Cloud961-July 2013

CLOUD #2 - JULY 2013

REIGN OF TECHNOLOGY

www.cloud961.com

WalEed NASSIF

MOHAMMAD HIJAZI

MAYA ZANKOUL

We are pioneers in what we are doing and i am proud of that

10 Design Tips for Social Media

Inspiring People from The Lebanese Online Community

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One Wig Stand Makes the Cut In line with Cloud961's "Social Media Changing Lives" program, we were there at One Wig Stand’s finale to their 8 month long campaign “Make the Cut”. P8

BLOG of the month

www.tlkaboutmovies.com

The First EXCLUSIVE ONLINE TV CHANNEL

If you’re into movies you’ve probably come across Anis Tabet’s blog, Lets Tlk Abt Movies. Anis’s blog is all in the title, with all entries strictly movie reviews.

Having started writing movie reviews on the Facebook app, Flixster, with some encouragement from his girlfriend he began blogging... P16

EVENTS:

The evolution of tweetups One sunny summer afternoon I go to my twitter timeline to see what my fellow tweeps are up to on such a fine day. Instead of tweets on where is the next best happy hour place, it was actually filled with reviews of washing machines and refrigerators. Refrigerators? P20 PARTNERS:

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EDITORIAL community hack sheet for ngos An NGO's social media channels are quickly turning into assets for these NGOs who are looking for media coverage, funding, partnerships... And while by now most of them realize that, they are also feeling overwhelmed on how to harness its powers with having so many of them - social networks.

Though it is not easy, this Hack Sheet created for NGOs should be helpful. Initially this was created as a talk for @Social Media's PACE innovation fair that intended to bring together NGOs, Journalists, the Media, Digital Marketers and Digital Firms all under one roof in order to act as an enabler for social change.

And while it is hard to explain in just a few paragraphs how to use each social network, there are key aspects to consider while building your social media strategy: 1. How long will your post "Live"?

Your clever tweet will only be seen by people in the next 2-3 minutes after posting it as ones feeds refreshes quite quickly, but a facebook post may live on the newsfeed organically for 2-3 hours, and even longer if promoted.

2. Who is you target audience on the platform?

Facebook is definitely your hub for the masses, but linkedin may be a good hub for you as an NGO to find journalists, human capital, granting organizations and network with other NGOs and the community around your NGO cause.

3. Your content!

140 characters work on twitter but you need much more to grab the attention of people

during their scrolling coma in their facebook newsfeed and that is why you need to use images and interesting visuals.

4. Visibility In Facebook, you can promote a post through facebook ads to get it seen by millions, on Twitter and Instagram the clever use of a hashtag may give you the needed exposure and on youtube using proper descriptions and keywords will make your video 'findable' long after its posted.

And last but not least do not feel like you have to use all social networks or every single feature of every social network: Use what you need and what you have time for!

WHICH SOCIAL NETWORKS TO FOCUS ON AND HOW TO OPTIMIZE CONTENT FOR THEM 1. General Tips • Consider Network Specifics in terms of content and user behavior.

• Your Networks should complement each other.

• Be where your audience is.

• Consider objectives before approaching social media channels.

• Develop a strategy for each campaign.

• Work with the community.

• Integrate social media into everything you do!

2. Facebook (General Public) • Visibility: 2-3 hours.

• Shareable visual content 1-4 times a day.

• Utilize facebook ads strategically and use tricks to increase edge rank 3. Twitter (Journalists, Influencers, NGOs) • Visibility: 2-30 minutes.

• Real-time reporting and monitoring, research, polling.

• Utilize hashtags strategically.

• Follow and search for influencers.

CLOUD #2 July 2013

4. Linkedin (Grantors, Sponsors, Journalists) • Almost no visibility for posts.

• Establish professional visibility.

• Use for recruitment.

• Have an up-to-date personal and corporate profile.

• Make your profile findable.

5. Blogs (Network and Fellow Bloggers) • Optimizes Search Engine visibility.

• Important to build relationships with influencers.

• Post latest news and campaign details if needed.

6. Youtube • Showcase any videos you have.

• Post whenever content is available and reshare across platforms.

• Write good descriptions and add keywords.

7. Instagram (Your Own Community) • Getting visibility through proper use of hashtags.

• Post as often as you want.

• Build your own community.

• Hashtag everything.

Darine Sabbagh

sdarine@cloud961.com @sdarine

Publisher: Cornerstone Public Relations SAL Chairman Bassam Karam bassam@cloud961.com Managing Director Hagop Manisajian hagop@cloud961.com Staff Writers: Joelle Hajji joelle@cloud961.com Lynn Bizri lynn@cloud961.com Paul Gadalla paul@cloud961.com Contributors Sara Hamze Darine Sabagh Mohammad Hijazi Christelle Lebbos Selim Njeim Armen Bakkalian Alfred Zakhour Rima Taha Lebanese Memes

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NEWS 5 Best Apps for Summer Festivals www.mashable.com 1. Stow Aside from your sunglasses, fanny pack and a disposable camera, you're going to want to pack some stuff for the road if you're traveling far. Stow is a useful packing app for all traveling purposes.

With ready-made templates for some typical trips, you'll already have some basic items pre-loaded on your packing list. Set the length of your trip and Stow will help you pack the right amount of necessities.

2. Forecast.io Forecast.io is an innovative web app that you can also install on your phone.

Accurate, up-to-the-minute forecasts and interactive radar maps will help you prepare for a rainy disaster. The user-friendly interface and easy-to-read metrics allow for updates that can be read in a cinch, even when you're squeezed in a tight crowd.

3. Find My Friends There's nothing worse than losing your buddies in a huge crowd, especially

when your favorite headliner is about to play. Before you head out, get all of your friends to install the Find My Friends app, which has a map that updates in real time with estimated distances. You can also put your friends without smartphones onto the map by sending them an invite via text.

4. Camera+ Capture your festival memories with Camera+, a photo editor that kicks your average iPhone camera up a few notches. Camera+ has functions that will rid your festival experience of blurry, underexposed pictures. Use the Stabilizer to steady your phone, or use Burst to rapidly take consecutive photos. There are also built-in filters so you don't have to depend solely on Instagram for the day.

5. Easy Battery Saver It's no use having good apps if your phone runs out of battery power halfway through the day. Easy Battery Saver detects the amount of juice you have left and adjusts your phone's network connectivity and screen brightness accordingly to help you make the most of what's left.

CLOUD #2 July 2013

Facebook Now Lets You Comment with a Photo.

Facebook has started to roll out photo comments, a new feature that allows you to comment on posts with images rather than words. Photo comments are starting

Wearable Tech Bracelet Brings You Smartphone Notifications Companies introduced the wearable tech space, including Embrace+, which alerts wearers to smartphone notifications "through a combination of visual and tactile cues." What's more, this happens all while the mobile device remains inside a purse or pocket.

"Through a simple set-up of some basic

Foursquare's Time Machine Visualizes All Your Check-Ins You’ll be transported back in time to your first check-in with the new foursquare

Samsung's Waterproof Galaxy S4 Active Earlier this month Samsung and AT&T officially announced a new version of the Galaxy S4; the Galaxy S4 Active. The biggest difference between

AOL Reader Fill Google Reader Void Google Reader is out, and AOL is to give users a way to find new content online.

The AOL Reader site is already live, featuring the tagline "all your favorite websites in one place." It provides helpful

Facebook unveils ‘Video on Instagram’ New Instagram video ser vice was launched recently during a press conference in California. Dubbed “Video on Instagram, the app allows users to share short videos with friends on Twitter. Facebook’s solution is integrated with Instagram rather than Twitter, of course, and it adds an obvious twist: Instagram videos can be spiced up a bit with integrated filters. In the case of Video

the regular Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy S4 Active is that the Active is water and dust resistant and can be submerged in up to three feet of water for up to 30 minutes.

You can even listen to music with it while swimming.

instructions on how to transfer feeds from Google Reader to AOL Reader. Some nice features include sharing content across Facebook, Twitter and Google+, the ability to save articles for future reading and an API for developers and third party apps.

You can also tag articles for archiving.

A California teen has developed a super-capacitor that could lead to a 20- to 30-second phone charge. Supercapacitors are energy-storage devices that have a long cycle life, and have the

WhatsApp Tops 250 Million Active Users WhatsApp now has more than 250 million monthly active users, the messaging ser vice revealed. This puts WhatsApp in the same league as

Twitter signs deal with Viacom Twitter announced a partnership with Viacom to create social video advertising campaigns around programs on MTV, CMT, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and others.

on Instagram, Facebook is supporting videos up to 15 seconds in length. The video feature within the Instagram app also supports editing, which allows users to delete clips they don’t like and add new ones. Instagram has 13 brand new filters that are dedicated video filters as well, and they can be added after video is captured. Finally, Facebook announced a new “Cinema” feature that digitally stabilizes video as it is captured on the iPhone or Android phones.

parameters on the smartphone you already have, the Embrace+ will show you what you want, and when you want to know it," according to the company's Kickstarter page. "What it shows, how it displays your information and how frequently you see the information is completely up to you."

Notifications can be set for incoming calls, battery power, text messages, as well as email and social-media updates.

Facebook Hashtags Debut Facebook rolled out the #hashtags on its platform. All Facebook users are now able to include a hashtagged phrases. When a hashtag is included in a post, clicking on it will pop out a feed that aggregates

Sony SmartWatch 2 revealed Sony has up dated its Android SmartWatch range with the SmartWatch 2, beating Apple's rumoured iWatch and Samsung's Galaxy Watch to market. It improves on the specification and adds new features designed to boost battery

7 Big Changes Coming in IE 11 mashable.com Teen's Invention Could Create 20-Second Phone Charge

Time Machine. You can slide forward and backwards in time of every checkin and even see info graphs based on all your stats. It even claims to predict where you'll be going next.

to roll out globally on the web as well as the Facebook mobile site. Users can't yet leave photo comments within Facebook's mobile apps, but they are viewable. The feature is expected to come to those apps in a future update.

NEWS

Twitter Buys Social Discovery Startup Spindle Twitter has bought Spindle, a locationbased social discovery engine, the two companies announced. Spindle was

potential to store a lot of energy per unit volume. Sounds dandy, right? Not quite.

The devices have limited use because they store less energy than batteries.

But Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, Calif. has made quite advancement with this technology.

services like LinkedIn, which has more than 225 million members, and Twitter, which passed 200 million active users in December — though there are likely many more inactive accounts on top of that. WhatsApp, which was launched in 2009, lets users send messages for free across all major smartphone platforms.

The partnership will be launched at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. During that show, MTV will serve up real-time, sponsor-supported highlights of notable moments from the show via Twitter. That show is set to air Aug. 25.

founded two and a half years ago by former Microsoft engineers with the goal of helping users discover relevant content on social networks based on time and place. The startup raised $2.3 million in funding in late 2012.

Live Tiles for Sites IE10 always let you pin sites to the Start screen, but they were very plain squares that looked muted next to the dynamic live tiles of apps. In IE11, pinned sites get live-tile support. Sites need to support the feature for it to work, but it encourages users to pin more often, and the usefulness is obvious for media sites and blogs.

Permanent Tabs One of the awkward things about Windows 8 in the modern UI is that tabs aren’t really tabs. This is to say, they don’t work like browser tabs in other environments, since you can’t see them all at once and just click on which one you want. Instead, you have to right-click before you see them.

IE11 fixes this with a mode that lets you display tabs and your URL bar permanently. Tabs become visible in a strip along the bottom, above the URL bar (see photo). The icons are actually smaller than the normal right-click view, so the strip doesn’t take up too much room. Of course, you can go back to full-screen mode at any time.

WebGL Support IE11 finally bring support for WebGL, an open-graphics standard that can render 3D graphics within web browsers.

Until now, Internet Explorer was the last major browser to lack support for WebGL (although it’s disabled on Safari and Opera by default), apparently for security reasons.

Microsoft says new standards have

Is Facebook Working on Its Own RSS Reader?

With Google Reader closing up soon, devoted users are still looking around for an RSS feed replacement. Could Facebook create the next big place to stay updated on news across the Internet?

others posts that have been tagged with the same phrase. The move will make it easier to find what other people are saying about specific topics and events, something that people have typically gone to twitter to do over Facebook.

life. It provides a secondary screen for an Android tablet or smartphone connected via Bluetooth, but now includes the same waterproof construction as Sony's flagship Xperia Z smartphone and Xperia Z Tablet, meaning it can be worn in heavy rain without risk.

addressed the security concerns, and its implementation of WebGL ensures any problematic operations won’t crash your whole browser. Thus, IE11 will now allow users to experience the wonders of WebGL sites such as this one.

Apps Play Nicer With Web Pages If you click on a link you’re shifted to IE10, and you need to switch back to Mail manually. In IE11, the app will be able to open a smaller browser window, putting the two apps side by side in Snap mode.

Infinite Tabs IE10 limits users to just 10 tabs at a time.

In IE11, you can crank things way past 11, in fact, Microsoft says the number of tabs is unlimited. The experience won’t slow down for tab addicts, however, since the browser intelligently allocates memory, “pausing” tabs that haven’t been used in a while. But as soon as you click on an old tab, it powers back up instantly.

CLOUD #2 July 2013

BlackBerry launches iPhone and Android security platform BlackBerry introduced a new service called "Secure Work Space," which allows enterprise iPhone and Android users to toggle between personal and corporate modes.

Secure Work Space is aimed at giving

Microsoft Launches New Arabiclanguage Corporate Blog for the Middle East and North Africa Microsoft launched a new Arabiclanguage corporate blog, “Microsoft on the Issues: Arab World.” The platform will provide an interactive forum to discuss the impact of technology on the economic and societal development of the Arabic-speaking world. “Microsoft

Bank Audi launches EMall, a window for Lebanese merchants to the World and an Online Shopping Tool.

Bank Audi launched its “emall” site (w w w.emall.me), an unparalleled e-commerce platform in Lebanon.

companies control over the data that flows over their networks, even on a user's personal phone. Corporate email, calendars, contacts and intranets are cordoned off, and IT departments can add or remove other apps from that corporate section without affecting any personal information.

on the Issues: Arab World” will feature regular comments from Microsoft staff as well as local partners and customers, aiming to encourage wider conversations about harnessing technology innovation and talent to enhance business growth in the region. The blog is a part of Microsoft’s efforts to broaden its regional communications approach and reach Arabic-speaking audiences.

Emall, an e-commerce platform, aims at promoting the Lebanese economy and at being a marketplace that unites retailers, SMEs and independent merchants with cardholders in Lebanon and around the world, who will now be able to execute sale and purchase operations online through this site.

Multi-Window (Snap) Browsing It’s a little odd to hail multiple browser windows as a “new” feature when it’s been a hallmark of the desktop version since its inception, but IE11 in the modern UI now supports it. There probably aren’t that many situations where you’d want to have side-by-side web pages open in Windows 8, but IE11 lets you do it.

Cloud961 offers a free matching service for employers and Job seekers in the digital world

Favorites Center If you wanted to manage your favorites in IE10, you had to go to the desktop.

IE11 lets you stay in the modern UI while editing your bookmarks and you can even give each one a customized image so it’s instantly recognizable when you call up the list.

Whether you are employer looking to hire or a geek looking for a job, drop us an email at: jobs@cloud961.com

According to Tom Waddington, a web developer for the site Cut Out + Keep, a new code on Facebook hints that Facebook may launch RSS feeds for users in the future. An RSS feed would allow users to subscribe to and pull in online content from news organizations, blogs and videos to keep up with news.

info@cloud961.com - www.cloud961.com

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COVER FEATURE

CLOUD #2 July 2013

itivi.tv @itivichannel iTiViexclusive itivi online channel Itivichannel

iTiVi is the first exclusive online channel to be launched in Lebanon and the region that offers an exclusive online grid of hit shows, clips, movies, drama, documentaries, kids and family shows, 3D-stereoscopic and much more.

It is a free video on demand platform launched by renowned director Waleed Nassif, with whom we had this conversation to further shed lights on this exciting startup that, if succeeded, might take the world of online television up to a new level.

Director Waleed Nassif: "We are pioneers in what we are doing and i am proud of that" Intierview by Hagop Manisajian @LeHagop - hagop@cloud961.com Bassam Karam @BassamKaram - bassam@cloud961.com

» Why Online and not Offline?

Offline is there and exists indeed. We all lived our lives watching offline TVs and we reached a point where there is almost no more new challenges there. The challenge for me is in the “Social Media Generation”. I believe in this generation and my 18 years of experience made me realize that I can speak their same language with content through the iTiVi.tv window. And as you know, when you go online it means you are further going global and much faster.

Achieving that on satellite TV is much harder than through online TV.

» What’s the Latest about the Project?

iTiVi.tv is currently online in Beta version. Yet even in its beta we are handling a huge challenge, a contest with Nancy Ajram whom I thank for her trust in the project. Now as for the full version, we will be releasing it on Ramadan. 3 shows will go on air: a comedy show, a drama and a kind of paparazzi news show.

» iTiVi will only be a Video-On-Demand Channel? Or Will There be Any Live Shows?

Till the end of 2013 we will remain as a Video-on-Demand channel. After that we have lot of plans for offline channels and iTiVi. (Smiles) Can’t say much now or I will burn the “surprise” factor!

» As an Online Channel, Where Do You Find Yourself Different Than Offline Channels?

Being online, it gives us a bigger range of interactivity, a kind of interactivity that no way a traditional offline TV can achieve. You can sense that factor more when you see how it is becoming indispensible even for celebrities to get in

touch with their fanbase through social media.

» Do You Expect to Have More Viewers as an Online Channel?

It's not just me. There are international statistics around about that. Big numbers of people are available online but not available offline, while there is only a specific age group that is only available offline. My aim is to reach those people too but not in the current phase. Today our strength is in the so called “i-generation”.

» All iTiVi Content is Exclusive and Being Produced

by Your Own Production Company And That Costs a Lot. Being an Online "Business", Where is That Business Going Next?

The Universe! But under the iTiVi.tv brand! (feels like trying not to reveal secrets...). Look, every single business model in the world starts from a point and here I take the occasion to mention a great friend of mine, Mr. Elie Harika, whom I consider to be the Godfather of this project because without him I couldn’t have foreseen what’s coming up. We are pioneers in what we are doing and I am proud of that.

» Being the First of its Kind Online TV Channel, You Should Expect Others to Copy You. How Are You Planning to Keep iTiVi Unique?

Well iTiVi.tv is an online channel and there are lots of online channels with reruns. But in our case, ALL (stressing on "all") our content is exclusively produced for iTiVi.tv by “W Production” our production house which is a six-years old company. Add to it also my 18 years of experience so both combined together brought the result which is iTiVi.tv. This already will keep us ahead of others when they try to copy

us, and yes many will try but (malicious mode on...) we will surprise them with things that will take them 3 years at least to be able to cope with us.

» What Kind of “Surprises” Are e Talking About?

You have to watch iTiVi.tv to see. What we are preparing is more than surprises, I can call them "bombs", a positive kind of bombs of course without hurting anybody.

» What Makes You so Confident About it?

First, our audience will see exclusive premium original content, from creative concept to production. Second, the online market needs an exclusive online channel. And finally, our content fits 100% our culture and our target audience.

» Will There be Any Cultural Barriers or Restrictions on iTiVi.tv in Some Arab Countries?

We can’t say restrictions, there are some rules which we all know. After 18 years of experience I can see the thin red line between what is accepted and what is not accepted.

» You Focused on the International Aspect of iTiVi .

But Knowing That The Content Will be in Arabic, How do You Aim to Reach The International Audience, Unless You Mean the Arabic Audience Worldwide?

Both. You have Arabs all over the world and we are targeting them and there will be programs with optional English subtitles since English is the global language.

(Sarcastically...) We might even have Chinese subtitles if a specific program can target the Chinese audience.

COVER FEATURE

CLOUD #2 July 2013

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ON THE CLOUD cancer patients to cope as they struggle to defeat cancer. Using social media she has managed to connect with a wider audience.

“At first it wasn’t easy to get people to share things, cancer is still a taboo in this region.

People mainly retweet light and witty things, not serious subjects like breast cancer. Once we started working with bloggers, people began to connect more with the campaigns and that gave it more of a human touch.”

Snip snip snip and there went all her hair on the floor. No this is not your average day at the salon (which is definitely a nightmare for a guy like me) but One Wig Stand’s finale to their 8 month long campaign “Make the Cut”. One Wig Stand, which started out as a blog to connect women coping with breast cancer, is now a full-fledged Lebanese breast cancer awareness and support NGO. In our last issue of Cloud961, we were proud to feature this campaign under our title of "Social Media Changing Lives".

Their first campaign, Bras For a Cause, which brought in local talent to create bras for women who have had a mastectomy (the removal of a breast due to a tumor), was a big hit across Lebanon and the region, garnering the support of women of all ages and even the online community with several bloggers who became “ambassadors” for the campaign. Now One Wig Stand is on their second campaign and it’s already looking to be a success. Make the Cut aims to collect donated hair for women who have lost their own hair due to chemotherapy and cannot afford a wig. Partnering with 25 different salons across Beirut and Mount Lebanon, Loryne is positive about her goal “We wanted 400 donors and we’re almost at our goal.

It takes 6-8 pony tails to make one wig, so with 400 pony tails we could make 50 wigs.”

One Wig Stand's founder Loryne Atoui has been looking for creative ways for breast

Held at the L’Oreal Professional Academy in Dekwaneh, on the last weekend of June,

One Wig Stand Makes the Cut

By Paul Gadalla - Paul@cloud961.com

CLOUD #2 July 2013

women of all ages came in to make the big cut. Requirements were simple, women had to donate a minimum of 15 cm of healthy hair. Donors are given a certificate plus a new hairstyle from the participating salon.

Women of all ages came out to donate their precious locks for an assortment of reasons.

Roseena Eid describes why her daughter, Selma, who is only 6, donated. “Selma had a scalp disease which made half her hair fall out. Over a year ago she finally beat the disease but half her head had no hair so when it grew back one side of her hair was longer then the other kids would bully her at school. When she heard of Make the Cut she wanted to donate because she didn’t want anymore girls to get bullied.” 56-yearold Iqabel Siklwai and her teenage daughter both came, not because they were survivors, but out of social responsibility “If you have the chance to help somebody you should take it. Why would we not donate?” For some people it wasn’t their first time either. Second time donor, Talar Demirdjian, wanted to give people even more inspiration “When people see someone is donating again it gives them more motivation to just go ahead and do it.“ Even the hairdressers were excited to jump on board like Joseph Haber who was cutting and brushing hair all day, “Straight away I wanted to do it, without even thinking twice about it. A distant relative’s child was

diagnosed with cancer at just 6 months and I witnessed how hard it was on their family.

Thankfully their child survived so when I heard about this, and without even thinking I volunteered to join. I would even donate if I could.”

Now you would think that a breast cancer campaign would draw mostly middle-aged women but it’s actually the elementary school crowd that turned out to be the big donors. “I’m really impressed” says Loryne, “University girls and older girls in general are more attached to their hair and care more about their looks. We held an event at a university and a school and the younger girls were more responsive. Younger girls don’t care and they know they’re doing it for a cause. We expect mainly older women to do it, so it’s really touching to see such young girls donate as well.” Even at the last hour women of all ages were still pouring into the salon to cut their locks. “We’re already way over our amount of bookings and even other people from outside the salon donated hair so we’re definitely going to hit our goal!”

Loryne said with a bright smile.

Although there is no cure for breast cancer yet, One Wig Stand and today’s donors are there to help breast cancer patients every step of the way.

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ON THE CLOUD » The year off

• What did you do during this year?

During this year off from university, I participated in several competitions and made it to the finals in all of them.

Then, I continued working on my startups and developing them in order to make successful and useful products.

I like originality so I worked on making my products efficient with creative functionalities.

“Hello, World”

By Christelle Lebbos

@ChristelBLebbos

“Hello, World”, two life-changing words for Donald Derek Haddad. Those were the words he sent to everyone from the Dean’s e-mail after he hacked into the mail server of the Lebanese American University. It was an ethical attempt his part, but the board at LAU considered it to be a violation of stringent rules. As a result, he got suspended for a year.

• How did you react when you found out you were expelled?

I was under shock for the first couple of days, but as time passed by, I felt the pressure and responsibility that I put myself in. I realized it was the perfect time to start something.

Since I was a 10-year-old child, I have always been interested in computers and in building “robots” by disassembling and reassembling my toys. As I grew older, I met some interesting people with good hacking skills. Elie Khoury, the founder of Woopra, was one of them.

He was known in my neighborhood as a good geek and designer who had an interesting blog. I always looked up to him and considered him to be my mentor.

I realized how he was able to make it to the top and build a successful business out of his startup.

Competitions & Hackathons: - Semi finals in the MIT business plan competition with Joseph Massih and Jad Younen, presenting Cloudnetworks.

- Second place in Startup weekend Beirut pitching Presoly with Danny Chamy & Eddy Chamy.

- First prize winner of Arabnet developer tournament 2012.

- First prize winner of Startup weekend Byblos pitching meeneemee a tamagotchi that evolves based on your social activities on Foursquare and Facebook.

- Finalist in Arabnet startup demo pitching Presoly.

- Represented Lebanon and won in the Arabnet Developer Championship in Dubai.

Startups & Projects: - Cloudnetworks is a cloud-based digital signage platform running on the Raspberry Pi. - Presoly is a presentation clicker embedded in your smartphone where you can control and record your online presentations hosted on your Slideshare, Dropbox and Google Drive accounts.

- Meeneemee was more of a fun project done at Startup Weekend Byblos based on an addictive game that I used to play during my childhood, the Tamagotchi also known as Zazoo. It’s a mobile game where you can create a funny character called the meeneeyou that you have to take care of by checking in into venues on Foursquare. For example, if you check in at a fast food restaurant, your avatar will get fatter, if you check in at a library, he’ll become smarter giving you the option to tweet from it...etc - Lamba Labs: I met the founders of Lamba Labs at share

CLOUD #2 July 2013

Beirut, an event where people share ideas, knowledge and creativity. Marc Farra and Bassam Jalgha told me about Lamba Labs, a Hakerspace in Mar-Mikhael where members can build things together. It’s a place where anything can happen, where people can work and at the same time have fun and share good moments with not only comrades, but with friends as well. It’s a place to share knowledge with people and learn many things. Lamba Labs reminded me of my childhood and I joined this place in order to revive that childhood spirit and be part of those geeky inventions. I became part of Lamba Labs in the beginning of 2013 and did a series of talks in their show and tell events.

- Build your Own Google TV Workshop: I gave a lightning talk at the Google IO extend Beirut event hosted at Lamba Labs, titled Google TV. At the end of the talk, I suggested the following workshop: “let’s try to build our own version of the Google TV on a trending platform The Raspberry Pi.” A couple of weeks later, I gave the workshop and shared the first version of the RaspiTV. Following that, II wrote a detailed tutorial on my blog about how I’ve built it (blog.donaldderek.com), posted the link on Hacker News, and in matter of minutes, the article went viral!

I was pleasantly surprised when my article took more than 60,000 hits in 24 hours.

The project is open-source on Github where programmers from all around the world are contributing to it. The article was translated into Japanese, German, French, and some others.

• What did you learn from this experience?

Ground zero is a place that I've constantly visited. We're the product of our experiences, that's what I believe in, and I would like to always repeat this quote: "You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." Steve Jobs

CLOUD #2 July 2013

ON THE CLOUD 5 interesting people to follow on Twitter

By Mohammad Hijazi

@mhijazi

@RoulaNahas

Roula Nahas is the Regional Marketing and PR Manager of Bestseller Middle East, whose brands includes Vero Moda, Jack & Jones, Name.it, Pieces and Only. She is also the owner and Creator of paRs Charms, which are motivational treasures that were created to express the right to live your best life. Roula tweets about her interesting daily life juggling work and family and tends to be motivational in her tone.

The Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi is a small, single-board computer developed for computer science education. A United Kingdom (UK) charitable organization called the Raspberry Pi Foundation developed the device.

@FidaChaaban

Fida Chaaban is the Editor in Chief of RAGMAG Magazine, which is the most interactive Lebanese fashion magazine on Social Media. Fida also contributes to a number of print publications. She tweets about the hottest topics in Lebanon and engages with her followers very well and supports the online community in Lebanon greatly.

Raspberry Pi is about the size of a credit card, has a 32-bit ARM processor and uses a Fedora distribution of Linux for its default operating system (OS). It can be programmed with Python or any other language that will compile for ARM v6.

The Raspberry Pi computer is essentially a system-on-a-chip (SoC) with connection ports. It can be operated by hooking up a USB keyboard and plugging the computer into a television. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has said it will be issuing two versions of the computer: Model A will cost $25 and come with 256Mb RAM and one USB port but no network connection. Model B, which is already available and costs $35, has 256Mb RAM, comes with two USB ports and can be connected to an Ethernet network.

The Raspberry Pi computer is essentially a system-on-a-chip (SoC) with connection ports. It can be operated by hooking up a USB keyboard and plugging the computer into a television. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has said it will be issuing two versions of the computer: Model A will cost $25 and come with 256Mb RAM and one USB port but no network connection. Model B, which is already available and costs $35, has 256Mb RAM, comes with two USB ports and can be connected to an Ethernet network.

@TheManalyst

Manal Assaad is Branding Fanatic, Marketing Enthusiast and a Media Addict. She describes herself as a Social Media Rockstar and Consultant. She tweets about design, technology, travel, movies and lifestyle and is a great resource for those who want to keep up to date about the Social Media Industry in the MENA region.

@YoumnaNaufal

Youmna Naufal moved from New York City to Beirut to work as Head of English News at Future TV. She tries as much as possible to incorporate social media into traditional media and is a big supporter of the Lebanese Online Community.

@WhenHopeSpeaks

Amal Dahouk is a Marketing and Talent Development Professional and blogger with almost 10 years of experience gained from different retail, banking and consultancy roles in Kuwait and Lebanon. She is enthusiastic about sustainable impact, talent development, CSR, social media, social psychology, and good writing and is known for her love for coffee, traveling and cooking. She tweets commentary about life in Arabic and English.

• Do you wish to go back to university?

I want to finish university, I miss being on vacation. @DerekHaddad

Facebook Hashtags hit privacy and spam walls

By Lynn Bizri - Lynn@cloud961.com Minister Sehnaoui interested by the rPi: “nicolasehnaoui: The Raspberry PI Initiative - Empowering students with Programming skills at schools - Pilot Project Handover of first set of Raspberry Pi units in Dhour El Shoueir Secondary School Through the generous donation from the Mouna Bustros Foundation, the Ministry of Telecommunications initiated and will organize and facilitate in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education the project of empowering students with programming skills in schools. The project will motivate students for programming by creating small basic applications at first and then incorporating a curriculum that they follow through the academic year. The curriculum will be applied during the student’s computer lab hour, 1 hour per week!”

On June 12th, Facebook officially added support for hashtags, allowing users to search for and click on given phrases, as represented by the traditional # symbol, and see the stream of tagged images, posts and links. Users can also search for hashtags from the search bar, click on hashtags that accompany images shared from Instagram and compose status updates straight from the hashtag feed.

However, there are many drawbacks. The stream is significantly limited by privacy settings and users are only able to see public posts and content made visible by friends.

Hashtags are not yet functional on mobile devices, and since more than 50% of users access Facebook from their mobile device, more than 50% can’t click on hashtags. Yet another problem is the amount of spam posts linked to hashtags, which greatly outnumber the amount of relevant ones.

Some advantages do exist, although most of the positive aspects cater to businesses or campaigns. For example, hashtags can be used in trending topics related to a specific industry, campaigns can be magnified via the use of hashtags in Facebook advertising and hashtags allow people to join and drive conversations happening about their business.

The use of hashtags also decreases the gap between users and brands and candidates and employers.

Beat your competitors at the online game

Rima Taha, SEO Specialist

r.taha@mindfield.co @mind_field

The online game is all about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and to stay ahead in this race there are a few steps you should know, whether by improving your own site’s performance or by monitoring your competitor’s SEO activity.

Well, I’m going to share with you five, easy to grasp tips that will guarantee a top ten position in this game.

Let’s win that game by: Focusing on content creation: By adding fresh content to your site, it automatically becomes more appealing to the search engines and their automated indexing programs, as well as the people who read your pages. Content creation is a “win-win-win.”

Planning your keyword strategies carefully: When creating your website’s content, pay careful attention to the keywords you are targeting; if you’ve reached the top spot in the Google results for a given keyword doesn’t mean that maintaining this ranking is a valuable use of your time.

What you need to focus on are the search queries that yield the highest total traffic.

Staying abreast of SEO news: SEO is a field that’s constantly changing. If you’re able to jump on a new technique or growing trend before your competitors, you may be able to keep that lead in the marathon and guarantee being in the top positions in the natural search results.

Monitoring your competitor’s backlink profiles: While it’s important to monitor your own website’s backlink profiles to prevent negative SEO attacks, you should also keep a close eye on any changes in the links your competitors are building.

Monitoring your competitor’s on-site activities: Keep an eye on your competitors’ title tag structures, use of keyword-optimized headers and other SEO activity.

“Understanding the key terms to find your site is the starting point of SEO but, arguably, it’s also a starting point for having a successful business. If you have an SEO emergency, you might lack the time and experience to quickly solve a problem, in the way a professional can.

It’s not even just about emergencies. People do warm-ups before starting a marathon and so should you before taking off on an SEO race with your competitors. The SEO space is constantly changing with new ways to feed content and more. A pro keeps up with all this and can help ensure you’re staying fit, if you’ve not had an SEO “check-up” recently. “

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ON THE CLOUD

Social MEdia Saving Animals To Sophie with love

By Sara Hamzeh - sara@cloud961

That would be the title to the article you are about to read and my current status on facebook. i.e. An immediate instant notification about the article!

Her name is Sophia, a beautiful mixed-breed dog (half German, half Doberman). I saved her life and she saved my soul and I thank the heavens up above and those wizards out there for the creation of the digital world, the great uniter in the fast universe!

It was one of those ordinary days of logging on to facebook only to find a post from a friend of mine who’s an animal rights activist asking for help to foster or adopt a puppy she had found abandoned in a parking lot next to her house.

That one click on my laptop changed mine and Sophie’s life forever!

Last summer my animal rights activists’ colleagues and I assisted in saving a dog’s life in Jerusalem who was sentenced to be stoned to death for he had entered the Jerusalem rabbinical court several times and would not leave. The rabbis believed the dog was cursed. An international petition by Peta was formed and required a certain amount of signatures to veto this ludicrous verdict and mission was accomplished

thanks to the the fast alertness created over Facebook and Twitter locally, regionally and internationally!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, social media has upgraded from being a tool for stalking an ex boyfriend/girlfriend to saving a life, adopting a pet, making a statement, revolting, and scoring good points with Karma.

People need to be educated so that they can make intelligent moral choices” and obviously the message spreads faster via online, specifically with the usage of smart phones!

Newswires don’t need to exist any longer; Social media is our current Reuters!

A few of my greatest accomplishments over the past few years were made possible due to the evolution of the social media network along with those remarkable search engines. As an animal lover myself I have never had the chance to become an activist until I started witnessing the birth of animal rights organizations in Lebanon and people’s positive feedback and collaboration towards them! It came to my attention that others are actually out there doing something about it, rescuing, adopting and raising funds while I was just solely being a vegetarian!

As a result, I’ve helped save animals worldwide through online petitions sent by Peta and other animal welfare organization, fought animal abuse through media campaigns on social media pages, found foster and permanent homes to several rescued dogs and cats through tweets, facebook posts and sharing pics! Sharing stories of those abused animals gets people all hyped up and solutions are found!

An ad on facebook seven months ago for a dog up for adoption prolonged and resulted in phone calls up till today asking if that dog is still available! We have raised funds and helped spread the word by inviting people to participate in charity ongoing events through social media pages in addition to creating awareness about the cruelty of abuse and butchering and slaying animals be it for food, clothing, a hobby or other reasons.

One organization led to the existence of the other, and all current three (Beta, Animals Lebanon &Apaf) are working on amending the animal welfare law in Lebanon which entitles ultimate protection for animal rights and immediate action towards abused ones! Most people didn’t even understand nor respect the value of an animal’s life or a mixed breed Hashtags are great when they are not misused. Some people hashtag every word in the dictionary under a pic! That’s abuse for me. I am convinced that hashtags are more relevant for real time content and is more useful on twitter, instagram, vine or such apps rather than facebook, but then again having them on facebook too is not a problem for me. Will hashtags make Facebook a useful place for real time content like twitter soon?

CLOUD #2 July 2013 dog or a stray dog, which by the way is stray for a reason.

The "live and let live" motto didn’t apply to animals before, a stranger dog found in the neighborhood would have been shot or ran over a few years ago, whereelse now people know how to take action and I mean proper action, thanks to the awareness created.

Besides the humanitarian aspect, it also became a trend to become an animal lover, volunteer with those organizations and get involved! Some do it genuinely, others for attention and others for publicity. Whatever is the ulterior motive, it’s all good in the end for the end justifies the mean!

Let’s take a minute and pretend the social media world didn’t exist, a radio show doesn’t have the impact of a picture of those sobbing heartbreaking puppy eyes, a TV show is not considered an instant medium that can reach people wherever they are, magazines published weekly or monthly won’t do the job, by the time next issue is out, that dog or cat would have been dead, a newspaper doesn’t reach the entire audience desired and the conventional list goes on and on.

Point made!

Those facebook and twitter pages became instant detective pages to report, communicate and resolve the case on the spot. Social media is the 911 hotline for animal welfare organizations! I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I knew that all along but things do change drastically when the naked eye is exposed to a bitter reality! Videos, pictures and online documentaries transform an idea or a notion in one’s head to a principle, a fixed one that stays solid for life and becomes a lifestyle! I know, therefore I am!

Animals Lebanon: www.animalslebanon.org https://www.facebook.com/AnimalsLebanon Apaf www.apaflb.com https://www.facebook.com/APAFLEBANON Beta www.betalebanon.org https://www.facebook.com/betalebanon

CLOUD #2 July 2013

ON THE CLOUD 1. Including images or visuals in your posts on any social media platform increases the post visibility and interaction.

Tweets with images get 88% more retweets and Facebook photo posts see nearly 3x more engagement.

2. If you are going to overlay text on the image, shoot the photograph with this in mind, so compose your image to incorporate white space.

3. Photos that include a human element tend to be more engaging than static non-human photos. For example, a shot of a food plate will tend to be less interactive than if it also included someone eating the food or the chef of that dish.

4. Always keep consistency with your identity and branding.

When you create your own images, always include your logo.

This shows it’s your original image and increases brand awareness.

5. Do not use stock photos or designs from the internet and brand them as your own.

10 Design Tips for Social Media

By Mohammad Hijazi

@mhijazi

When Design and Social Media Come Together at the Beirut Design Week

By Sélim Njeim

@seleemnjeim

Long gone are the days when people used to live in jerkwater towns in which the online and offline communities were two separate entities not influencing each other in any way.

Nowadays, a large part of the success of a startup business – be it a restaurant, summer camp, or a poultry farm —and also traditional, well-established ones who want to tailor their services to cater to the needs of modern customers are relying on social media to promote whatever it is that sets them apart.

Although hitting “Like” and “Share” on various social media platforms has turned into a habitual addiction for many, the importance of those two features has been growing in importance over the past few years. In a world where a lot

6. When selecting the colors to use in your graphic, always consider your target audience. It’s important to select colors to stand out, while staying on brand. It’s a great idea to color pick from your logo and image, if you’re using one.

7. It’s a good idea to choose colors that differ from the Facebook-blue to draw more attention to the image. Also,

of people share their daily lives on their personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, among others, and tweet the days away, creating attention-grabbing information has become all the more difficult. The exact number of “likes” on a particular page, perhaps a trivial detail for many, is in reality of enormous importance from a marketer’s point of view. The virtual interest and traffic a certain page garners has the power to get translated into very tangible results in the physical world. To get to those desired results, one must undergo professional training then back it up with experience.

Under the dome of Beirut Design Week 2013, some 25 people attended a workshop entitled “Design for Social Media”, given by social media consultant Mohammad Hijazi and graphic designer Maya Zankoul at the Maya Zankoul and Banadoura Offices in Jal-el-Dib. The pool of participants included amateurs and professionals from different fields such as marketing and graphic design, among others, as well as interested professionals wanting to learn the do’s and don’ts of design for social media. Dimensions and regulations,

consider the general psychology of color theory. For example, studies show that both men and women tend to really like blue and dislike brown.

8. On Facebook, Images in your ads, sponsored stories and cover photo for your Page may not include more than 20% text in the image. Using images with minimal text makes your content engaging and ensures that people only see high quality content in News Feed.

9. Infographics are in! Infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. Users love them and they’re shared often on social sites. To create them, try some of these tools: pictochart.com, easel.ly, infogr.am, and visual.ly.

10. Before you start creating a social media graphic from scratch, set up several templates for future use. Add a border or a simple background. Include your logo or web address.

Be sure to use existing brand colors, themes, images or other graphic elements.

For more design tips, check out www.mindsoupblog.com.

branding guidelines, color theory, typography choices and types of visuals that can be shared on various social media platforms were all topics that Mrs. Zankoul and Mr. Hijazi so thoroughly discussed.

The importance of visuals, as explained at the workshop, should not be undermined. Photos should be carefully picked out so that they don’t look like stock photos and potentially lower the audience’s level of interest. Other subtopics including consistency in branding, keeping the content relevant, designing the page according to the visual attention level of the common Facebook user, the importance of color, avoiding some fonts, respecting dimensions and Facebook guidelines were all covered. A panoply of other tips and tricks that are bound to make your page more appealing and userfriendly were also shared with the attendees.

A hands-on activity asking participants to design a Facebook and Twitter page for a brand wrapped up the event in excitement and a little bit of a competitive spirit.

Picture Comments If you don’t feel like to express yourself with words in a comment, Facebook got a solution for you: Pictures. Although many people used to do that before by pasting a link of a picture, but now you are able to comment with a picture directly. That’s a cool thing for me. This feature is not yet available on mobile, but you can see the pictures in the comments.

What’s new on Facebook?

Armen Bakkalian - President, HU’s Online Collaborative In the last few weeks Facebook has added some new features in it. Let’s take a look at some of them. #Hashtags Whether you like them or not, hashtags became a part of Facebook recently. Hashtags are great when you want to search for real time content. I use them a lot to follow news about an explosion or clashes happening in a specific area, sports news, live events etc…

Hashtags already used to appear on facebook when we shared pictures from Instagram, but they didn’t work; you couldn’t click on them.

Stickers Bye-Bye emoticons. Stickers are new cool things in Facebook, they are much bigger than emoticons but they play the same role more or less. When you tap them they are sent directly. They are fun to use. Also they have made a new button separately for a LIKE sticker. If you don’t feel like saying anything, just press LIKE. Note that the stickers were introduced first for mobile only, but now they are available on web version too. The LIKE button is still restricted to mobile.

Feelings/Activities Along with your status update you can now share your feelings or your activities. You can write your status and add a feeling related to it, or add an activity separately. This feature is still not available on mobile.

What are your thoughts about these new features? Share your thoughts at @armenbakkalian

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on the CLOUD

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Instagram video vs Vine

By Armen Bakkalian - President, HU’s Online Collaborative Instagram recently released a new feature in its 4.0 version app: videos. Until then, Twitter’s Vine app was used to share short videos. Instagram’s video feature was not a big surprise to many, because Vine was getting popular, and the competition is always there between Facebook and Twitter.

(Facebook owns Instagram, Twitter owns Vine). Let’s take a look at the differences between Vine and Instagram Video.

1-Length: Length of the video is the most significant difference between the two. Vine allows 6 seconds, while Instagram allows 15. It’s more than the double length!

2-Editing: With Instagram you can edit the frames you captured. You can delete a frame if you didn’t like it, by simply clicking the X near the record button. With Vine you cannot remove single frames, you just have to start over if you messed up.

3- Focus: Instagram allows you to put a focus on a particular place in the video; just like the focus done on pictures. You just have to tap the place you want to focus, and TADA! Whereas in Vine, you can’t do this; tapping means capturing there.

4- Looping: One of the best features of Vine is the looping. The 6 second video will keep on repeating itself until you scroll to

another video. This feature is absent in Instagram; the video plays and stops.

5- Cover frame: In Instagram, you can choose a cover frame for your video. That is, you can choose from the video, the photo that will be shown in the feed as the preview. In Vine the preview will be the same as how the video starts.

6- Shooting: The shooting method in Instagram is different than Vine. In Vine, you have to tap the screen to start recording, and the moment you remove your finger it stops. In Instagram tapping the screen means “focus” as we mentioned above.

To record, there’s a big red record button at the bottom of the screen.

7- Filters: Almost every picture on Instagram looks beautiful.

Why? Filters, that’s why! An amazing thing is that they made filters available for videos too but with different names. How cool is that! Filters are not available in Vine.

By looking at the above differences we can say that instagram is better than Vine. Not really. It is true that instagram has more features in it that might seem coo l, especially that it allows 2.5x longer videos, but Vine is faster. Faster off course since its videos are only 6 seconds compared to 15 in instagram, but waiting for a 6 second video to load is fine, it would take a few seconds, whereas on instagram it means the waiting time is doubled.

I like Vine because it is a single purpose app, I know I’m gonna see videos only, and for the same reason I used to like instagram. Moreover, Vine is better in capturing a quick video and upload it, with a few steps, whereas Instagram has a few more clicks.

So let me put it this way: Vine is great when you don’t have time and you have to share a video, while instagram is great for more thoughtful, planned content.

@armenbakkalian Armando9219@hotmail.com

Knowing that I had a strong identity and a clear definition of my concept, all what I lacked was the power to make people aware of my brand and garner a loyal clientele. Just like any other business, a good marketing strategy is what I needed.

I began searching for a dynamic medium to accomplish my business goals. I discovered through Social media I could deploy a strong marketing strategy with minimum costs.

I took it upon myself to study and teach myself how to operate every type of brand page out there, from Facebook to Pinterest.

by Darine Sabbagh - darine@cloud961.com Why wait for a photographer and videographer to give you the materials from your own wedding when you have guests and loved ones all around you and both of you are geeks in the best sense of the word? Most couples these days have websites for their weddings.

But Alex, who is a developer, and Youmna, who is the famous blogger behind the Marketing in Lebanon blog went an extra mile with www.alexyoumna.com. They gave each of their guests a Mission Sheet instructing them to take photos of people on their table, people dancing... all in all 15 photos and hashtag it with #alexyoumna. The result is an awesome array of candid shots starting from the bride’s behind the scenes make-up ritual and even a video of the first dance uploaded during the wedding by one of the guests. That’s a cool idea to take up for your next special event.

by Darine Sabbagh darine@cloud961.com

By Lynn Bizri

@lnlne

A few months back, I was at the hairdresser’s, when a woman sitting next to me suddenly gasped, and recalled that she had forgotten to feed the virtual pet on her mobile device. That was the first time I heard about and caught a glimpse of ‘Pou’. If you haven’t already heard about Pou, it is a virtual pet game developed by none other than the 24-year-old Lebanese Paul Salameh. The addictive-to-most game puts you in charge of your own alien pet that you must feed, clean, and play with. As you watch your Pou grow, you can level up by earning coins by taking care of Pou, which then allow you to then unlock more wallpapers, outfits, food and accessories. Apart from playing the 10+ mini games that the app features, you can also play with other online Pou and browse the Pou community.

The game has been an enormous success with more than 50 million downloads and made the global Top 5 Paid iOS Apps list this past April. Supporting 16 languages, the free downloads a day on Android are estimated to be between 260-320,000 and Pou has come first in the iPhone kids game category in around 90 countries. It also reached number one overall in the iOS app store in 11 countries, and has been reviewed on several websites including download.com and YouTube.

What are you waiting for? Get your Pou now!

Pou is available on Android, iPhone/iPad and Blackberry. mypou @poualien - pouhelp@gmail.com Paul’s twitter: @paulsalameh

The first step I took (and any young entrepreneur should as well) was to research, research, research! What brand pages would best suit my business needs? What page would best help Home of H. reach its desired audience?

INSTAWEDDING

You’ve been Insta-ed

Pou App Review:

TECHNOPREREUR

CLOUD #2 July 2013

Social Media and tech gizmos have seeped into every aspect of our lives. In this column Darine curates the curious and funny anecdotes on how these new media have transformed day to day interactions.

Share your own stories with her on twitter on @sdarine #SMLaughs or email sdarine@cloud961.com 1. Designer’s VS Community Manger’s Perspective I caught this talk over at a client’s. Their designer jumped into our meetings to make a point: the content posted on the social media channels in not “professional” it is just snapped at the venue - let’s convince the boss to hire a photographer and do a photoshoot! To which the community manager said - “No, we are getting a lot of likes on these, plus they’ve been “INSTAed”!”

2. Ask me anything During my days getting your teacher’s phone number was a great coup, we would cherish it and use it for our special prank calls. But not anymore! This year during the first day of my sister’s school each teacher came into class, introduced herself and then wrote her number on the board with the words: “if you need anything, just whatsapp me!”

3. Skype him from my phone!

My mom has this absolute belief that if my brother called her on skype and skype rang on her mobile phone its an absolute “No-NO” to call him back from the tablet or laptop because the “connection won’t work unless its from the same place”.

HOME OF H.ntrepreneur

by Alfred Zakhour

Before I unravel my story I would like to start off with a bit of an introduction to Home of H. and why H.? As you twist and turn the letter H it resembles furniture in different angles. When facing upwards it’s two sofas linked with a center table, when looked at from the flip side it’s as if two chairs are facing each other and when looked from any of the sides or from within, it resembles a bed, cupboard, or chair. As for the dot well it resembles a tabouret, pouf, beanbag or a stool. Any and all kind of furniture can be maneuvered and placed within an H.

After much reading I discovered that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are best suited to get my identity out there. All of them were heavy on the visuals yet still very engaging with the audience. Delving into these brand pages wasn’t easy, a lot of details roam around for each one and any mistake might drag my identity down. Yet like any entrepreneur you have to take well-calculated risks.

As I dug deeper into each one of my four social media tools, I found out that each one needs its own unique strategy. With Facebook I went down the route of Facebook ads. These ads required image preparation, a well thought out budget, and a well targeted campaign to boost my likes.

Next was Twitter which was hard for me at first. What could a furniture store tweet about? I had to find interesting content

CLOUD #2 July 2013

every day that would reach my audience of eager furniture buyers. I followed a strategy of tweeting topics on what revolves around furniture like the art of Feng Shui and that having one’s own perfect home is the product out of classy and stylish furniture and consequently I started generating followers.

As for Instagram I discovered image preparation was not the only thing I needed. What’s interesting are hash tags which allow me to target and specify my industry and what revolves around it, making me more visible to users everywhere.

For my fourth brand page, Pinterest required categorizing, organizing and setting the right items within their right place.

Some would Pinterest an online picture magazine where one’s own identity takes place. As you come into Home of H’s Pinterest account you see what our furniture is all about and how to mix and match it with other cool and trendy items from what’s available out there.

If you ask me now what is social media and how it can help grow your business, well I would say that being on social media is a necessity for any industry because, it links your brand or company closer to your customers and that way you are just a click away. In the past getting a message out there was hard and required a huge billboard, but now garnering a strong client base is as the click of a mouse.

Website: www.HomeofH.com

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BLOGGING

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CLOUD #2 July 2013

Blogger of the Month: Anis Tabet http://www.tlkabtmovies.com/

If you’re into movies you’ve probably come across Anis Tabet’s blog, Lets Tlk Abt Movies. Anis’s blog is all in the title, with all entries strictly movie reviews. Having started writing movie reviews on the Facebook app, Flixster, with some encouragement from his girlfriend he began blogging.

Three years later he has become everyone’s go to guy for movie reviews. He is fond of classic movies and is always up to date with the latest films. His motto is ‘’ I watch bad movies so you can save your money “ and he does keep his word. He watches the good, the bad, and the ugly and rarely misses new releases. You can count on him to choose a decent film to watch at the movies or on a DVD night with friends - and most importantly the movies not to watch. With his recent win at the SMA’s For Most Engaging Person on Twitter, Anis is as much of a popular blogger as a twitter celebrity. His hilarious and active twitter has helped him garner an even larger following for his blog as he explains below.

So where does the movie obsession come from?

Genetics. For real! My grandfather loved the cinema and he introduced me to movies. If you love the cinema, that’s it, you find yourself watching everything including classic movies, not just new releases. It’s a real obsession.

You’re also a big personality on Twitter, do you think that helped the blog?

Big time. Without Twitter I couldn’t have reached so many people, Facebook wasn’t enough. On Facebook I interact with my friends I know in real life, but Twitter helped me reach a new crowd and they all read the blog. Twitter really helped the blog build a following over the years.

You rate movies from 1-4 stars, what do you base your star ratings on?

Acting, storyline, script, entertainment, directing, and the characters. I’m not a technical guy. I’m not into sound or lighting or camera angles, so these are the things that matter to me. I blog from the point of view of someone in the audience, not a film student. That’s why the blog is successful because I’m writing as one of them, someone in the audience, not someone philosophizing over all the techniques. I think this is why people really love the blog because they I know I’m writing as one of them, they can relate to it. I don’t touch technical details.

Worst movie you’ve seen this year?

Scary Movie 5, it’s horrible! It was pure garbage. Horrible acting, horrible plot, and no storyline.

One of the worst sequels of all time.

Favorite director and film?

Alfred Hitchcock is definitely my favorite director. I don’t have just one favorite film so I can tell you about one of my favorite films, Vertigo. It’s a classic Hitchcock movie. It has all the classic Hitchcock elements. Great musical score, great twist, great acting, it features one of my favorite actors James Stewart, and a mix of humor and thriller. These elements are his trademark.

Confessions of a Failed Blogger

By Paul Gadallah

@Paulstwitter

Hey Cloud 961 Fans, My name is Paul and I have to confess that I am a failed blogger. I’ve now had three failed blogs and I’m currently on my fourth. I confess that my blogs had no real identity or good content, nor was I very interactive with my audience.

So take it from me, blogging is no walk in the park but don’t’ despair if you know how to engage people and you know what you want to talk about you can be a successful blogger.

Some people say 3 is the magic number, but I’m pretty sure this is not the case for me. Three failed blogs. Yes people, I have to confess I am a failed blogger. You can even say a failed serial blogger. First I figured to start some sort of photo blog related to Beirut. That lasted about one week. Then I figured why not delve into politics? People like to talk about politics right? So I began a blog about minorities in the Middle East. People seem to talk a whole lot about minorities in the region. That lasted two months.

Then last year I told myself that is it, I am going to make a successful blog dammit! Unfortunately that only lasted one month and now I don’t even remember the password to the account. What went

wrong? I had so many good intentions. To answer this I had look at my own mistakes and how others have managed to stay successful.

One, a blog needs an identity and theme that people can identify with. Why do so many people follow popular blogs like Beirut Spring or No Garlic No Onions? They have clear themes that people can identify with. My blogs were scattered and had no real identity. How were people supposed to identify with them? Why would anyone want to read my blog?

And that leads to my next failure.

Two, a blog needs good content, constantly, that always entices people. A couple of good ideas scribbled down on a napkin (or a notebook in my case) don’t necessarily make for the best blog posts.

People want to read posts that engage, that entice them to wait for your next blog post.

Three, you have to interact with your audience. My last blog was actually garnering a good amount of comments, and yet I simply just let them accumulate.

I did little to try to gain followers on Twitter or Facebook. Any successful blogger knows that interaction with your audience counts.

With these confessions I now contemplate my fourth blog with the hopes that I learn from my own mistakes and hope others who want to be bloggers can learn from them too.

BLOGGING

CLOUD #2 July 2013

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BLOGGING

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CLOUD #2 July 2013

BLOGGING

CLOUD #2 July 2013

Inspiring People from The Lebanese Online Community

By Mohammad Hijazi

@mhijazi

In an attempt to promote inspiring stories about people from the Lebanese Online Community, we, at Cloud961, have decided to dedicate a monthly column to interview an inspiring figure that has left a mark in the Lebanese online sphere. For your suggestions for this column, feel free to email me on mhijazi@cloud961.com.

Maya Zankoul is a Lebanese designer and visual artist. She grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved back to Lebanon for university in 2004 where she got her BA in graphic design and graduated in 2007. After a couple of years in the workplace, she started a comic blog “Amalgam”, the first Lebanese comic blog. The blog received a large amount of positive feedback from the local and international online communities, leading to it being published in two books (Amalgam vol. 1 and vol.

2) in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Both books have been translated and published in Italian by il sirente publishing house. After the blog and books success, Maya was able to quit her job and start her own design studio in Beirut where she works in illustration, design for web, mobile and more recently creating explainer videos via her latest project wezank.com. Maya also presents a weekly show on Future TV aiming at teaching women at home the use of social media for potential business development.

Q: What is your relationship with the Lebanese Online Community?

A: Members of the Lebanese Online Community are my friends and colleagues. I have learned so much from them over the years and had the chance to collaborate with many on different projects. They are also my audience, and I always look forward to their feedback whenever I publish a new comic or start a new project.

Q: How did the Lebanese Online Community contribute to the success of your career?

A: They have been my supporters from day one. I remember the first time I found out about this community was in early 2009 via a blog post written by Plus961 about my blog and Hummus Nation’s. That day my reaction was “I am not alone!”. After that I got the chance to meet several amazing people who have read, commented and sent feedback about my work. Then they have bought my books, shared my work, all of which contributed to a big part of my career success.

Q: You were among the blogging pioneers in Lebanon. Why did you decide to stop blogging and how do you still engage with your existing fan-base?

A: Thank you. The decision to “stop blogging” did not come overnight. It was more about facing the fact that I was not

able to keep up with it rather than a sudden decision to stop blogging. After more than two years of regular blogging, I reached a point in my life where things were changing: I started my own company, I became overloaded with work, I had more day to day responsibilities, which minimized the free time I had left to blog. As you know, blogging is very time consuming and I’d like to send a big hat tip to everyone who is still able to keep up with it regularly. I reached a point where I preferred to accept the fact that I’d stopped blogging instead of doing it irregularly.

What also contributed to this is the development of Facebook pages and Twitter interactions which in a way replaced blogging interactions and became more powerful. Today, I still engage with my fans on my Facebook page where I regularly post my comics, and on Twitter. Google killing Reader is yet another sign of the fact that blogging is maybe being slowly replaced.

Q: Do you think that blogging is dead? Has blogs been replaced by micro-blogging (Twitter) and Facebook pages?

A: I wouldn’t say it is already dead, but it definitely might be in the process of dying. I have not checked my Feedly reader in several weeks and the only way I keep up with potential blog posts is when authors share them on Twitter and Facebook – where I go back to comment on a certain post. The internet is constantly evolving and I see the new ways we interact together as an evolution of blogging into more diversified interactions.

Q: Do you think that the online community has contributed positively to your two published books?

The online community gave me the confidence I need to be able to publish the books in the first place, and it then supported me by attending my book signings, where I always had the chance and honor of meeting several people who I’d only known through their online nicknames. Some also blogged about my books, in a way increasing awareness about them; I’m extremely grateful to everyone in the community.

Q: What do you think about the state of the blogging community in Lebanon right now, especially after many bloggers have retired from blogging, some for personal reasons and others for lack of support from the community?

A: First, “a lack of support from the community” shouldn’t, in my opinion, be a reason to stop blogging. I’ve always blogged first and foremost for myself, because I needed to. If I didn’t blog, I would feel that something was missing in my life. Of course, the community’s support is a big added value but it does not make a blog. I still believe the blogging community

in Lebanon is doing an awesome job, and The Social Media Awards proved that. So many bloggers have been rewarded for their hard work, and I personally got to meet so many new bloggers via this event. To me it is a sign that the blogging community is doing better than ever!

Q: What do you believe is the hardest part of being on social media for a professional like yourself?

To me the most challenging aspect is the blurred line between my personal online presence and my professional online presence. I have reached a point where I am only present on social media professionally and not on a personal level.

Sometimes I wish I could re-experience the early days where social media was only about interacting with my old friends abroad.

I had to accept the fact that I would only be using social media professionally, and my personal life would remain my personal life. I occasionally share personal images (as in things happening to me unrelated to work) on Instagram and autopost them on Facebook and Twitter, but that’s about it.

Q: How do you react to non-constructive criticism and hate message that you encounter online?

A: I usually prefer to ignore them because they are not insightful or interesting information for anyone. However if they get blown out of proportion or become shared publicly, I prefer to release an official statement clarifying things, or correcting erroneous information that might have been shared.

The Moon

Q: What do you think is your proudest achievement when it comes to your career?

It is difficult to pinpoint a specific achievement as all my career development in the last few years has been interconnected and related. However when my books were translated to Italian, and I got to tour different Italian cities, present my work and sign my books there, I felt that I am representing Lebanon to the world, and I felt proud because I was able to do this without wasta, without support from the government and solely by persevering in what I love doing and thanks to the Online Community. @MayaZankoul Maya Zankoul’s Amalgam MayaZankoul.com

The Agency St Jacob Street, Byblos, Lebanon Byblos I Center - 2 nd Floor M. 03 84 28 64 T. 09 54 59 59 www.beholdin.com

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EVENTS The evolution of tweetups,

By Paul Gadalla - Paul@cloud961.com One sunny summer afternoon I go to my twitter timeline to see what my fellow tweeps are up to on such a fine day. Instead of tweets on where is the next best happy hour place, it was actually filled with reviews of washing machines and refrigerators. Refrigerators?

Yes, refrigerators. A popular appliance company had invited some of the most popular people in the Lebanese twittersphere to try out their latest products at a tweetup.

So what is a tweetup you ask? And how did they exactly start getting used by brands?

Tweetups are gatherings or meetups of people of twitter users at a specific location with the ultimate aim of connecting twitter users in real life.

Sometimes they are themed, other times they are not. I know what you are thinking and I thought the same too, that they must be very awkward experiences. I can truthfully say they are not.

My first tweetup was in 2010 at a sushi tweetup and I only went because a friend put me up to it. Contrary to my mental image that I had been developing it was a not a bunch of awkward nerds sitting around a table but people with similar interests as me who were there to meet and connect with new people. As fellow tweep @AliElDali put it “At first I just didn’t know what they were and couldn’t expect anything but awkward looks or something in those lines because I just didn’t know anyone. Now I think they

are a cool way to meet like minded people.” Over the years tweetups grew in popularity. Initially just drawing 6-8, soon 15 to 20, to now nearly a record 100 with last year’s Holiday Tweetup at Deek Duke.

As Twitter has now become one of the biggest tools for brands to reach their audience it was only a matter of time that the phenomenon of tweetups and brands intersected. More and more brands have begun to reach out to the online community as a way to interact with regular every day people who could be potential customers. Some can make the accusation that this has lead to commercialization of tweetups and you no longer meet new people like you used to. On the other hand these tweetups help brands interact with your average audience and help see what appeals to the public. Now nearly every month tweetups are organized either by independent people or a business, so the choice is yours on what type of tweet up you want to attend.

SO, WHAT TWEETUPS TOOK PLACE LAST MONTH? Fly High on the Roof The Four Seasons Hotel in Beirut is soon becoming a landmark in the city and occupies a prime spot on the seafront in Downtown Beirut. On June 6th a selection of Lebanese Twitter personalities (tweeps) were invited to an exclusive tweetup at the hotel. Titled “Fly High on the Roof”, the tweetup celebrated the opening of their summer-only rooftop lounge amply titled,

CLOUD #2 July 2013

The Roof. Perched on top of the 26th floor of the hotel, The Roof offers a spectacular 360 degree view of Beirut, the sea, and the mountains.

About twenty tweeps were offered a set of couches in the middle of the lounge and were treated to a night of food, drinks, and live music. Unlike many rooftops in Beirut, the Roof kept a pleasant and open atmosphere by not packing the place to the breaking point. Tweeps were offered to sample some of their cooking which is some of the best lounge food I’ve had in Lebanon, with much of it being Asian fusion tapas. After food came drinks (and more drinks) DJ Roy manned the deck to get the mood just right. What was great about the The Roof was that the music was just right being kept at the level that you can still hear the person next to you speak which is a rarity among Lebanon’s rooftop scene. The night’s dessert was a celebration of all things social media.

Chef Charles Azar crafted white chocolate Twitter themed lollipops complimented by milk chocolate Pinterest and Instagram squares. After a great night of music, food, and drinks, tweeps were invited to have their photo taken at a special photo booth where they could have the photos emailed them. And after a great night (and all those drinks) we were definitely feeling that we were flying high on The Roof.

“We’re Going Offline” at Crepaway Crepaway’s “All Good” campaign recently brought a good night to Lebanon’s online community. A month after the very first Social Media Awards, finalists, winners,

the Online Collaborative team, and even Crepaway’s hamburger headed man were invited to Crepaway’s popular Sodeco branch for a tweetup under the theme “Go offline to talk about what’s happening online”. Almost like a high school reunion (but with better food and less awkward moments) attendees got a chance to sit down, laugh, talk, enjoy some good food, and weigh in on Lebanon’s first Social Media Awards.

At the tweetup the SMA alumni met and discussed what new things they are working on now since the awards are over, and voiced excitement on what could be done for the next Social Media Awards. One of the highlights of the night for the participants was the unveiling of all the voting results that took place prior to the SMA’s. The latest issue of Cloud961 published all the voting results into one large visually-pleasing infograph. Finalists could finally see how many popular votes they garnered, and how the judges voted which ultimately gave them their total score.

Keeping up with the “All Good” campaign Crepaway certainly had some good news.

All the attendees were given the first Crepaway reward card, the “Good Card”, where people gain more awards as they use the card. To add to the “All Good” news Crepaway would be expanding yet again, this time with a new branch in Lebanon’s newest and largest mall, Beirut City Centre. The new outlet would be the blueprint for all future Crepaway branches. All in all it was an All Good Night!

HOROSCOPES

CLOUD #2 July 2013

ARIES (March 21 – April 19)

LIBRA (September 23- October 22)

TAURUS (April 20 – May 20)

SCORPIO (October 23- November 21)

GEMINI (MAY 21 – JUNE 21)

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21)

CANCER (JUNE 22 – JULY 22)

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19)

LEO (JULY 23 – AUGUST 22)

AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18)

VIRGO (August 23 – September 22)

PISCES (February 19 – March 20)

You may be feeling a little overwhelmed lately by your obligations that you’re 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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LEBANESE MEMES

CLOUD #2 July 2013