem and then indict him for the transaction he made to Silk Road. However, the FBI may soon be unable to have as much ability to track Bitcoin traffic. Amir Taaki, known for developing the 3D printed gun, and his partner Cody Wilson 90 CLOUD961
are now seeking a way to make money laundering even easier on Bitcoin through hyper-anonymizing it. The two attracted attention to their app, Dark Wallet, when it was launched on the Indiegogo crowd-funding website, where it raised more than USD 52k last December. Dark Wallet “[i]s a way of using Bitcoin that mocks every attempt to sprinkle it with regulation,” says one of Dark Wallet’s two 26-year-old organizers. “It is a way to say to the government ‘You’ve set yourself up to regulate Bitcoin. Regulate this.’” Dark Wallet thus challenges the tracking of transactions by encrypting users’ identities far more strongly than what Bitcoin already offers in its current form. By encrypting and mixing together all of the users’ payments, Dark Wallet makes it practically impossible to trace the flows of money online. Its central tool is a technique called Coin Join where every time a user spends Bitcoins, his or her transaction is combined with that of another user chosen at random who is making a payment around the same time. The further along the series of the transaction, the less and less certain you can be of the transaction’s origin. For instance, after just eight transactions, the Bitcoins could end up in 256 different locations.
Despite facilitating financial crime, Dark Wallet fills in a need for privacy in the Bitcoin economy. Despite its efforts in making currency anonymous, Bitcoin transactions are essentially publicly exposed, more that those of traditional monetary transactions. The reason for this is that every Bitcoin payment is recorded in the block chain which is public and will cause the record of the transaction to be copied to thousands of users’ computers to prevent forgery and fraud in the Bitcoin network. If Bitcoiners do not actively anonymize their coins, all of their spending can potentially be traced back to their Bitcoin addresses by any corporation or government agency that cares to look. Again and again, the issue of the liberty the internet provides is questioned, especially due to its increasing integration with our daily practices. However, should specific policies be created just for the internet? And how different are they from other policies? To the same effect, is there a point in having policies in a cyberspace where limitations are being unfettered at increasing speeds?
BUSINESS Money
Creditbank Launches First MasterCard Contactless Sticker Payment Solution In Lebanon
Creditbank, in collaboration with MasterCard has announced on June 6 the launch of the MasterCard Contactless Sticker payment solution in Lebanon, a first for this market. The announcement was made today at an event that was attended by representatives of Creditbank, MasterCard, CSC Bank, Unilux and Gemalto. The Creditbank MasterCard Contactless Sticker is a smart, mobile and secure way to pay and is faster than using cash or waiting for change. The MasterCard Contactless Sticker uses MasterCard contactless technology and it allows any personal item to be converted into a payment tool. Creditbank customers just need to attach the innovative tag on their mobile phones or even an identity card or driver’s license and start using it to shop at all merchant locations with MasterCard contactless payment terminals. “The Creditbank MasterCard Contactless
Sticker payment solution that we launch today is an innovation that will transform and redefine the world of mobile payments. This solution will make low-value purchases exceedingly simple by converting any mobile phone of any generation into a credit card which can then be used to make easy and fast contactless payments. We are delighted to collaborate with Creditbank, Gemalto and Unilux to launch this first of its kind payment solution in Lebanon. These are exciting times for the people of Lebanon and we are honored to be part of this positive change that will help drive the future growth of Lebanon’s payment landscape,” said Basel El tell, Market Manager for Levant, MasterCard. The Creditbank’s retail division first spotted the contactless sticker a few years back in Europe and saw its huge potential in terms of technological advancement and customer comfort. As a result, the Bank decided to bring the solution to the Lebanese market , which
is known for its high adoption rates of new technology. Mr. Tarek Khalifé, Chairman of the Board, Creditbank, commented: “Innovation has always been regarded a core value at Creditbank. It is intrinsic part of the bank’s new corporate identity and logo, which were launched in early 2014. Two pillars make up the bank’s corporate essence. First of all, the ability to listen and understand the customer’s every need and, secondly, to act upon his or her wishes with enthusiasm and professionalism. Creditbank therefore is continuously on the lookout to make the banking experience a more personalized and comfortable experience.” The bank’s slogan “People you can bank on” is more than a brand promise: it is the promise on which all business is conducted and concluded.
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BUSINESS Money
Is There More To A Phone Than Calling? Latest payment trend in Lebanon By Mhamad Dankar
@MhdDankar
I am sure many of you have come across an ad for the latest payment trend: paying through your mobile phone, also referred to as mobile money or mobile wallet. Mobile payment (different from mobile banking) is a service operated under a financial regulation and performed via a mobile device. Instead of paying with cash, cheque, or credit cards, a customer uses their mobile phone to pay for a variety of services and goods, both physical both digital. The banking sector in Lebanon, always surprising us with new products and innovations, has lately focused on mobile payment, and today numerous banks offer their customers those services.
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BUSINESS Agencies
The specific technologies utilized as well as the scope of services included differ from bank to bank. Some of the banks opted for an application. For instance, Bank Audi launched few years ago PinPay, an application downloadable on all smart phones, allowing Audi customers to perform numerous payments such as transferring money between PinPay users, recharging mobile and internet accounts, settling parking fines or mobile postpaid bills, renewing Cable Vision subscriptions, among others.
Fransabank also introduced an app, SIMBA, which also facilitates transfers between SIMBA clients, recharging mobile and internet accounts, payment of parking fines and settlement of Khoury Home wedding lists. Those banks are working seriously toward enlarging the scope of their services by constantly introducing new ones.
Sticker is yet another way pf payment launched recently by CreditBank.
Still with Bank Audi, a recently introduced technology is Tap2Pay, allowing users to pay with their phones at multiple merchant locations in Lebanon only by tapping their phones to the machine, a technology referred to as NFC (Near Field Communication). Whereas PinPay links the user’s phone number to Audi’s bank account, Tap2Pay links it to their credit card.
BLC Bank, for instance, launched a couple of months ago HeyPay, a service that allows users to transfer money to anyone and and cash it out from any BLC branch. As for payment at merchant locations, HeyPay allows the merchant to send a payment request through the pad to the user even when the latter is remote. In that case, all the user has to do is accept the request received through his phone. CSC, Credit Card Services Company, which manages the debit and credit cards of some of the banks, also distributed pads to some of the merchants in Lebanon whereby the user can pay by just inputting a username and a password without the need to carry his card.
CB sticker is a contactless sticker attached to a mobile phone, identity card, or any other item, and linked to the client’s credit card, offering a practical and mobile way to pay just by tapping the sticker to the merchant machine. An additional payment way has been introduced by Credit Libanais through PayMobey solution, allowing users to pay at merchant locations just by receiving a phone call that authenticates their voice and the purchase is approved just by pressing phone buttons. The sky is indeed the limit with technology, but the sure thing is, in the near future, we do not need to carry those load amounts of money anymore or even our wallets when we go out. All we need is our phone!
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BUSINESS Money
Is Mobile Payment The Solution Lebanon Needs? Karim El Khoury: From a startup company to the Lebanese online market Interview by Lara Al Sous
@ElleSous
With a Bachelor of Science in banking and Finance from the Lebanese American University (LAU), Karim El Khoury has worked with Lehman Brothers & Kasse Trading, has co-founded Sanad & Sparkle Healthcare, and has collaborated with some of the world leaders in the domain of mobile payment platform development to startup Viamobile. What was it that you really wanted to change in the community that drove you to establish Viamobile?
We wanted to create a change that would facilitate the daily life of every individual. Life is becoming more and more challenging with less time on our hands. Viamobile is here to make your life a bit easier. What is the purpose of Viamobile?
Our purpose is to simplify and optimize your everyday life. The challenge of time optimization is amongst all age and gender segments. How does viamobile help in our everyday life?
We simply optimize your time.... and time is money. What are the kinds of payments that can be done and how does it ensure there will be no security breach?
Currently we offer 7 different services from banking to payments: Pay 2 Peer: send money to anyone and have the funds transferred to their account within seconds. Likewise, you can also request money from anyone by simply sending a notification through Simba and the money will be transferred to your Simba account in no time. Parking Fine: Simba is a mobile phone application designed to facilitate the payment method of a parking fine, simply by entering your license
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plate and your ticket number on your mobile. The fee will be settled through your Simba account in a quick and secure way. Internet Top-Up: recharge your internet subscription (ADSL, ADSL traffic, HDSL, Mobi, Wigo, Wise & ifly) plans by simply entering your details and desired prepaid plan. Wedding Lists: Simba makes the wedding gifts easier simply by putting in the details provided by the bride/groom and the desired amount to celebrate your friends’ union and congratulate them. Mobile Top-Up: Recharge your prepaid phone line or anybody else’s in few simple steps. Key in your phone number and your choice of plan, and your prepaid line will be recharged in a heartbeat. Banking services: There is no need to visit your bank to undergo major banking needs. Through Simba you can: Link multiple bank accounts; View your accounts’ balances; Transfer money from one account to another;
Request a checkbook, view your last transactions. The beauty in combining mobile and payments is that there are no limits to how far you can push it. Now it’s all about creativity. Security is a dynamic process. But currently users have to input a password for each transaction. Many measures have been taken to make sure that Simba is a fully secure app. These processes include: Simba account identification through various components: IMEI (Device ID), mobile number, bank account number and personal ID; Account blocking when the PIN has been entered wrong three times in a row; PIN confirmation at every transaction; Application lock after few seconds of inactivity; Periodic PIN change request notifications; No financial information stored on the phone. How can someone who is not into technology resort to Viamobile to make their life easier?
Everyone with no exception simply resort to their Mobile... People are extremely comfortable with their smart phones. However, two factors that we live by are ‘User Experience’ and ‘User Effort’ ... We believe these are key drivers to a successful service.
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BUSINESS STARTING UP
Meet Lebanon’s youngest CEO, JiHad Kawas By Paul Gadalla
@paulinebirut
In March, Lebanon hosted Tech Crunch’s Editor-at-Large, Mike Butcher. He judged TechCrunch Beirut’s startup competition at Coworking 961 that gave winning teams free tickets to TechCrunch New York. One of the standout winners of the competition, and the first place winner of Startup Weekend Saida, was Jihad Kawas. Unlike many other entrepreneurs who hold college degrees and years of experience, Jihad stands out for his ability to pitch his product well at the tender age of 17. I got a chance to talk to Lebanon’s youngest entrepreneur after he arrived from his TechCrunch New York adventure.
faced with the cold truth: It will never happen! It takes too much effort to sell my items on classifieds websites. It will take like forever! Plus, I’ll have to deal with all sorts of people calling me and SMSing me in the middle of the night asking about my items. I just wanted a quick, fun, and effective way to sell my stuff. I couldn’t find one, so I decided to build one.
What inspired you to be an entrepreneur at such a young age?
I’m not sure if there is something in particular that really inspired me other than simply knowing that anything could be done and the options are limitless. In other words, having a computer with Internet access enabled me to start my businesses. Internet enables entrepreneurs regardless of their age, race, location, experience, and education level to compete on an equal platform. It is truly a global marketplace, and I love seeing more and more young people getting their start on the Internet. Indeed, it’s all about understanding that all the tools and technologies that we use today were built by people who are no smarter than us. What made you think of Saily?
Well, I still remember that day when I was reading about Steve Jobs who sold his car and Steve Wozniak who sold his calculator to start Apple. I then decided to get rid of all the stuff that I didn’t need anymore and launch a new startup 6 months ago. A few minutes later, I was 96 CLOUD961
CEO of Wordpress, Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, and many other cool people. The only reason you may fail in New York is because you didn’t work that hard. Otherwise, NYC has all the resources you may need to get on top of the hill. New York is in fact what you make of it. You can like everything about it, or hate everything about it! It’s up to each person to see it their own way. I liked the fast ecosystem and the level of professionalism in the city. While I was there, I tweeted: “1 hour in Manhattan, is like a week in Beirut”. It’s such a connected city that is perfect for any entrepreneur aiming to make it big in life and build something that really matters. What hurdles have you faced being such a young entrepreneur?
To be honest, being young helped me move many hurdles out of my way. When you’re young it’s easier to get attention. People will listen to you and they will try to help you because you’re young. When you’re young it’s easier to fail, you have nothing to lose. You’re still in high school, an average kid your age worries about his Flappy Bird score. I mean, you got nothing to lose at this age, and it’s the perfect time to start something, fail, then start again and fail, and it goes on and on until you finally achieve something big. Tell us about your trip to NY. What did you learn there? Things you liked and disliked?
New York, the city from the movies. It’s true that you can make anything happen in New York, and it’s true that it’s the land of opportunities. You have all the options to literally do whatever you want. I mean, I was there for almost a week, and I met a dozen of venture capitalists interested in funding my startup, I met the guy who created Android, “Rich Miner”, the
I’ve heard so many young people saying: “Nobody is taking me seriously because of my age,” but you should know that some older people are also having the same problem. It’s all about the way your present and the value you’re bringing to the market. What keeps you motivated?
Going to bed each night acknowledging that I’ve done a great job, then waking up
BUSINESS STARTING UP
the next morning knowing that I have lots of things to do is what keeps me motivated. It’s the fact that I do what I love, and I love what I do. I know it’s a bit cliché, but when you believe that what you’re doing is going to make a difference in your life and in others’ lives, you’ll realize why 5 hours of sleep are too much. What can we expect from Saily in the future?
We’re working hard on a great product with awesome features that will change the way people buy and sell. We will launch soon, in a month, and we believe that people will love what we’ve been working on for the past 6 months. I can’t say too much. Saily will speak for itself soon.
JIHAD’S ADVICE FOR YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS
1- Don’t be afraid of failure. Fail fast, succeed faster. 2- Avoid demotivating people. You got no time for those. 3- Don’t say: “I’m still young, I got time for that”. Time will pass very fast, so stay in a hurry and achieve great quality in a short time. 4- Be a workaholic. It’s the only way to achieve big things. 5- Never set “money” as a goal; it won’t take you far. Just build awesomely great products, and money should be a natural result.
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BUSINESS STARTING UP
Three Tips To Make That Winning Pitch By By Paul Gadalla
@paulibeirut
Over the past several months, or actually several years, Beirut has been steadily witnessing a rising startup scene. Without a doubt, it is a scene facing enormous hurdles, from snaillike internet speeds to high office prices and deficient infrastructure, to vague legislation and very little help from the government. In a positive development over the past two years, more co-working spaces have opened up to help startups by hosting startup com-
petitions, giving entrepreneurs a chance to shine. Over the last couple of months, Beirut has hosted a number of high-profile competitions with big names like Mike Butcher, Editor-in-Chief of Tech Crunch, and Martin Talvari of SLUSH. Although these high-profile judges applauded Lebanese entrepreneurs for persevering in
such a tough environment and having great ideas, some were dismayed at how meager some pitches were. As Martin Talvari put it: “There were a lot of great ideas out there, but they were pitched poorly.” After covering several of these events, I was left cringing in my seat, witnessing embarrassing pitches. So what can be done and how can you best pitch your startup? Here are my recommendations:
1- Do your homework!
2- Answer the question
3- Sell, Sell, Sell
Find out who the judges are, how long you have to pitch, and what you have to bring with you. Some competitions have high-profile judges from abroad and might not understand all your puns in Arabic so do not attempt to practice your pitch with your grandma. If you need to bring a PowerPoint presentation (most times you will), make sure that your presentation is as sleek as can be; it should a reflection of your product. Also, make sure that you pitch safely within the time limit, which most times is 3 minutes. Going over time can make you look bad and not get your point across. Judges want to know your business plan and how you will generate revenue, so get ready to answer some pretty tough questions as well. It is not just 3 minutes of you talking about yourself.
Why am I important? You need to solidify your brand. Who are you and why are you important: that is what the judges are looking to know. It is great that your aunt or your mom support you but that does not matter to judges who come across tons of entrepreneurs everyday asking for their money. If your product cannot stand out and fill a niche, then judges won’t feel inclined to vote for you.
In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jack says “sell me this pen.” When you get up there you ultimately have to do the same. In less than 3 minutes you have to convince the judges. Do not just go up there and explain your product. Show why people would want to use it. If you cannot do that in less than 3 minutes then you can guarantee that the judges have already lost interest in you and that will potentially make your startup brand look weak.
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BUSINESS STARTING UP
AL-Mawarid Bank: the First Bank to Invest in Startups under Circular 331 In line with its plan to support the economy, Al-Mawarid Bank held a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday June 12, 2014 to announce the first pilot project in Lebanon under Circular 331 put forth by Banque Du Liban, and which aims to encourage banks to invest in startups in the knowledge economy sector. This initiative is part of the bank’s CSR program titled “YOUTHinc.” which supports entrepreneurs. The press conference was attended by Chairman-General Manager of Al-Mawarid Bank, H.E. Mr. Marwan Kheireddine, H.E. Mr. Nicolas Sehnaoui, the Director of the Executive Office at Banque Du Liban, Mrs. Marianna Hoayek, Presella’s representative, Mr. Walid Singer, as well as a large number of entrepreneurs, fund managers, and journalists.
YOUTHinc. falls within Al-Mawarid Bank’s CSR initiative under Circular 331. This initiative provides support for young entrepreneurs in the knowledge economy sector, in order to encourage them to stay in Lebanon and make as much use as possible of their talents and expertise to establish small and medium enterprises, expand them in the near future, which would create job opportunities and help boost the economy and contribute to the total GDP. The initiative has already conducted activities in collaboration with a number of investment funds, projects, and organizations, all aimed at improving youth employment in the hope of boosting the economy, namely Endeavor Lebanon and Berytech, AltCity and Alice.
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EDUCATION
Web Science and Digital Economy Program at USJ: Interview with Stéphane B. Bazan By Maurice Rustom
@MauriceRustom
To talk about the Master in Economics – Option Web Science and Digital Economy at the Université Saint Joseph (USJ) Faculty of Economics, we have interviewed Mr. Stéphane B. Bazan, program coordinator and lecturer.
What is the Web Science major, and how does it differ from Computer Science specifically? The Web Science and Digital Economy Master’s degree at Saint-Joseph University Faculty of Economics is a 2-year (120 credits) innovative program launched in 2012. It’s the only one of its kind in the Middle East: it combines a fundamental economic approach with the latest research in Web Science to provide students with an advanced understanding of the new rules of digital economy. The whole program is based on an interdisciplinary approach: economic theory and practice meet web technologies, social media, data science and digital entrepreneurship. Web Science is an original scientific approach that tries to understand and measure how the Web impact society and human activity. The Web evolves faster than our ability to observe it, so we needed a science that would use any kind of discipline (mathematics, law, sociology, computer science, network theory, etc) to provide research with the most innovative tools. That’s what Web Science does: looking at the Web from various angles and provide answers to help anticipating the Web evolution. Computer science, mathematics and economics go along very well, in this kind of scientific practice. The Web Science research community is growing bigger every day and USJ stands among some of the best universities in the world (Southampton, Stanford, MIT, Koblenz, KAIST…) with its Digital Economy program. 100 CLOUD961
Knowing that the online presence of this university, more specifically its social media, is not that much taken care of: why was USJ picked to be the birthplace of this new program in the Middle East? Do you not think that its incompetence in the online field will slow the progress of Web Science? USJ joined the Web Science community in 2009, 3 years after the forefathers of this discipline made their clarion call for an interdisciplinary science to understand the Web. The idea was to observe the impact of the Web on the Arab society (that was before the Arab Spring!) and we gathered researchers from various disciplines in the interdisciplinary research unit in Web Science, a small but highly qualified research team at the CEMAM - Faculty of Humanities. Then we started to develop various research programs on Cyberwarfare, web diplomacy and web education. Worldwide Web Science research provides so much insight into what the Web does that it can be used to teach innovative content. This is how it was decided to transform a 10-year-old IT economics program at the FSE into the first Web Science and Digital Economy program in the World. The Master’s program is supported by the Web Science trust, the University of Southampton and the University of Koblenz. They helped us in building this program and we have foreign professors coming to teach at USJ or online. Our students followed a two-credit Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) last year with Southampton on Future Learn. We raised much interest with this program on the national and international level. I don’t agree with your statement that USJ is incompetent to have such a Master’s degree.
USJ favors interdisciplinarity at all levels, teaching and research. For instance, USJ has launched very innovative courses these last years in Web Culture and Web Science. For instance, audiovisual, language or religious science students have Web culture and Web Science compulsory courses. It’s not about what you say you do, it’s all about what you do. And it takes more than a nice Facebook page to qualify for excellence in higher education.
What are the required fields of skills and interests for a student to enroll in this program, and what could be the possible outcomes and careers of a Web Science graduate? Our program is open to all students with an undergraduate degree in economics or a related discipline. We accept students interested in the Digital Economy whatever their background. Of course, we have a strict selection process and motivation and knowledge of economy are major advantages for candidates. Courses are in French and English at a 50/50 ratio. Courses are divided in 4 categories: Fundamentals in Economics, Web Technologies and Applications, Digital Economic World and Web Science Research. Professionals hold regular seminars on important topics, like Open Data, Webeconomics or Digital Banking. Our students can join financial institutions, international organizations like IMF or the World Bank, become young Internet leaders for the Web ecosystem or start their own innovative projects. The first cohort of 10 students will be graduated in July and they already all have jobs in the field of Digital economy. You can find a full description of the program and courses here: www.fse.usj.edu.lb/master-wsen
EDUCATION
Literacy and The Digital: Teach your children how to code By Yara Abboud
@slidingskater
The CARS Checklist for Source Evaluation An essential tool for students By Armen Bakkalian
Nowadays, literacy has taken a whole new definition. In our technological digital age, it is no longer sufficient to school our children with the 3 R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic. Somewhere along the road, a 4th R should be added: Rithms, as in algorithms. Deemed as the 4th literacy, algorithms, or computational thinking, teaches people how to think abstractly and break a problem apart into smaller pieces. It involves problem solving, decomposition, algorithmic thinking, debugging and modeling. Whether we like it or not, software is the new language ruling our world from our daily communications to our daily transactions. It is constantly challenging our lives, and threatening to put some of us out of work. And you are still asking yourself why your kids should learn how to code? As parents and teachers, we could start introducing children to coding and programming through many resources such as: - Move the Turtle (on iPhone and iPad)— for ages 5+)—teaches coding. - Daisy the Dinosaur (iPad) )—for ages 5 to 7—introduces basic computer programming. The child learns looping and conditional programming without knowing by simply making a cute green dinosaur move at a command. Teachers and parents can also create programming challenges for their children. The game helps build analytical and problem skills at a young age. - LightBot (iPad and Android ) )—available in 2 versions: one for ages 4-8, another for ages 9+)—offers an easy way to teach kids concepts like loops, and If-then statements without coding. - GamestarMechanic—Web: costs $2 for ages 7-14)—teaches critical thinking and problem solving skills by letting children design their own video games. - Cargobot—iPad for ages 6-13—a fun, challenging game whose goal is to program a robot to complete increasingly complex sequences of tasks; helps teach them logical thinking. - Tynker—web or iPad; offers a standard and premium edition—aims to teach kids programming at their own pace, and is primarily based on a collection of puzzles
which are solved by sending commands in sequence using a drag-and-drop interface. By solving these puzzles, children learn to recognize patterns, break down problems, and engage in sequencing, loops and conditional logic. Though no age is specified, it is recommended to start in grade 4, where children have the ability to read and write. Note that the standard edition is free while its premium’s price is based on the number of seats purchased by a classroom. - Scratch—web, for ages 8-16—kids use a visual programming language made of bricks to animate sprites. Different types of bricks create loop variables, play sounds, etc. - Codecombat—Web, for ages 15 + and adults—teaches Javascript through combat games. It is suitable for adults, college, and high school students. Middle school students can play, too. However, they would need parental consent. It can even be used in classrooms by teachers since it is a multiplayer game. There are lots of other resources like KidsRuby, Kodu, Alice (an introduction to creating animated movies), Lego Mindstorms, Terrapin Logo, as well as books like Hello Ruby (for kids), Hello World!, computer programming for kids and other beginners of all ages, and Super Scratch Programming Adventure! There are even online educational nonprofits like code.org, whose mission is to allow every student in every school the opportunity to have a high-quality computer science education, both in and out of the classroom. Patrovi, its founder, explains that it instructs students and teachers alike on the basics of coding using games. Moreover, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have also struck a deal with it to offer actual tutorials to students during its first program, Hour of Code. Meanwhile, if you are an adult wanting to learn about coding and other web skills, expect my next article in which I will be comparing platforms like Code School (www.codeschool.com), Codecademy (www.codecademy.com), and Treehouse (www.teamtreehouse.com).
@ArmenBakkalian
Having 21st century learners in your class means you have to be a 21st century teacher. The latter means that you should be involving technology and Web 2.0 in your classes, as well as make them work online individually. One of the main problems of the internet is the credibility of the sources. Anyone can write on the internet, and while searching you might end up with millions of articles and websites about a particular topic. Many of them are hoax or satirical websites, and people fall victim to their lies and end up using them as sources. When sometimes even adults are unable to tell a legitimate source from a mediocre one, how can we expect children to know? Here’s where the teacher’s guidance comes in Educators need to coach their students on how to use the CARS Checklist for source evaluation. CARS is an acronym which stands for Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, and Support. Each letter is discussed below.
Credibility: We want a source that is authoritative: a source that provides us enough evidence for us to trust it. How to check for it? Check if: It is a trustworthy, well known source. The authors’ credentials or full names are mentioned. It is a known and/or respected authority about the subject. The quality of arguments is evident. It has organizational support.
Accuracy: We want a source that gives a holistic truth, that is current, complete and correct. How to check? Check if: The details mentioned are up-to-date & factual. The date is mentioned. Claims are supported with detailed information. Information gives a holistic approach The website has clear intentions for to transmit information accurately, which can be detected through the verbs and tone used. (Excessive use of Always/never is not preferred). Reasonableness : We want a source that is truthful, reasonable and unbiased. How to check? Check if: The arguments are stated in a fair & balanced way. The tone is calm and almost free of emotions. It uses objectivity, and free of biases. It makes reasonable and consistent claims.
Support: We want a source that provides us with several verifiable & valid sources for information. How to check? Check if: Sources of information are listed and can be checked. Bibliography or documentation is supplied. Author’s contact info is provided for further information or clarifications. Sources can be triangulated (at least two more sources agree). On a few occasions, you may find websites that may have most of the points discussed above but turn out to be false, or vice versa. Nevertheless, these points will make the student develop the skill of distinguishing between good- and poor-quality sources. 101 CLOUD961
EDUCATION
Campus Society: Bringing Together 15 Campuses By Yara Nahle
@yarabee2
The Lebanese community was recently struck by a new startup. This time aimed at students, professors and alumni. Launched in March, 2014 at AUB, Campus Society got over 1000 students to sign up in one week, before expanding to include 15 other schools.
Campus Society in its current format is not the final project; it is just a Beta prototype to test the market. The real platform will be launched next year after reaching a certain number of users. It will be a mobile app with notifications, timetable, CV upload and other features.
Campus Society connects students from Lebanese major universities to help them find jobs, housing, events, or just interact with each other and share thoughts.
Campus Society resembles, to a certain extent, other social media. However, Muller believes that by being unfocused, Facebook and Twitter contain too much irrelevant content. Campus Society solves this problem by concentrating on students’ needs.
The entrepreneurs who were surprised by the 800 users registered in the first two months are expecting them to become 1,000 users by next month. The reason behind this fast growth rate is the absence of competitors, since Lebanon and the Middle East have very few digital platforms of this kind. There is no global competition in this field, either, Muller believes. “Nobody does what we are planning to do, and it’s the first Lebanese tech startup to generate such money,” Muller says. The money Campus Society generates
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The platform, though, is not a purely commercial business in the eyes of its creators. Muller and Ajami care much about leaving a social mark on the academic community of their native country. “It means a lot to us to try and create a valuable tool in the educational community, especially in Lebanon,” Muller says. “Having lived and studied in Lebanon my whole life, our platform will always be especially targeted at that market.”
With a simple procedure, people sign up to the website and start their quest for a job, an apartment, a crew for their film, a team for their football match or employees for their business by simply posting a status explaining what they need. They can also share pictures, videos, and events. The company, which is now based in London and run by a team of 10 employees, was started two months ago by only two developers and the two owners: Rashid Ajami and Oliver Muller. The idea was inspired by the fact that Muller, who went to AUB a few years ago, suffered through certain tasks that should have been fairly manageable, such as finding a flat. “I remember walking within a 1km radius of AUB looking for available apartments,” he says.
comes solely from investors. The project was self-funded but then raised $500k worth of investments for its uniqueness.
But the business’ headquarters are located in London because the city represents a magnet for fine talent and big investors, as Muller stated. Another reason for running a business aimed at the Lebanese market from the foggy British capital is that the entrepreneurs intend on expanding it to a worldwide mass operation that will bring global college communities together. Muller, a former banker, and Ajami, a music producer, come from backgrounds that are far from the digital entrepreneurial world. They yet succeeded in building a business from scratch. They are a source of inspiration for every ambitious young Lebanese. “There’s a lot of risk; one day you’re on top of the world, one day you feel you’re failing,” Muller added. “No day is the same; not knowing where we are headed is the most exciting thing for me.”
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CHANGING LIVES
Organizations De-Feet encouraging Cancer: local response to A run against the malignant emergency: By Lara Al Sous
A new type of social rescue By Lara Al Sous
@ElleSous
@ElleSous
The passion for running has sealed the friendship of eight close friends who run in the Elite Running Club several times a week, with the longest run on Sunday followed by a ritual breakfast and lots of laughs. This is when Jihad Achkar, Rabih Farsoun, Georges El Hayek, Imad Ladkani, Mohamad Marhamo, Khodor Badran, Ali Kedami and Mark Jibran adopted the idea of De-Feet Cancer Run. The eight runners have wanted to make a difference in the world around them and their present cause aims at raising funds to help a child get treatment for cancer. “We are entirely focused on this target and it has helped us overcome our toughest training sessions and has prepared us for our 5-day 210 km run,” Farsoun said.
Chreek has come in response to a desperate need for awareness and to provide another chance for those that have been shut out from society. George Ghafary’s attempt to bring misguided young men and women and get it to work with unrecyclable material and turn them into creative pieces of art has proven to be a success. Ghafary then realized how drastically this impacts the environment and decided to take the next step by partnering with NGOs such as Arc-en Ciel, Nabad, Bonheur Du Ciel, CASA, and Terre Liban. Chreek embraces convicted prisoners who have served their time in jail, ex-drug users who have undergone rehabilitation, and women who have been marginalized by their communities to work with junk (not garbage) and recreate it to become an artistic piece for use, thus ensuring income for their families and allowing them to return to being part of the community. MADE IN LEBANON should be a term to be proud of and Ghafary has faith in the impact these products are leaving not just on the market but on the environment as well. “When people buy our products it will surely have a contagious effect and others will be motivated also for having a
greener lifestyle,” said Ghafary. In a similarly admirable initiative, Foodblessed have embarked on a mission to feed the hungry, one meal at a time. It is run by a group of volunteers with a passion for eradicating hunger in Lebanon. Through partnering with catering companies, they obtain the surplus of food left from events and give it to local NGOs that will redistribute it to families in need. Moreover, Foodblessed complies with food chains to receive surplus food, monthly meal vouchers, and monthly hot meals or contribute to the food fund. The food fund will be used to purchase food items that will be put together for the “Mouneh” (pantry foods) packages. Also, food manufacturers hand over canned food from their production that will be added to the foodblessed “Mouneh” packages. And finally, by coordinating with NGOs working with people in need, Foodblessed allocates the surplus of food, food vouchers and “Mouneh” packages to kids in need, families, and orphans. Their efforts in diverting food wastes to reuse and better serve the underprivileged communities has left its impact, not just on the society but the environment as well.
Farsoun explained that he and his friends have started launched Facebook and Instagram platforms and they have been overwhelmed with the responses they get from acquaintances and complete strangers. One of the eight runners, Ali Kedami, has designed a special training for the runners. Kedami has run multiple desert races and ultra-marathons. The training drill consists of combined long endurance runs, speed and hills training three to four times a week. De-Feet Cancer Run joggers have succeeded in finishing their 210-km run that has taken place on May 7 until May 11 where their families and loved ones embraced their success when they crossed the finish line in Zaitounay Bay. De-Feet Cancer Run wants the Lebanese community to make a difference. Farsoun strongly believes that no matter how small, a positive impact will improve the situation of Lebanon. Finally, De-Feet Cancer Lebanon share a humble message of respect to the young cancer fighters of the Children Cancer Center of Lebanon—who are their inspiration and source of strength in their mission to raise money and impact the community positively.
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CHANGING LIVES
“Dekkenet El Balad” Inaugurates Location In Gemmayze Anti-corruption NGO ‘Sakker el Dekkene’ pledges to curb corruption and promote a culture of integrity and good governance in Lebanon
Looking for a driving license without a test? An effortless Baccalaureate degree? An open construction permit? Electoral votes in bulk? Wasta on the side, perhaps? ‘Dekkenet el Balad’ offers special deals on these products and much more to satisfy all your needs and desires. ‘Dekkenet el Balad’ opened its doors on May 15, 2014 in an inauguration ceremony held at the shop’s headquarters in Gemmayze and attended by a host of media and NGO representatives, bloggers, stakeholders and a crowd of curious citizens. The event was organized by ‘Sakker el Dekkene’, an ambitious, young NGO pledging to promote integrity and good governance in Lebanon. The shop was open to the public for two consecutive days, providing all forms of ‘corrupt services’ with a special twist. The ceremony kicked off with a video on the concept of ‘Dekkene’, a stark portrayal of the country, offering a realistic and poignant testimony of our daily experience with corruption. The movie is spreading through YouTube and
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various social media platforms, mobilizing support and promoting the NGO’s tools and modes of operation. “We participate in corruption every day, rationalize it and make it look acceptable to the extent that we are forgetting that we can stand up to it and defeat it,” commented Abdo Medlej, President of ‘Sakker el Dekkene’, during the event. “What we consider as a tiny push to facilitate a transaction through bribery, favoritism or other forms of corruption, is actually feeding a structure that will end up dearly costing us our rights. We don’t realize that corruption limits our access to information, undermines our critical thinking and locks the country into economic and political inefficiency,” added Medlej. According to Transparency International, Lebanon today ranks 127th out of 176 countries on the corruption scale, which makes us one of the fifty most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption in Lebanon has been on the rise since 1990, its effects magnifying due to the
civil war. Not only has it won over politicians and high-level officials in the country, it has also seeped into governmental institutions and small administrations. The deterioration of the country’s economy has served to encourage corruption, supplying a kind of justification and rationalization for corrupt acts and their perpetrators. This is how we all came to live in a prosperous ‘Dekkene’ with branches all over the country, a broad customer base, and diversified merchandise and services that cater to wide demand. The gross ‘Dekkene’ revenue has exceeded 1.5 billion dollars per year, the equivalent of 10% of our GDP. This means that one-tenth of every Lebanese person’s income is sucked away by the machinery of corruption. Faced with such realities, ‘Sakker el Dekkene’ proposes an antidote to the viral infestation of corruption in Lebanon. The antidote is to first hold public administration accountable for lack of integrity and transparency, and put pressure on politicians to initiate change and fight corruption. The initiative adopts a mul-
CHANGING LIVES ti-tool and multidisciplinary approach to collect corruption-related data through its website www.sakkera.com, smart phone App (iOS and Android) complaint boxes, and hotline (76 80 80 80). The idea is to provide the public with a wide range of platforms to report the instances of corruption that they witness or are involved in (bribes, abuse of power, theft, etc.). Data is then collected, sorted, classified and quantified to identify corruption trends and prevalent patterns in Lebanon. By doing so, the NGO wishes to raise public awareness, engage citizens in the process of change, trigger nationwide, public debate, exert pressure on politicians, and lobby for genuine reform. Other approaches adopted by ‘Dekkene’ in gathering data include a delivery car that will be driving around and stopping daringly in front of the most corrupt administrations to collect bribe reports from the public. Surveys and investigative journalism will be launched in parallel. Integrity training programs will be organized for various audiences and other projects involving the private sector will be rolled out. Lobbying for legislative reform is also on the NGO’s agenda to shut down the ‘Dekkene’. “We are much more than just another NGO. Our initiative will be different, bold and results-oriented, leading corruption to bankruptcy,” affirms Medlej. ‘Sakker el Dekkene’ belongs to every concerned citizen. You can help fight corruption by reporting bribes, sharing your stories on our various platforms and reading the inputs of others. You can also donate in kind and/or join us to become a member or an ambassador of ‘Sakker el Dekkene’.
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Upcoming EVENTS
Bader Launches the Second Edition of the Startup Cup Business Competition For the second year in a row, Bader has announced the launch of its Startup Cup Business Competition, a worldwide program started by Kauffman Foundation and adopted by Bader in its Lebanese version, with the support of Bank Audi.
to provide the youth with the best possible future.” He added, “I am confident that our five-year cooperation agreement with BADER will materialize in the growth of a considerable number of startups which will be able to operate with a greater potential.”
The Bader Startup Cup is a locally-driven business model competition that serves as an ideal platform for entrepreneurs to launch their ideas into the marketplace.
At the heart of this competition is an extensive coaching and training program led by well established Lebanese business leaders who will act as coaches and mentors to each of the 12 semi-finalists, supporting them in studying the strengths and weaknesses of their companies and offering them guidance to overcome possible challenges while building their sustainable business models.
Expressing Bader’s leading role in encouraging new businesses and Bank Audi’s belief in its mission, Mr. Marc Audi, General Manager, Country Manager Lebanon – Bank Audi sal, said, “BADER has become renowned for the seriousness of its achievements, especially to the benefit of the Lebanese youth. This commitment to support young entrepreneurs is perfectly in line with Bank Audi’s dedication to empowering young generations and helping them grow beyond their potential. This is why we are always pleased to join in any effort
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Mentors will also play a crucial role in facilitating entrepreneurs’ access to finance by linking them to their business network of micro-finance institutions and banks. Through the different phases of the competition, entrepreneurs will get the chance to test
their business model assumptions, challenge their plan, go to the marketplace, and connect with their future potential customers. Only 7 contestants who have designed their business models will reach the final stage of the competition, which consists of pitching their ideas to a distinguished panel of renowned business figures. The judges will then select the 3 winners of the competition during the Global Entrepreneurship Week based on 3 main criteria: high level of innovation, high scalability with greater chances of success than failure, and the ability to generate new job opportunities in Lebanon. Mr. Robert Fadel, President of Bader, wished good luck to all the 2014 applicants, stating: “After a highly successful 2013 competition, we look forward to the 2014 edition of the Startup Cup.” He added, “Bader is proud to work with its partners on helping exceptional Lebanese entrepreneurs maximize their chances of achieving investment and business success”.
Past EVENTS
Social Media Changing Lives Conference Impacting the community on the ground By Lynn Tabbara
@LeenTabbara
The Online Collaborative, and for the second year, has organized the Social Media Changing Lives Conference on May 1 at Issam Fares Hall at the American University of Beirut (AUB). After its huge success two years ago, AUB’s Online Collaborative, with the help of their Haigazian chapter, decided to go bigger this year. For those who are not familiar with what this conference is about, it is a full-day turnover of panelists from different fields. Every panelist under each different field gives his or her presentation and then the floor is open to question from the audience with the presence of a moderator. This year, the panels were diverse including Education, Marketing, Community managers, NGO’s, Entrepreneurs, etc. The conference started with a welcoming speech from chief collaborator Mohammad Hijazi, followed by Mr. Nicolas Sehnaoui, former-Minister of Telecommunications in Lebanon, and Mr. Tom Fletcher, British Ambassador to Lebanon. Those key speakers shed light on the importance of social media and its role in our lives whereby each speaker focused on his specific field (marketing, telecommunications in Lebanon, and diplomacy and democracy respectively). The overall conference was a success, many social media enthusiasts from different backgrounds and ages gathered that day to discuss their personal or professional experience, take advice and even give suggestions to others. The Online Collaborative proves, once again, that whatever they built online, can be translated offline by meeting the community of Lebanon and getting them closer together.
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Meet The Bloggers Panel At Bifex 2014
Your guide on collaborating with Lebanese bloggers, moderated by Darine Sabbagh By Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
On April 29, the Lebanese Franchising Association (LFA) launched the Beirut International Franchise Forum & Exhibition (BIFEX) aiming once again to look at how to grow Lebanese brands and franchises, help them with ongoing issues through a network of exchanged experiences sharing new developments in franchising, corporate achievements, trade promotion, “marketing Lebanon”, and women in business. Interesting and renowned speakers were invited to the event in order to help the attendees see the world of business and brands, marketing and innovation, in new ways. As the LFA is riding the social media wave and believes in social media as a means of driving their member’s success, Lebanon’s most active bloggers from several fields were invited alongside yours truly to sit on a compelling and a challenging panel. Together with Joe Alam, LFA’s social media consultant, we set a goalfor the panel which is that by the end of the event, all our guests get to know how brands should collaborate with bloggers and who are the bloggers they should work with. Working with bloggers and huge blogger collaborations has become intrinsic to business practices abroad from fashion collections, to books, movies, and consultancy projects. But businesses in Lebanon have still not understood 110 CLOUD961
what the “blogger breed” is, how to “deal” with bloggers, and what do bloggers expect from them, or even the impact bloggers have. Lebanese bloggers are very active online and due to the size of the country, they have a great impact on the SEO of many brands. They are also able to shift tastes, interests and opinions of consumers. As most of these bloggers have “real lives”, an important part of the panel was focused on not only showcasing their passion for blogging and what they blog about, but also on the ways the community and businesses can capture their attention and truly collaborate with them. So here are some insights from my amazing panelists: - We kicked it off with Mustapha Hamoui (@beirutspring), one of Lebanon’s veteran bloggers and the man behind Beirut Spring and the amazing LebaneseBlogs.com. Mustapha’s major aha moment was that when you read all the Lebanese blogs a big picture starts to form, whereby if brands are following they can tap into amazing business insights, shift the conversation or even spot interesting ideas. For all of that and more, make sure to check out LebaneseBlogs.com with its cool features such as Search, Favorite Bloggers and many others. - With Rita Khoury (@khouryrt), who admits
that she is more known as a blogger in India than in Lebanon, I was personally really excited to hear about her experience in blogging professionally and being an editor of one of the top Android blogs in the world. We would bet not many of our bloggers knew that we have such an amazing techie in our midst, either. - Lebanon’s Blogger of the Year, Najib Mitri (@lenajib), shared a dose of happiness with us, through showcasing the Happy video he crowdsourced with his amazing blog readers. In addition to that, Najib emphasized the responsibilities a blogger has to live up to when collaborating with a brand or reviewing a brand and the impact it has on his readers. - The stylish Lana Sahely offered an eye opener on the hard work a fashion blogger puts into their blogs and more importantly how collaborations with fashion bloggers happen around the world. Why brands pay fashion bloggers, and many more interesting ins and outs. - And then came the time for dessert, with Anthony Rahayel, who took the audience through his gastronomic journeys that resulted in a few extra pounds and empty pockets. Rahayel also spoke about the plan of making 2014 all about the best of street foods in Lebanon.
CHANGING Past EVENTS LIVES
To sum up here are some basic Do’s and Don’ts to keep in mind when engaging bloggers: • Do not ignore them;
The Experts’ Meeting on SMEs and Startups Initiative Finance and Market Risk Analysis
• Do not be afraid of what they say; • Do not treat them the same way you treat traditional media (do not send them press releases); • Do not simply approach all bloggers – choose wisely; • Do not pressure them into writing about your business or reviewing your events; • Do not think they “owe you one”; • Do not be afraid to approach them, but do it right; • Always be honest about your intentions and your business; • Do know who they are ; • Do engage them, but do not spam them; • Do think of interesting collaborations; • Do read them to stay up-to-date with trends; • Do interact with them, online and offline.
The Lebanon Data & Investment Consult organized a special symposium on the SME Finance and Market Risk Analysis in Crowne Plaza Hotel, Beirut which addressed the sectors of ICT, Agri-Business and Basic Services respectively. Professionals, entrepreneurs, corporate and civil society leaders attended the meeting such as the Lebanese Central Bank Representative Mr Nejib Choucair, Director of the World Bank Beirut Office Dr. Farid Balhaj, IBL Audit Committee Member Dr. Antoine Choueiry and the Secretary General of the Anti-Corruption Organization Dr. Hayyan Haidar as well as a group of specialized people interested in the topic. President of the Lebanon Data and Investment Consult Mr. Maan Barazy opened the event with a welcome note followed by a series of panels and some other special interventions from a group of social entrepreneurs. The first panel discussed the ‘Understanding of the Environment of SMEs and the Institutional Drivers’, whereas the second panel stressed on the ‘SME Banking Versus Entrepreneurial Incentives.’ During his intervention, President of the Lebanese Development Network (LDN), Amin Nehme, spoke on the successful Social Entrepreneurship endeavor that LDN has led during the past few years as well as the unique experience vis-à-vis the Capacity Building and Social Marketing services it provides to both the civil society and the SMEs. Grace Khoury from Woman 2 Woman Success presented the association’s women empowerment social initiative which was able to improve the livelihood of a group of unemployed Lebanese housewives by creating home-based cooking services. In his presentation, Vartkes Keutelian from Makhzoumi Foundation showed the impact made by the Foundation’s micro-credit program which continues to provide efficient and tailor-made financial services to Lebanon’s low-income groups since 1998. The meeting aimed at presenting the three working sectorial researches on ICT, Agri-Business, and Basic Services in addition to the different financial loopholes that SMEs face while exposing the latest Lebanese Central Bank’s directives on this issue. The symposium was concluded with a general overview and a set of recommendations in order to prepare for the draft of a cooperation blueprint. 111 CLOUD961
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WEB: The Physical and the Digital Meet in a Virtual Clash By Selim Njeim, Associate Editor
@seleemnjeim
On June 18, and for the opening of The Lebanese American University International University Theater Festival, the LAU Mosaic Ensemble put up a performance encompassing the world’s finest disciplines: dance, music, poetry, theater, and visual arts, at the Gulbenkian Theater, Beirut campus. The performance, entitled “WEB”, was not the typical arena upon which multitalented individuals showcase their artistic capabilities and captivate audiences with their ability to move ever so effortlessly across disciplines. It was, however, more of a battle scene where the tangible and the digital lock horns, fighting tooth and nail to have the upper hand. The overture of the event started with an invitation to feel free to use phones at any moment throughout the performance and to opine through submitting reactions and ideas to the “WEB” Facebook and Twitter pages. A live stream of those was projected onto a huge screen above the stage, capturing the audience’s feedback while the performance unfolded freely. “WEB”—pun intended—showcased through body movements, singing and music the constraints our lives might fall victim to as a result of addiction to social media. A set of instruments scattered partout around 112 CLOUD961
the stage were played by LAU students and two vocalists, Youmna Abou Hadir and Moe Al Khansa, sang in both Arabic and English, to the irritating sound of duct tape being ripped from the roll by black-clad dancer, Christina Fakhry. The tape was an emblem of the confinement created by compulsive use of online platforms. The musical genres featured were varied, leaving little or no space for boredom. The set, minimal as it was, came to life through the talents of the performers, each doing what they do best, at full throttle. The concept was signed Dr. Martin Loyato, skilled musician and assistant professor of music at LAU. When asked about his choice to draw on the topic of social media and make such an artistic execution come to life on stage, Dr. Loyato said, “Social media is an issue of addiction, which a lot are not aware of. I see people living their life in front of their phones instead of looking at your face. All communication has become electronic, which might be safer for some, because they are using a machine. There’s no human communication anymore.” While seemingly an opponent of the mass phenomenon that social media has become, Dr. Loyato maintains that he is not against all that is digital—which, in his words, facilitates communication with family and friends—but thinks
being online should not be a 24/7 activity. “Working on the event was fun, but pretty hectic. None of us are professionals but we always had to be precise on time,” said Hamza Mekdad, third-year communication arts student at LAU and collaborator on the event. “Social media has become a part of everybody’s life. What we were trying to do was to show how distracting social media could be. You are sometimes trying to focus on the event and what’s going on, but new things keep coming up on screen,” he added. As accurately described by Mekdad, audience members started by sending a lot of tweets, taking selfies and posting them to social media, until about 10 minutes into the event, when the reign of the online started losing its authority and spectators became drawn into the performance further. The event was so successful the first time that the June 8 performance was a reprise. Hanging mid-air somewhere in-between Complete Addiction and Independence from the Online, the event had the aim of raising awareness of the different ways individuals react to the loud buzz of social media as well as the constraints the latter could wrap all around us, in a manner as pesky and sticky as duct tape.
Past EVENTS
La France A Beyrouth A one-day event, a full-throttle social media campaign By Tarek Bekdache
@tarekbekdache
On the May 11, 2014 France relocated to Beirut for one day only. At the heart of Beirut, Uruguay Street was transformed into a melting pot featuring animations, concerts, and exceptional parades. The renowned Uruguay St. in Downtown Beirut is already a busy street, pumping with exciting energy almost every night of the week. On the night of the event, all the pubs, bars, and restaurants collaborated under the theme of the ‘Francopholie’, a concept developed in 2010. Music, entertainment, wine tasting, and unique cuisine are just some of the key words that can be used to describe the event.
Prior to the event, a thoroughly developed and fully fledged social media campaign was launched. Of course, the usual platforms were utilized: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But what is interesting about the “Francopholie” social media campaign is that they also resorted to Pinterest since 2010. Although they were present and fairly active on all social media platforms, “La France à Beyouth”’s main focus was Facebook, which is the case for most campaigns nowadays. The campaign was very carefully concocted. It was informative, humorous, and engaging. The campaign was informative in two ways: it
did not only inform people about the different functions and sub-events, but it also provided unique and fun facts that relate directly to the theme. For example, did you know that it is illegal to name a pig “Napoleon” in France? The campaign also provided daily historical facts about France. For the event, a special hashtag was created: #LFAB2014 which people used to share their photos during the event. In terms of branding, the campaign colors (consisting of red, white, and blue—the colors of the French national flag) were used in all the posts. The social media campaign for this event is definitely a good example to go by. Several thousand followers in just a matter of days, constant interaction, consistency, and relevant material. 113 CLOUD961
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Plastik* BLOW-UP shop
Plastik* Magazine celebrates 5 years with an extraordinary issue, and a concept pop-up store By Tarek Bekdache
@tarekbekdache
Since its launch in 2009, Plastik* has been Beirut’s leading visual magazine and has been famous for its continuous, unique and creative editorials and visually attractive photo shoots. In addition, Plastik* has been a pioneer in creating cult events known to attract a cool and hipper-than-thou crowd. This summer, and to celebrate 5 years of Plastik*, Beyond Production, the production house behind Plastik* Magazine, is preparing to release the 23rd issue of the visual masterpiece featuring an exciting editorial photoshoot. Not only that, but Plastik* has set up the firstof-its-kind concept pop-up store in the country. Taking place in Saifi Village’s Quartier des Arts, the shop was part of the Beirut Design Week, and was open for niche shoppers, artists, designers, and socialites from June 9 to 15. 114 CLOUD961
Plastik* BLOW-UP is the name that the temporary store bore. It consisted of a visual installation that would transform the space it occupies into a world of its own oozing with Plastik’s unique and unconventional identity. This cultural and artistic event had 4 different sections. The first section was the Plastik* section, featuring a series of gadgets, trinkets, and various items bearing different pieces of Plastik’s identity. The second section hosted vintage designer and urban brands at discounted prices. The third—and most exciting section—featured a series of co-branded limited edition items designed exclusively for the Blow-Up Shop in collaboration with Beirut’s most compelling names in arts, design, and fashion such as: Nada Debs, Sarah’s Bag, Corinne Martin, L’Armoire de Lana, Bashar Assaf, Young Wilderness, Poise
Design, Mukhi Sisters, and Choux a la Crème. Each designer will get to curate their own day at the shop. Furthermore, every night, a cocktail gala celebrated the hosted curator, giving people the chance to mingle and interact. The fourth section had a unique bar installed by Momo’s at the Souks for the entire duration of the event featuring a limited edition, mouth-watering cocktail! The “Blow-Up” shop was a unique chance for Plastik* lovers to be part of the hype and creative local bubble. People had a chance to come have a drink at the pop-up, and snap a #selfie with their favorite artist or designer.
CHANGING Past EVENTS LIVES
The Exhibition and Fashion Show of the Season powered by Ariel PODs:
“When Fabric Care Meets Fashion” During the exhibition and fashion show of the season featuring the season’s latest fashion of Lebanon’s most well renowned designers, Ariel unveiled its latest breakthrough innovation, “Ariel PODs”, the most technologically advanced 3-compartment POD in the world that provides best cleaning results while taking care of fabric. The event, which took place in Beirut Souks, was attended by some of the country’s most prominent and influential figures including fashion designers, stars, artists and socialites, as well as media. It has been a day full of surprises, and guests were astonished to find the models staining the designers’ latest fashion during the fashion show and easily cleaning it with Ariel PODs in a magical act in front of everyone. Antoine Al Kareh, Lebanon’s renowned fashion designer who revealed his latest dress in the fashion show featuring a sneak peak of his Summer collection, said “Fashion design is all about taking care of fabric, and after I tried Ariel PODs on different fabrics I came to the conclusion that Ariel PODs is the best and easiest solution to all laundry challenges faced by women when trying to preserve their garments color and material.”
Attendees expressed how much they enjoyed the event and Ariel PODs technological advancement and innovation. Amongst which was the Lebanese TV presenter Hilda Khalife, who expressed her pleasure in taking part in this unique and grand event, highlighting that “Ariel PODs is a huge step towards the comfort of all Lebanese women, whether housewives or working females, and even men. With Ariel PODs laundry has never been easier; where all I have to do now is put one Ariel POD in the washing machine drum, throw on top the dirty laundry, and above all it provides me with the best cleaning.” Jacqueline El-Boghdadi, Ariel’s External Relations Manager, stated during the event that “Ariel always provides women with the latest innovation in laundry, that helps give our consumers the comfort and fabric care they deserve. That’s why we developed Ariel PODs, the most technologically advanced laundry detergent, which provides 3x cleaning power through removing stains, cleaning, and brightening clothes. So simply Ariel PODs brings all the power and convenience that you expect together in one product which provides superior cleaning and superior comfort.”
Finally, A Startup Challenge That’s Different By Paul Gadalla
@paulinebeirut
Nearly every co-working space now hosts a startup competition. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as those events make people get creative and really try to develop their business ideas, while offering the public the chance to see what talent is out there and to connect with the entrepreneurial scene. However, I do have to say many of them have become uniform, with the standard 3-minute pitch, Q&A, and then some sort of prize/investment money. It is time to shake things up, and that is exactly what AltCity did. AltCity’s 12-hour Hackathon brought a true challenge to developers and entrepreneurs in Lebanon. Instead of going the traditional route and having it at their own space, the AltCity guys decided to actually connect to other people in the entrepreneurial scene and hosted it in collaboration with Berytech at their DigiHive in Beirut Digital District. So what were the rules of the game? Teams could be from 1 to 3 people (with a requirement of having a coder). Unlike other challenges where people are working on their own ideas, teams either chose to develop a game or a mobile app and then popped a balloon that revealed a challenge such as “create a better weather app.” Prizes were $1,000 in cash along with coworking space at BDD and AltCity and a full scholarship to “Start a Business Workshop” from Amideast. Teams were judged based on faithfulness to the brief, technical status, and readiness of the app/game, design, user experience, and user interface of the app/game, marketing strategy, pitch and presentation. The jury consisted of Samer Azar of AltyCity, Ayman Chalhoub of BDD, Joe Hannouch of Game Cooks, and Elie Nasr of FOO. Teams only had 12 hours to make a prototype to show the judges. The winning teams were Dusty Cartridge who had to create a new music app, team Green Apple in 2nd place who created an app that tracks your workout reps, and first place was Control City app who created a weather app that told you what to wear judged on that day’s weather. All in all, it was a refreshing event and you definitely saw people’s design and development skills put to the test.
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DR. CLOUD
If you spot anything online that is worthy of Dr. Cloud’s comments, feel free to share it with him on: @DrCloud961 DrCloud961 Facebook Dr@cloud961.com
The blue ribbon this month goes to Cheetos Arabia and Lay’s Arabia, who despite the marketing stagnation that the region is currently going through, are trying their best to stay relevant and up-todate on what’s hot online!
TimeOut Beirut has officially lost its license due to bad management, unpaid labor (modern day slavery) and bankruptcy but that did not stop Editor in Chief Naomi Sergeant from stealing the official magazine accounts and “re-branding” them into Beirut View, a personal blog with a logo that is probably designed on MS Paint. Sergeant probably is not aware that the mother-company TimeOut London can easily sue her to get the 106,000+ Facebook fans, 22,000+ Twitter followers and 2500+ Instagram followers back as these followers were gained due to the credibility of TimeOut which she flushed down the toilet.
Girls, if you feel that you are getting old and your uterus is starting to dry up while still single, you might want to try what this lady right here is doing to find a mate!
It seems that Tele Liban, the official Lebanese television station, has finally went out of the stoneage, mostly by illegally broadcasting the World Cup for free and is now in midst of a lawsuit. They have also discovered the internet but it seems that a 15 year old hormonal teenager is handling their Facebook account. As every other governmental institution, the high amount of professionalism is evident.
One of the advantages of social media in politics is that it gets politicians closer to their audience. However, in Lebanon, it is only showing us how dumb, racist and inconsiderate our parliament ministers are.
#ShamelessAdvertising: Almaza’s agency thought they were being clever by telling people to stock up on Almaza due to the security situation but it turned out to be a desperate attempt to sell their product with no regard to the sensitivity of the situation. It’s as if they are telling you: people are dying from suicide bomber attacks, but it’s all okay as long as you have enough Almaza in your fridge while watching the world cup! 116 CLOUD961
Our community manager should probably re-take her social media training over again, this time while paying more attention, because for a magazine that is tailored to social media users in Lebanon, this is not acceptable.
Social media is also helping expose celebrities as well. A singer like Najwa Karam should be a role model for women, but instead, she tweets that she is not against domestic violence. Twitter makes it clear how celebrities are so backwards. Take Myriam Klink (who could qualify as a wanna-be celebrity or pseudo-celebrity) for example as she defends honor killing. Such people should not be allowed to have Facebook pages.
Crossword
DIRECTIONS: How many times can you spot the word “CLOUD” in the following puzzle?
Solution to last month’s crossword puzzle
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HOROSCOPES FIRE
WATER
Aries (March 21 – April 19) You may be feeling a little overwhelmed lately by your obligations that you are just about ready to march away in frustration. However, this kind of impulsive behavior isn’t helpful and won’t get you anywhere. If to-do lists are not your kind of thing, try downloading an app like Any.do that will not only help you keep track of your tasks but will also enable you to establish your priorities and maximize your potential.
Taurus (April 20 – May 20) It’s the time of the year where you feel like taking some time off, but it’s more important to be practical now and work towards your goals. Even if your determination is to follow the course of least resistance, do not give into laziness. Make use of an application like Pomodoro to manage your time efficiently without working for several hours straight.
Gemini (May 21 – June 21) If you’re feeling frustrated at work recently due to lack of acknowledgment, a simple change in your attitude can make a big difference. Accepting the situation for how it is with all its shortcomings, rather than venting about it to the world via social media, is far more liberating and will help you to be more content in the present moment.
Cancer (June 22-July 22) Over the years, your friends and family have been an invaluable source of encouragement and inspiration, so it might be about time you thank them for all their loyalty and support. Instead of calling them all up, why don’t you create an e-vite online for your event and send it out by email to all those care about. You’ll be able to keep track of all the attendees and keep them updated with any new information.
Leo (July 23 – August 22) Your current nostalgia has been triggering familiar yearnings and it would be wise to act on them rather than ignore them. Go ahead and allow yourself to wander through your memories. Give yourself an hour to go through those photos in your Facebook albums and relive the moments, just don’t spend too much time dwelling on the past, it can only do more harm than good.
Virgo (August 23-September 22) As exciting or tantalizing as they may appear, other people’s online dramas are going to do nothing but add distractions to your life right now, so stay away. There is no need for you to get involved in everyone else’s problems, even if you think you may have a solution for them. Take caution when expressing your ideas, but try not to offer advice or take anyone’s side. Staying neutral is best for now.
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EARTH
AIR
Libra (September 23- October 22) You will meet a new person online and shall find their powerful and magnetic charisma quite captivating. Be careful however that he/she doesn’t distract you from what you need to get done and prioritize your responsibilities ahead of making connections with this person. You may be ready for this new friendship and to share your time and ideas with others, however your priority is to fulfill your goals and commitments.
Scorpio (October 23 – November 21) Although your schedule may be very hectic, it is always a smart idea to get offline and take some time to enjoy the company of your friends and family. Whether it’s heading out for casual lunch with coworkers or casually getting together with friends for drinks after work, make the effort to connect with your dear ones and don’t forget to put away your phone!
Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21) Although it may be hard to ignore the political tension on social media, you are wiser than to get involved. Even though you may have a certain position or stand on the matter, try not to be negative or bad-mouth others, especially politicians. Instead take the opportunity to be positive and spread this much-needed attitude to others.
Capricorn (December 22 – January 19) Change can be stressful, but embrace it, even if it means leaving behind what is familiar and embarking on a new way of life. You definitely have some changes for the better heading your way, so learn how to minimize the stress and maximize the positive. Starting an online journal or blog to chronicle these changes can help release the stress and keep track of what is happening in your life and how you feel.
Aquarius (January 20 – February 18) It’s time to take a break from the online world and return to reality for a while. Not only is your addiction putting you at risk of alienating your friends and loved ones, but it may cause you problems at work too. If you can’t control yourself, you can find several add-ons for you Internet browser that will allow you to control the amount of time you spend on social media websites and even temporarily block them.
Pisces (February 19 – March 20) Although you may feel very confident about reaching your goals this month, you’ll do even better if you have your friends by your side. Interacting with others, whether online or offline should give you the boost of energy you need. Be sure to pick your partners wisely though, not everyone has you best interests at heart.
BEATS HIS WIFE IN PUBLIC… 1. MAN FOR A CAUSE! If you find domestic abuse repulsive, you might experience mixed feelings about what’s coming. Sunday, May 4th saw the first edition of the 10k Women’s Challenge marathon in Beirut which aims at raising awareness about women’s rights, empowering them to speak up and reaching a real acknowledgement of their rights.
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M&C Saatchi seized the opportunity to stage a public fight between two actors, a man and a woman, where the man hits his pretend wife and tries to force her out of the race. The initiative showed how powerless women were in front of a violent husband and how passive we are when witnessing such an abomination. The whole country saw and shared the video across various social media platforms until the agency revealed it was a stunt.
Online journal bringing you the latest digital, web, user insights & social media news! GIVES MUSIC 2. TWITTER ANOTHER SHOT
#
After Twitter’s #Music app failed in an epic way and was pulled from the App Store, the social media site is already back on track. According to The Journal, Twitter is working on “music incorporation and content.” Sources indicate that discussions with Beats are already underway, as well as talks with Vevo and Sony music to incorporate “bite-sized music videos.” Twitter relies widely on music artists, the most followed people on their platform, so if they play their cards right this time they might make a good and much needed comeback, especially after their recent loss of engagement and plummeting shares.
OF TWITTER USERS 3. 44% NEVER TWEETED
DRE SOON TO BE THE FIRST 4. DR BILLIONAIRE IN HIP-HOP
Whether you use twitter for information or for selfies, chances are you’ve tweeted at least once, but not everyone. According to Twopcharts, a website that tracks Twitter users by language and city, about 44% of the 974 million users on Twitter have never tweeted.
You’ve seen Beats, you’ve probably owned Beats and if not you’ve at least tried them on. Dr Dre’s headphones and earphones brand is getting even bigger now because Apple is making its first ten-figure buy ever. They offered 3.2 Billion dollars to get their hands on the headsets that took the market by storm.
The website tracks how many tweets an account sends and compared them to the number of active users (as in users who log in at least once a month). This result doesn’t mean people are losing interest in Twitter, but that a large portion of users are using it for information and passive browsing.
Dr Dre being the major single-person shareholder in this company, he will personally receive enough money to make him the first Billionaire Hip-Hop artist ever. This big buy seems to have something to do with Beats’ app, which resembles Spotify, except it can perfectly predict what music you like. Given iTune’s declining relevance, it might just be Apple’s biggest musical move since the iPod.
GOES TO WAR 5. FACEBOOK WITH SNAPCHAT
6 DESIGN FIRST 6. IPHONE SPECS LEAKED
7. TINDER FLIRTS WITH LINKEDIN
If you are into ephemeral messaging then you are in for a treat, courtesy of Mr Zuckerberg. After failing to buy Snapchat last year (for a reported 3 billion dollars, no less), Facebook did not give up hope. They tried ephemeral photo/ video sharing with “Poke” but it failed brutally.
You’ve had your iPhone 5s for a good 8 months now, it’s time to think about your next phone! Apple knows (Apple always knows…) and is way ahead of you. They’ve been working on the iPhone 6 for a while now, and leaks are finally out!
Are you into a coworker? Do you want to flirt with the secretary? There’s an app for that! LinkedUp uses LinkedIn profiles from your network and allows you to anonymously like or pass on profiles.
Trying to learn from their mistakes, they developed yet another new Snapchat, code-named “Slingshot.” It is unclear what separates it from its competitor or its predecessor, but Zuckerberg declared it should be available as early as the end of the month.
The most important news is the design: Bigger, rounder thinner. Rumors say there will be two handsets on the market this year: one 4.7 and one 5.5 or 5.7 inches. The resolution will go up a notch with a rumored 1334 x 750 (326 ppi) for the 4.7” and a full HD 1920 x 1080 (401 ppi) for the larger model. We’ve also heard about the removal of the home button, an upgraded camera - with a larger aperture and image processor, allowing better low-light pictures - scratch proof material, wireless charging and an array of other surprises...
If a person you like likes you back, a match is made and it’s time for you to upset your HR department. “We have [the user] select their gender, which doesn’t necessarily show up on LinkedIn, or the age that they want to display. He/ she gets to decide which pictures they put in.” The rest of the info comes from the LinkedIn profile. Good idea or potential disaster?
VOTES FOR THE RIGHT TO 8. EU BE FORGOTTEN
OPEN TO 9. PINTEREST ADVERTISING
10.
You thought you could escape Google? You thought anything could be hidden from the internet? Well you were wrong! I say “were” because if you are lucky enough to live in the EU, it is now within your right to ask Google not to show your info (or part of it), in the event of the content being inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant, or excessive.
Facebook started it, then Twitter followed, now it’s time for Pinterest to advertise. After announcing it last year Pinterest finally started giving brands the possibility to promote pins. They are still testing the new feature with big brands like ABC Family, Banana Republic, Expedia, GAP, Kraft, Old Navy, Walt Disney Parks and others, but will soon make it available to all.
If you don’t use sunscreen, you should probably reconsider, and that’s a message from the Wolverine himself. Yes, Hugh Jackman is once again fighting skin cancer.
Of course it won’t be off the internet, but it won’t pop up in Google searches anymore. This spawned a massive controversy, especially in the UK, where this move was considered an attempt to whitewash one’s history and manipulate information, even if it’s true, legal and legally published. Some see it as a blow to freedom of speech, others like a chance to manage your own data.
They are conducting very thorough testing to make the promotion seamless and not upsetting to the users. The promoted posts will only appear in searches as they will be relevant to the keywords. For instance, if you search for clothing items, pins from Banana Republic will show up with a little icon indicated that this pin is promoted.
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HUGH JACKMAN RAISES SKIN CANCER AWARENESS USING INSTAGRAM
After his operation, Jackman posted a selfie on Instagram with the caption “Another Basel Cell Carcinoma. All out now. Thanks Dr. Albom and Dr. Arian, PLEASE! PLEASE! WEAR SUNSCREEN!” In an effort to raise awareness even further, he Tweeted “Huge thanks to Dr. Arian and Dr. Born for operating on my nose until 10:20pm! #SUNSCREEN.” He hopes people will listen because Basel Cell Carcinoma is easily treatable but it has a high chance of becoming metastatic.
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