CLOUD #8 - FEBRUARY 2014
REIGN OF TECHNOLOGY
www.cloud961.com
PAULA YAACOUBIAN
DAVID MOUNIR NABTI
JOE GHANTOUS
THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM RELIES ON THE INTERACTION WITH PEOPLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
OUR CREATIVITY IS LIMITED MORE THAN WE KNOW OR CARE TO ACCEPT
FROM A HOME-BASED DIRECT MAIL COMPANY TO CONQUERING DUBAI THROUGH OFFERING A “GREAT EXPERIENCE”
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journalists and 1. Do you follow social media on s cie en news ag s? platform
traditional 2. Do you think newspaper d an (TV ts tle ou le? iab rel un
Has Social Media Ruined the News? Yes 78% No 22%
social media is 3. Do you think ing? good for report Yes 92% No 8%
tsocial media pla 5. Do you think ws ne n tha er ick forms are qu news out ? outlets in getting
Yes 47% No 53%
social m 4. Do you check ws ? (i.e forms first for ne facebook) Yes 83% No 17%
media p 6. Which social your ne you mostly get
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Twitter 71% Facebook 22% Reddit 1% Blog/Tumblr 3% Youtube 1% Other 1%
10 Things Not to Post on Instagram Yes 91% No 9%
news from social 7. Do you think s is less biased rm tfo pla dia me standard media than news from ts? tle ou
read 8. Have you ever soci piece of news on fals turned out to be Yes 91% No 9%
Yes 47% No 53%
people could do 9. Do you think ws that goes up ne y more to verif ? dia on social me Yes 92% No 8%
m 10. Do you think cies and news agen dia their social me Yes 93% No 7%
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Blog of the Month
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The Top 5 Essential Mobile Applications in Lebanon #Calle Tweetup Calle is a cozy pub with a friendly ambiance and mouth-watering drinks located in Mar Mikhael, Beirut. The #Calle Tweetup took place last month and was coorganized by the Online Collaborative and Cloud961. It gathered the online community where they hanged out and had a few drinks and mingled with everyone... P43 PARTNERS:
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EDITORIAL
CLOUD #8 February 2014
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
EDITORIAL
CLOUD #8 February 2014
#NotAMartyr Proves Yet Again That the Lebanese are ALL TALK NO ACTION
Publisher: Cornerstone Public Relations SAL
By Mohammad Hijazi, Editor in Chief @mhijazi
Chairman Bassam Karam / bassam@cloud961.com is redundant since there hasn’t been any attempts to find a solution to the problems. There are many reasons that such campaigns don’t make it beyond the awareness stage. These reasons include:
If you were online during the holidays, and more specifically after the assassination of Minister Mohammad Chatah, you would have probably been exposed to the #NotAMartyr campaign. This campaign that started from a blog post has undoubtedly went viral, especially when international media outlets and websites picked up on it. It was a way for the Lebanese people to express their opinion about the recent explosions and show the world that they are not going to take it anymore… well theoretically. We have seen many similar campaigns in Lebanon and the region that revolve around some form of social change. However, we are yet to see a campaign that has actually made any tangible change to society or people’s behaviors. These campaigns mostly serve to raise awareness about an issue so that people start widely talking about it. For the #NotAMartyr campaign in particular, the issues that are being discussed are not new at all. Everyone is aware that we don’t have proper infrastructure in Lebanon (such as electricity for example) or the shaky political situation where innocent people can be victim to explosions. People are also aware that the Lebanese population are fed up about the situation and it is not new as well. Therefore, I see that what this campaign is achieving right now has been done before and
Lack of funding This is a major problem. Campaign initiators think that social media is enough to get a campaign somewhere but in fact, funding is necessary for seeding and PR for an awareness campaign. Money is even more crucial when it comes to finding a solution Personal gain Many campaigns start of as a personal project to bring fame or attention to its founders, and we’ve seen that in several social campaigns over the years. The founders usually get caught up with media interviews and the spotlight. After that, the campaign usually disappears and they move on to another idea that might get them into the spotlight again. Lack of organization When there are too many organizers, there becomes so many goals and ideas that it becomes chaotic to run the campaign as too many cooks ruin the broth. If there are too few organizers, they get exhausted running the campaign pro-bono after a while and it fades away. Loss of public interest The interaction from society fades away after a while and it becomes tough for the organizers to refuel people’s interests. This is especially evident when the public does not witness change directly. Dependency on social media Social media is not enough to instigate change. Contrary to popular belief, the Arab Spring was not fueled by social media, but was rather publicized to the world using it. It was backed by a lot of funders (either politicians, companies, NGOs.
etc...) as well as on-the-ground activists in order to have an actual effect. Therefore these social/political campaigns need to invest more in traditional PR which helps creates connections with volunteers and people/companies who are willing to contribute. Many times when people interact or engage with a social media campaign relating to social change, they get the “good feeling” that they have done a good deed when in fact their contribution doesn’t really result in a tangible solution. Expressing ourselves on social media can trick us into thinking we have done something but actually changing very little. The most extreme example of this is those who believe that by liking a photo of a sick child in Africa as part of a chain message, it will provide him/her with medicine or food that is needed to survive. People who are participating in the #NotAMartyr campaign are no more than nagging about their problems publicly. The feeling of getting something off their chests (or minds) can be mistaken for a social contribution and a step towards a solution, especially that it is being done collectively. I am in no way saying that I am against the premise of this campaign, even though I do not agree with the use of the word martyr in this context. What I am trying to say is that people should not get their hopes up that this campaign will actually change anything. A month after this campaign has started, it has virtually faded away to the social media graveyard only to be revived for a few hours after every explosion. As of yet, there has been no tangible effort to gather resources and people to turn these words into action. The creator is still sunbathing in the glory that it got him while the Lebanese public are holding to a false hope of change.
Managing Director Hagop Manisajian/ Hagop@cloud961.com Editor in Chief: Mohammad Hijazi / mhijazi@cloud961.com News Editor: Joelle Hajji / joelle@cloud961.com Contributors: Armen Bakkalian, Ayman Jalloul, Darine Sabbagh, Dr. Cloud, Lynn Bizri, Maria Frangieh, Maurice Rustom, Paul Gadalla, Reem Kassem, Sarah Sabbagh, Trending Bytes Marketing & PR Relations Michelle Nabhane / michelle@cloud961.com Sales Manager Hala El Jack / hala@cloud961.com Outreach Manager Vicky Ghanem / outreach@cloud961.com Community Events Manager Mia Saab / events@cloud961.com Web & Application Development Mindfield Solutions Branding & Layout Behold The Agency / keep@beholdin.com Financial Administration Tony Bakhos Consulting Partner The Online Collaborative ngo@onlinecollaborative.org Printing Byblos Printing
Cornerstone Holding Building, 2nd Floor, Main Street, Beit Mery T + 961 4 401 870 F + 961 4 531 499 M + 961 71 008 645 www.cloud961.com Management: info@cloud961.com Advertising & PR: sales@cloud961.com
SOCIAL MEDIA FLASHBACK & FORECAST
Subscriptions: subscribe@cloud961.com Editorial: editor@cloud961.com
Cloud961:
The First Social Media and Digital Marketing Magazine in Lebanon and The Middle East.
Exclusively available at all Maliks Branches
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CONTENTS
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Opinion
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- Youmna Naufal: Where You’ll Find Me - Fida Chaaban: You’re a Journo? Then You Better Watch Yo’self Online - Lebanese Memes: Talk About Unity!
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Newsfeed
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- First Google Glass App for Sex by Lebanese
Feature - Paula Yaacoubian: The Future of Journalism Relies on the Interaction with People on Social Media - Interview with Sami Tueini, CEO of Naharnet - Interview with Angie Nassar, Editor in Chief of Beirut.com - Has social media ruined news? - Interview with Michael Clark: Journalism on the Go - What not to Tweet during a Crisis - Where Should You Be Getting Your Online News? - Which News Personalities Should You Be Following on Twitter?
On the Cloud - Crowdsourcing the City -How to Cause Teenage Drama Using Ask.fm - 10 things Not to Post on Instagram - Why Are We Such a Burnt Out Generation? - Social Media Addiction: How is it Affecting People’s Behaviors? - Taking Branding to a Personal Level
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Blogging - Blog of the Month: Carmel and Vanilla
Social Media Changing Lives - Campaigns for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Business - David Munir Nabti: Our Creativity is Limited More Than We Know or Care to Accept - 4 Signs You May Need to Hire a New Social Media Manager - Raymonde Chbat: I can’t seem to get bored! - Right Service: From A Home-based Direct Mail Company to Conquering Dubai through Offering a “Great Experience” - 4 Ways Working for a Startup is Like Having a Baby
Tech - The Top 5 Essential Mobile Applications in Lebanon
Dr. Cloud
COVER FEATURE
CLOUD #8 February 2014
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OPINION
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Head of English News and CCTV Beirut Correspondent by Youmna Naufal, Future Television @YoumnaNaufal my arrival on January 12th, 2011. Talk about eventful! The government of then Prime Minister Saad Hariri collapsed that very day. Two days later, a revolution started in Tunisia, a month later in Egypt and the month after that in Syria. The Arab Spring was born. What we noticed in the news world was a change in the pattern of communication, which allowed for these revolutions to take form; the young generation was using social media as their tool to lead their battles and eventually topple their rulers.
This may seem like the beginning of a cover letter, but bear with me. I’m actually heading somewhere. On December 12th, 2010, I decided to move back to Lebanon after having spent six years in New York City, where I got my Master’s degree and work experience. As a journalist, I thought it would be a smart idea to come back and cover Hezbollah-Israeli relations, which I thought would be interesting given the fact that I was a Lebanese-American looking to stay connected with regional affairs. I managed to land a job at Future TV, and started exactly one month after
You’re a Journo? Then You Better Watch Yo’self Online Social Media Communication Strategies for Print and Web Mediums By Fida Chaaban, Editor In Chief, Entrepreneur Magazine @FidaChaaban
With citizen journalism broadcasted through social media, access to knowledge on current events was suddenly at everyone’s fingertips. In regards to Syria, we relied on YouTube in order to see and understand what was happening on the ground. Television news stations suddenly upped their online presence, as a result. Future TV put time and effort into establishing a solid online presence by making live-streaming available, and emerging on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Through that, we discovered that our audience transcended beyond Lebanese borders, with the highest viewership coming from the United States and Canada respectively. In my everyday dealings, especially when working with interns, I encourage them to get on Twitter and Facebook and discover what’s out there. Not only can one inform and
would become one of the most pervasive cultural mediums. You were only able to connect to people from your university or college network, and it was nothing like the mammoth information station it is now. Back then it wasn’t a relevant medium for journos, and you certainly didn’t need to master all sorts of widgets and linking functionalities. It’s worth remembering that many multi-nationals had Facebook blocked to prevent their employees from wiling away the hours commenting on images and liking status updates. Then, Facebook became a force to be reckoned with and soon those same conglomerates were hiring social media community managers and supporting your company on Facebook became part of your job. How times have changed! Nowadays, as a journo, you absolutely must have an online presence. Your digiidentity helps other people verify your credentials (or lack thereof), and it lends strength to your portfolio. Your articles that appear online, especially if you are a multi-discipline writer, can demonstrate your many “voices” and range as a communicator-for-hire. It can generate new work for you and countless valuable professional connections that you would not have otherwise. It also helps people seek you out for a story- you’re given juicy leads because oftentimes the internet is considered a “safe” and “anonymous” way to impart privileged knowledge. All of this happens when you have a positive and proactive online identity. Pic or it didn’t happen
When I first started writing professionally, over 13 years ago, there was a sort of Facebook. There was also the Hi5 friending website, and there was the now-Timerblake owned MySpace. If you’d have shown me the Facebook of 2014 back then, I wouldn’t have recognized it. I also never could’ve predicted it
And now for the bad news… the internet is forever. “AFK” or away from keyboard, almost doesn’t exist anymore. What you do “IRL” (In Real Life) is captured for posterity by your friends and by perfect strangers on any number of mediums. Your sister-in-law may think it’s a great idea to post a picture of you on Twitter doing shots on Halloween, and your colleague at work may think it’s hilarious to Instagram you flashing people at 4 a.m. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. You’re the someone, and your career is on the line. I can assure you that tons of my colleagues and my friends have felt the brunt of a moment of spontaneity in their social media Achilles Heel. Remember when your mother used to tell you to think before you speak? As a journo with an online presence, it’s now: think before you post.
stay informed, but connect as well. The world has become a smaller place, where a total stranger can become your online best friend or number one supporter. It’s not that news has become irrelevant on television. It’s just that social media is the most effective way to spread the word and reach the largest number of people in the shortest time possible. Local news stations become international without the need of a license! Still, one can argue the diminishing role television is playing; however, one cannot write it off completely, for an older generation holds it dear. There is nothing like walking into my parents’ living room and seeing my mom catch the 8 P.M. evening news, which she’s done ever since I could remember. It may be a fading generation, but it is the one we stem from. And you have to admit, friends gathered around a TV makes more sense than friends gathered around a smartphone (and it’s more fun anyway). The truth of the matter is we have options. I believe social media complements TV. There has never been a more convenient time to take control of our fate, because this tool has given us access to things that were previously out of reach. The new generation can take comfort in that, and, if ever in need of advice or answers to questions, you’ll find me on Facebook, Twitter, or, if you choose old school, on TV.
Privacy is a luxury that you can’t afford You have two different routes available to you as a journo with an online presence. The first way to go about this is that you have private locked social media accounts that only your closest confidantes have access to (this means no colleagues or work-related contacts whatsoever), and in tandem have public ones that are heavily censored and that act as a vehicle for you to share your latest work and revisit old work that is still relevant. The second route is that you only have one unified online presence, and you control all of the content you share heavily. I use the lattermost strategy, and it works very well for me. You will never catch me tweeting about a breakup, and I would never post a status that says, “Drunk as hell, seeya bitches!” All of my friends are aware of my strategy, and they know that my digital-self is not a personal medium. It is solely to interact with my readers, my colleagues and yes, my friends strictly within limits. Search and rescue A famous economist once told me that if it isn’t something he wants his 90-year-old aunt to read, he doesn’t post it online or even in an SMS or an email. That is one of the best rules of thumb I’ve heard regarding an online presence. My personal policy is that if I don’t want to see it in print, it shouldn’t be posted on the web. Anywhere. Ever. This is why when you Google me, a slew of career-appropriate material comes up. True story: A long-range lens once captured me dancing on the beach… in a bikini. A friend of mine and a master of searching found the inappropriate snapshot and emailed me the link (thank you, you know who you are). I contacted the media outlet and had them remove it- they didn’t have permission to take my photo, and I wasn’t aware that they had. The offensive image was down in less than an hour. Googling yourself is a great way to determine what’s out there, and when it isn’t something you want public, get it taken down. Remember, there is definitely such a thing as TMI (too much information) when your career is concerned. See you all on the interwebs, tweeps!
OPINION Talk about Unity! By Lebanese Memes @Lebanese Memes
Well at least you got yourself a platform uniting Lebanese laughing at the same joke. Of course one may argue that you can find extremely racist comments, but look at the bright side, people from diverse cultures and backgrounds are exchanging ideas and it is an important step for positive change. In fact, Lebanese Memes was created to unite the Lebanese via pure Lebanese humor. It5:37 keptPM on growing using cloud961-ADS-outline-ad2.pdf 1 1/17/14
CLOUD #8 February 2014
sarcasm for people to laugh at the sad reality that we are living. Using mockery is an important tool to send messages and incite indirect change. Many people still think that a meme is a funny picture but actually it is more than just that; it is an idea that goes viral within the same culture. This is why the page administrators have decided to ask taboo questions and invite people to think about social issues but in a fun package. For example, we asked the fans once: “What would you hide from your parents?” and we got responses such as: my addiction, my salary, my child, my grades, my life, my Facebook account…. The replies and our interactions with people who share their thoughts give us an understanding of what our society is like. It is extremely interesting to know people’s opinions about the various challenges they are facing in their lives. As an administrator who reads hundreds of comments and messages on daily basis, this experience has changed my life. People confess to the page with their most intimate secrets such as being gay, raped by a relative, wanting to commit suicide, unable to find a job, feeling lonely, wanting to start a revolution, etc… and we reply to each single comment/ message because we feel that it is a responsibility to show that we are there for you as a Lebanese brother/sister and we do share your pain. This trust relation goes beyond the number of likes and people talking about; it is a precious treasure that we need to take good care of. This is why we do our best to face with the best way possible destructive criticism for people’s ideas and thoughts on the page. As Mr. Mohammad Hijazi, Editor in Chief of Cloud961, says:
“The worst form of negativity is hatred and bullying and it seems this is very popular on the interwebs…” Well, what the Lebanese Memes administrators do is that they reply to each insulting comment challenging the user to rethink his comment especially that the offenses will lead to nowhere. If the user persists with the insults then he is banned from the page. We try our best to keep the page insults free, yet we always remind our fans to say what they think because without it, we could never understand what is really happening in their minds. Mr. Hijazi continues by saying in his last Cloud961 editorial article: “success will always attract the wrong crowd and sometimes it will get on your nerves. Pure jealousy on other people’s part can be medicated by simply including them or engaging them in your plans.” Yes, he is right! A page coming out of nowhere, uniting Lebanese and winning two Social Media Awards is a challenge to some Facebook pages that have been there since years. This is why we pay attention to criticism and follow from behind the scenes what is happening on Lebanese social media. The success of Lebanese Memes comes from this simple truth, the objective was never the number of likes and it will never be. It is only an outcome. You can always steal thoughts but not the “thinking”!
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NEWSFEED Google Buys Lebanese-American Tony Fadell’s Nest Labs For $3.2 Billion. Nest Labs, a connected device company which makes smart thermostats and smoke detectors has been bought by Google for $3.2 Billion. Tony Fadel, a LebaneseAmerican, is the founder of Nest Labs and he’s mostly known for being part of the team at Apple that created the iPod and iPhone; he is known as "the father of the iPod." Fadel is a brilliant Lebanese-American entrepreneur, inventor and designer. He was acknowledged in 2013 as one of Business Insider’s Top 75 Designers in Technology, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People, and CNBC’s Top 50 Disruptors. Lebanon's Touch Launches App Store Touch announced the launch of its Android-compatible app store, aimed at serving local developers looking to release apps “relevant to the Lebanese market,” says Ghady Rayess, Managing Partner at FOO, a local app development company that will manage the store. The app will allow Android customers to bill their app purchases directly to their phones and it will also offer developers a chance to have their apps marketed by touch itself, over various channels. For now, the app store is only available to Android customers, says Rayess, but in the future will be developed for Blackberry and Windows applications. First Google Glass App for Sex by Lebanese “Sex with Glass” has been developed to let partners share their point of view with each other to “experience sex like never before.” The idea is that the couple will put the Glass during sex and the app will send a live video stream to the other person’s Glass when commanded to do so. The developer is also working on an accompanying iPhone app called Glance, which will let users switch the point of view to the iPhone's camera to see the "whole picture." “We’ve designed the app to be beautiful, minimalist and seamless," said Sherif Maktabi, one of the three designers involved in the project. "None of that is sexually explicit or pornographic. The iPhone app will not have the words 'sex' or 'Google.'" 0myLIFTER App to Lift Heavy Objects. No you can lift heavy object with myLIFTER, smart lifting device that is controlled via an app on your smartphone. Each MyLifter is able to support up to a maximum of 25 Kg Its features are: 1. Control with your iOS smart device. 2. Easy to install. 3. Lifts up to 50 pounds. 4. Customize with different lifting accessories. For more information visit: www.mylifter.com Forbes.com Creates Publishing Social Network 'Stream.' Forbes has released a new visual social network called ‘Stream’ allowing users to read, save and share content from its magazine. The social network only allows Forbes users to read, save and share content from the publisher within the iOS app across social platforms. When content is shared by users’ recipients see a visual clip from Forbes, which points them back to the source in an attempt to grow eyes on content and grow readership. Existing Forbes users and/or subscribers can sign with their username and password or via selected social networks. New users can create a Stream account to use the new publishing social network. Users can decide whether to add content to the Forbes public Stream, or to their own personal Streams. The New Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 8.4 The new Samsung Galaxy TabPRO 8.4 was announced with an 8.4-inch 2560×1600 display, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front facing camera, Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz, 4,800mAh battery and the option of 16 or 32GB storage with a microSD card slot. Featuring a powerful quad-core processor, productivity focused version of Android, bright screen, and Samsung security services, the Tab Pro 8.4in has the potential to be one of 2014's best business tablets. Facebook Denies Collecting Unpublished Posts After people opposed the idea, Facebook announced that they are not collecting unpublished posts and comments. They only made a study to identify when people typed and then deleted. According to the report, content was tracked only if the user typed at least five characters. Samsung Announces Lighter, Low-end Addition to Galaxy Tab 3 Line. The 7-inch tablet runs Android 4.2 and comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 2-megapixel rear camera, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage memory. Compared to its predecessor, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3, the Lite actually fares quite well: The screen, processor and memory size are the same, but the Lite lacks a front camera and has a slightly weaker battery (3,600mAh vs 4,000mAh). The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite will be available globally in white and black, but the exact price and time of availability have not been announced.
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Facebook Set to Eliminate Sponsored Stories in April. The social network will retire Sponsored Story advertisements beginning April 9, according to a blog post. Sponsored stories show when a user's Facebook friend interacts with a sponsored page, app or event. Advertisers will be able to buy Sponsored Stories up until April 9, at which point all existing Sponsored Stories will transition into other ad formats. For example, a Sponsored Story highlighting a page like will simply turn into a Page Like ad. Nokia's First Android Phone Surfaces Online. A picture purportedly showing a prototype of Nokia's first Android-based smartphone, has surfaced on China's popular social network, Sina Weibo. The image was then posted on Twitter. The photo doesn't reveal any clues about the device's specifications or even its size, but say it’s going to be a low-to-mid-range device with a branched version of Android. BlackBerry Sticks to Keyboard. In an interview with Bloomberg, BlackBerry’s CEO said the company’s phones will predominantly have physical keyboards rather than touch screens. The company also plans to outsource its manufacturing and design elements to Foxconn to lessen its costs. And finally, BlackBerry is aiming for a five percent market share for this year. Five percent may not seem much compared to what Android and iOS devices have, but it will be a good restart for a company which once dominated the mobile market.
Sony's New Xperias: Ultra-Loud E1 and Big, Budget T2 Ultra. Sony has launched two new smartphones in the Xperia line: The 4-inch Xperia E1 and the 6-inch Xperia T2 Ultra. The Xperia E1 has a 4-inch, 480x800 pixel displays, a 1.2GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage memory and a 100Db speaker. The T2 Ultra is quite a bit more powerful, with a 6-inch, 720p screen, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera, 8GB of storage and LTE support — something which the E1 doesn't have. Both the E1 and the T2 Ultra are available in single- or dual-SIM variants. Nokia Removes its Maps From iTunes. Nokia removed its navigation app, HERE Maps, from the iTunes store “because recent changes to iOS 7 harm the user experience,” according to Engadget. Here Maps was released in November 2012, and was one of the first to capitalize on the Apple Maps mess, and the removal of Google Maps from iOS. It brought crucial features missing from Apple Maps, such as public transport navigation, and offline mapping. Sunrise App, Now on iPad. The Best iPhone Calendar App, Sunrise, is now on iPad. The App helps you scroll through a list of the day's scheduled events, as you would with the iPhone version, or take advantage of a new weekly and monthly viewing mode, which offers a clearer picture of how much free time you have. Google Chrome Can Now Identify Your Most Annoying Tabs. A new feature in Chrome that first surfaced back in November has finally emerged from beta testing and is now available. The new feature adds a set of icons to your Chrome tabs that help you track down a particularly annoying web page that may be buried in layers of tabbed pages. For example, if a buried web page suddenly begins playing audio from auto-play advertisement, now instead of furiously hunting for the offending page inside the stack, you can just look for the tab displaying the speaker icon. Twitter Is Catching Up to Facebook in Ad Targeting. Twitter announced that advertisers can now reach you through your Twitter ID or email address, offering the kind of targeted ad messages that Facebook specializes in. Granting access to email addresses could mean more CRM messaging. Twitter outlined the enhancements to "tailored audiences" on its Advertising Blog. The company started testing ID targeting based on emails and cookies last July. Adobe Adds 3D Printing Tools to Photoshop. Adobe is adding new tools to Photoshop that let users create and edit designs for 3D printing. Before 3D printers can turn out objects, a user needs digital model, either one they create or download from the Internet. One you've got one, though, you'll need software that supports 3D imagery if you want to edit it. As of now, Photoshop users can design, edit and customize those 3D models similar to how you might adjust a 2D picture within the app. Facebook Will Now Tell You What's Most Popular On Facebook. The trending topics will be shown on the newsfeed and will simply be called "trending”. Trending will show a personalized list of popular topics for each user, combining their interests with content getting the most attention.
COVER FEATURE
CLOUD #8 February 2014
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COVER FEATURE
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Paula Yacoubian: The Future of Journalism Relies on the Interaction with People on Social Media Celebrities Should Not Trust their Social Media Accounts with Agencies or Employees. Interview by Mohammad Hijazi @mhijazi Paula Yacoubian is an established Lebanese journalist who currently hosts a prime-time political and social talk show on Future Television, Inter-Views. She previously hosted another show on Al Hurra TV and was part of the morning talk show Nharkom Said on LBC. Additionally, Paula is a media trainer and a political strategist. She has interviewed highprofile figures throughout her career, including George W. Bush when he was in office back in 2005.
What motivated you to start using social media as a media professional?
I think that I started very very very late. At the beginning, I didn’t know how the direct interaction with the people will be. I might have even had a low self-confidence, especially when it came to a direct confrontation with the public. Being in the media, I had to question if I am doing right thing when it came to politics or my views about Lebanon or the sectarian state that it is in. I was afraid that I will have to deal with things that will annoy or upset me. In addition, I was worried that it will take a lot of my time on the expense of reading. That was what worried me, and it actually happened, especially since I became this active on Twitter and Facebook. I found that my time on social media is taking time from the serious work that I am supposed to do, but I am enjoying it!
So how were you able to balance between using social media effectively without wasting a lot of your time?
I am trying hard to manage my time between reading and being active online and interact with my followers. Sometimes, beyond my control, I feel that I am not being active as I want to be because I have to catch up on important readings that are necessary for me to keep up to date on the situation for my work.
How do you deal with unconstructive and hate messages on social media?
I have no problem with hate messages; I don’t mind a person with an opposing opinion, even if his opinion is hateful. However, what annoys me is when they start creating groups that spread lies. Recently, there was a campaign against me on social media that was based on statements that I did not say and I am actually completely opposed to. I would never say anything that can remotely be classified as sectarian. I grew up in a family with different religious backgrounds. I firmly believe that for Lebanon to become a civilized country, we should campaign for interreligious marriages between the Lebanese families. That way, the new generation will respect other people and their opinions more and be more open-minded. The campaign that was launched against me contrasts all my beliefs, and anyone can verify this by going back to old tweets of mine, especially those relating to my opposition to the Orthodox law.
How do you fight these campaigns then? And how do you raise awareness that what is being said about you is based on lies?
Once this campaign was launched, I had to check who was behind it. I realized that the people involved have a dirty background on social media, in a way that instead of communicating with you, they swear at you and harass you, they slander everyone who has an opposing opinion from the president, political or religious parties or even civilians, but they glorify and godify their political/religious leaders. I
I sat down with Paula to discuss her social media presence. Personally, I believe that she is doing a great job on her social media accounts and is among the best Lebanese journalists online. Very few use social media effectively, consistently and continuously. You can follow Paula on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on PaulaYacoubian.
did not feel there is a need to respond to such a campaign because I did not want to bring more attention to them or advertise them.
But many people on social media are not aware that you did not say those things. How do you make sure they know that you are a victim in these situations?
90% of the information that you are bombarded with every second on social media is either wrong or inaccurate, but it is very easy to verify the information online by researching. People who believe things they read on the internet blindly, I let them be. At the end, I cannot reach out to everyone individually and explain to them what is happening. On my behalf, I try my best to expose people to the truth through social media and television. Ultimately, I cannot force-feed people the information and whoever doesn’t want to know the truth, then I cannot change his/her opinion. Of course, I have announced before on my show that people should be careful about what they read on social media, but I cannot do anything more than that.
Do you think there should be a limit on freedom of speech on social media, especially when it comes to unconstructive criticism or hurtful behavior?
I am highly against limiting people’s freedom on social media. When you are on TV and expressing your opinion, you have to have thick skin and accept criticism. There are some people who curse and use inappropriate words online. These people only represent themselves and do not represent their community, and I usually ignore them. I do get a lot of polite criticism and I do converse and discuss their opinions online. This is how I make friends online, even if they have opposing opinions that will never change. I respect everyone’s right to express his/her opinion in a respectable manner, and I encourage them. I don’t even block people. Out of all the incidents that I encountered, I only have a couple of people blocked because, over time, I got disgusted by the things that they are saying. I don’t block people who criticize me or have an opposing opinion, because I believe it’s their right to express themselves.
What is your favorite social network and why? It is definitely Twitter. It is by far the most powerful social network. It is getting users accustomed to being concise and precise, and that is what I love the most about Twitter. In the end, a stitch in time saves nine. (لدو لق ام مالكلا ريخ.)
Tell me about your social media team, because I notice that you tweet while live on television, so there must be someone who is helping you. You’re correct. The people who help me include Rana Zantout, she is one of the people that I trust the most. She is my close friend before anything else. If I couldn’t trust her, I cannot rely on her with something this personal. Additionally, Sahar
Agha helps me by live-posting and live-tweeting when I am on television, but the main admin is definitely Rana.
Other than your personal relationship with Rana, did you choose her because she has experience in social media? Actually, neither Rana nor I have social media experience, but I can rely on here because I have complete trust in her. Even if you tell me that you are going to hire the most experienced social media consultant for me, I would tell you that it can only be someone that I can trust, knows the way I think and knows my audience very well.
Is it Future TV’s policy for its anchors to be on active on social media or is it a personal choice?
It is a totally personal choice. When I decided to embark on the social media journey, I was well aware that I was going to investing a lot of my own time, regardless of the work that I do for Future. What was Future TV’s reaction about social media presence? They were very supportive. But I wish that the people who are handling the social media channels of Future TV to be better and more active. Additionally, I wish that they would care about the whole team equally and not favor some over others. Nevertheless, I always try to support the channel’s social media presence as much as I can.
There is a prevailing opinion that traditional media is dying slowly in favor of social media, because the public’s participation in these media (TV stations, radio stations and newspapers) is very limited. On the other hand, social media gives everyone the chance to say what they want to the world. What are your thoughts about this?
I don’t agree that traditional media is dying. On the contrary, traditional media and social media complement each other. For example, when I see on social media that people are highly interested in a certain topic, I would try to discuss this topic on my show. Additionally, through social media, we are able to connect to people that we might not be able to reach otherwise. Social many has opened my doors for the conventional media to know what people like and dislike. This helps journalists improve the way they approach topics. Sometimes you notice that people are tired of heated political discussions and are more interested in humanitarian or societal topics, so we try to shift our discussions to suit their tastes. The conventional media can now follow what the audience want through social media. I’m not only receive valuable feedback from social media, I am also able to brainstorm and research topics. A great example is martyr Mohammad Al Chaar. If it weren’t for social media, people wouldn’t have known so much about him and his personality. If it weren’t for his selfie before the explosion, the media wouldn’t have noticed him as much as it did.
COVER FEATURE
As a journalist, who do you follow on social media from the journalists, bloggers and online community members in Lebanon?
I try to follow many people from diverse backgrounds on social media. From the journalists, I like to follow Shada Omar, Ibrahim Daoud, Maryam Al Bassam, etc… There are a lot of people that I enjoy following and that is why I don’t like naming some, so that I don’t forget any. I think bloggers are also an important resource because they provide a different perspective on the media. There are a lot of people who are not journalists but are very talented in this field, and sometimes more talented than actual journalists. In Lebanon, there are a lot of respectable blogs, one of them is Beirut Spring, which I enjoy reading. I try as much as possible to follow Lebanese blogs and search for new ones. Bloggers and the online community are a great resource for news. It is true that Lebanon is a small country, but there are a lot of events going on and news worth sharing. Traditional media might not be able to pick up on all of it. When people on social media decide that a topic is news-worthy, the conventional media has to succumb to discussing it. When the conventional media stops following people’s tastes and interests, it will eventually cause its doom. At the end, you have to cater for people because they have a lot of choices. In Lebanon, they are not obligated to watch a specific station related to the governing regime. On the contrary, they have a lot of options and if you are not interesting enough for them, they will simply change the channel.
How do you control your personal information and personal life on social media?
I try sometimes to include a little bit about my personal life in my posts. But I have to be careful about posting things that people might not be interested in about my life. Every few months, I can post a photo of my son and me, but if I do that all the time, people will lose interest. Sometimes, I try to post recommendations about books that I read and movies that I see in case my followers like to know more about my interests. I also have my personal Facebook accounts, other than my page. For now, I have two accounts that are both maxed out at 5,000 friends, and it upsets me that I cannot add more due to Facebook’s limitations. I like to add people who which to connect with me on my profile because they generally prefer being a friend of mine rather than a follower. However, the content on both, my profile and my page, is almost the same.
What languages do you use on your platforms? And who communicates with you the most?
Mostly, I like to communicate in Arabic. As for my audience, it is diverse, from many countries. Yet, the most interactions I receive are from Lebanese. Therefore I use Arabic especially that I do get requests to post in Arabic from Arab countries. I do use English sometimes. When someone asks me a question, I usually reply in the same language that he/she used. I think Arabic is a beautiful language and it is the language that I am 100% fluent in, despite that I was French-educated. I like to encourage the new generation to use it more often on social media. If you tweet in English, it doesn’t make you “cool”, you can still have cool tweets in Arabic.
What about the tone that you use on social media? Do you prefer it be formal?
That is not necessary. A lot of times, I use the spoken language. When an idea come to mind in colloquial Arabic, I like to tweet it without trying to convert it to Fus’ha because it loses its essence. For example, when I commented about Maryam Nour’s statement that gum is made from used condoms, you cannot really use a formal language.
When you publish a post, who do you have in mind? Who do you think will read it?
Honestly, I post what I feel at the moment. When I wrote a tweet “[ ”نانبل مد يفكبenough blood in Lebanon], it was really from my heart, especially when I saw the victims of the explosions a few days after New Year. What I usually post is either expressing my opinion, answering a question that was asked or mentioning headlines from guests on the show.
Do you recommend for other journalists to take this step and be active on social media? I definitely encourage them to take this step. The most important thing nowadays is to connect to your audience and listen to their opinion. It is crucial to see their reaction for an episode or any incident that happens in the country. This is how journalism evolves. Ideally, journalists represent the general public. They are held responsible for relaying the news truthfully or provide accurate and undeceiving analysis to the public. Every public figure has some sort of influence on people and they should use this influence to make their country better. Social media is the platform that can help journalists influence their audience and cause a positive change in their society. Actually, the future of journalism relies on this interaction with the people on social media.
Any tips that you can give to your fellow journalists who want to take this step?
I am not an expert on this topic, so I cannot give technical tips. Actually, I find that a lot of other journalists are better than me on social media, so I was surprised when you requested this interview to discuss my social media presence. What I can say is that for people to go on social media, they have to love doing it and love communicating with the public. You cannot hire a social media agency to run your accounts. As a public figure, you cannot trust them to say things on your behalf. Even with my social media team, I am the person who responds to all the questions and messages, and I cannot leave this task to anyone. I’m sure that the majority of celebrities have a person or an agency that runs their accounts. It very evident, when you see a celebrity that is not fluent in other languages tweeting in flawless English for example. This might be a good thing for their image, but the person or agency might not represent them very well. So if you are planning to be on social media, you have to take full responsibility of your account and post ideas that will reflect positively on journalism, not negatively.
So you wouldn’t hire an agency to get you more followers, for example? I am definitely against this idea, even though most celebrities use their follower count as a matter of prestige, but we all know that their followers are bought or fake. I am on social media to represent myself to the audience that chooses to follow me.
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COVER FEATURE
CLOUD #8 February 2014
In the Trenches of the Online Media Interviews by Darine Sabbagh @sdarine Is online media as simple as it seems: Pushing content and selling online ads? What are the challenges faced by the industry in Lebanon? Through two interviews conducted with Naharnet’s CEO Sami Tueini and Beirut.com’s Editor in Chief, Angie Nassar, we have been able to see that it is not. Lebanese companies have not yet seen the value of online
advertising, let alone such complex advertising models as native sponsored content. Another challenge in online media is the people and the resources that will make the content that drives the traffic. Discover what our industry leaders had to say in the interviews below.
Interview with Sami Tueini CEO of Naharnet new content management platform focusing solely on News and innovative ways to spread its content across the web and mobile. Over one million news items were published in English and Arabic, 1.2 million users have signed up, 2 million comments were posted by users and over 1.3 billion impressions were generated. How can you describe the Lebanese market when you started at Naharnet and how did it change now? Naharnet has witnessed the birth of the Lebanese online market. It’s actually one of the very rare early players still operating today. Back then, everything was a challenge, including getting a decent connection to upload content, convincing advertisers to try out online advertising (they are still as difficult to convince today), figuring out how to turn Naharnet into a sustainable venture when all potential sources of income did not exist. Since the early days, internet penetration has picked up dramatically. Prices dropped, hundreds of Lebanese websites were founded and closed, advertisers started to pay attention to digital advertising and e-commerce solutions started to emerge. Despite that, the market is still at a stage where no single startup can sustain itself based on Online Advertising alone or relying on Online Payments only as a sole source of income. Advertisers are still spending less than 3% of their budgets online and most of those are channeled through global sites such as Facebook & Google. Lebanon never was and rarely will be a market for startups to flourish.
Naharnet was one of the first websites in Lebanon. Could you tell me more about how it started and evolved? Bassam Tueni started working on Naharnet in 1997. At the time, there were very few Lebanese websites and internet access in Lebanon was just starting to pick up with extremely slow and expensive dialup connections. The idea of creating a digital media was crazy as the entire Arab online advertising market was well under one million dollars. After a couple of years of development, Naharnet was launched in September 2000 as a multilingual information portal including a wide array of services and content including News, Forums, Chat Rooms, Online Clubs, Games and Email. Naharnet was a global pioneer in providing free web based SMS to its users and rich catalogues of mobile content including ringtones and wallpapers. Naharnet grew to what it is today because it was able to tap into the very rich and widespread Lebanese diaspora across 200 countries and territories. 80% of Naharnet’s 2.5 million unique visitors are Lebanese immigrants. In the past 13 years, Naharnet has shifted its focus from being an all-encompassing “portal” to being a digital news media. In 2009, Naharnet started building and operating a brand
Can you elaborate more on the reserved usage of social media you have at Naharnet? Naharnet’s content management platform is deeply integrated into social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. It’s one of the first content management systems to automatically push content to Facebook and Twitter accounts bringing real-time news broadcasts wherever our audience is. Naharnet’s “publish once, publish everywhere policy has greatly impacted the way our audience follows our news wherever they are. Since Naharnet’s news coverage is strictly limited to factual news and refrains from publishing opinions and analysis in order not to influence public opinion or promote specific political agendas, it is one of the rare news sites in Lebanon reaching audiences from all political backgrounds. As such, Naharnet’s social media channels are handled robotically through algorithms and there is no human interaction with our audience. How are you able to recruit new writers? Do you think it is a challenge? Unlike traditional media, Naharnet publishes content online exclusively. Content creation is an expensive exercise and monetizing content has proved to be a major challenge in Lebanon. It is very difficult to juggle between the quality of content, its cost and the potential revenue it generates. This obviously impacts the budgets for hiring and training
new writers. Especially, English journalists which are knowledgeable enough with local politics and are capable of following the news in Arabic. Is it possible to monetize digital content? This all depends on the market you are tackling and your business model. If you are producing high quality, high value content in Lebanon, then the question is no. There is not enough audience or advertisers to cover the high costs of content production. Not unless you’re willing to sacrifice the quality of your content. Most “news” sites in Lebanon are staffed with “writers” - not journalists - who spend most of their times “copy-pasting” content from various sources in order to stitch up a story. There are very few sites that actually respect copyrights or pay royalties for the content they obtain, let alone, site the source of their content. Naharnet was able to cope with these obstacles by creating new revenue sources for its content. This includes amongst others, the sales of edited news content to the subscribers of mobile operators across the region. What are the biggest trends you see in your industry? At the moment, the online media industry is still unable to figure out how to “survive” and “reinvent” itself. Traditional content producers have faced extreme competition from “technology” platforms such as Facebook, Youtube or Wordpress where m/ost of the content is user generated and “free”. In the end, the media game is a fight for “attention”, “eyeballs” and advertising dollars. User generated content (UGC) was a major game changer. The downside of UGC however has created a lot of “noise” online making content very difficult to organize and find. The appearance of media platforms such as Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Flipboard, etc... has also created a new type of media based on “links”. Those platforms add value to users by trying to filter the “noise” for them but none have found an efficient way to do so. Over the past years, we have also seen the rise and fall (and rise again) of paywalls charging users for content. Some media have failed, some are barely sustaining themselves. We do not believe this is something we will see happening in the Arab world anytime soon because of the lack of payment options and users willing to pay for content. We believe the next major trend in digital media is to provide audiences with a unique, individual content experience. Naharnet has dedicated a lot of resources to building technologies that are able to automatically learn from users what they like. To understand and organize content, and to provide each user with a tailored newsfeed based on their reading habits and those of similar users. We call this “smart media”. This is a huge undertaking with the aim to provide user with the most relevant and contextual content possible.
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Interview with Angie Nassar, Editor in Chief of Beirut.com hottest topics out there. We do something at Beirut.com that is very different from traditional lifestyle platforms, which is to follow big, breaking news stories when they’re happening. When the Chatah bombing happened near Starco and the Dahiyeh attack less than a week later, we immediately put up live blogs and started aggregating the content that was coming from different news sites along with information from Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. The whole deal. That’s certainly as a result of my background. My bachelor’s degree is in broadcast journalism and I worked for several years in the news business, so it’s something that carries such a big weight for me, I can’t see myself working anywhere and ignoring the realities of what’s happening on the ground, especially in Lebanon. Whether we like it or not, the politics of the country has a fundamental impact on, and really informs the way we live and go about our daily lives. Of course, as Beirut.com, we’re never going to compete with large news organizations that have entire sections of their staff dedicated to a particular beat, but the beauty of having any kind of web presence is that we do get to have a space – however big or small - for voicing our opinions and being a part of a larger conversation about what is happening in the country.
How did you start off in online media at Now Lebanon and what was the biggest difference you noticed when you did? I started off as a copy-editor on the English News Desk and then when a position opened up to take over their blog, I went after it. At that time (around 2010), we were still just getting used to how social media could impact the way we followed and reported on events. I remember just a few days after taking over the blog there was a clash between the Lebanese Army and Israel troops over an attempt by the Israeli military to cut down some trees over the border. We had access to – very early on in the development of the incident – some AFP photographs that were coming in from the scene. It showed some really harrowing stuff with Lebanese soldiers shooting rounds over the border. And right away, we posted these on the blog and started tweeting the links and it was just like wildfire, the number of hits we were getting as a result of throwing the pics out there on Twitter. Something I took away from that situation was the importance of social media and utilizing it to spread important news and information on the web. And it’s something that has guided my sensibilities ever since. How is the publishing process different from traditional especially now that you work in Beirut.com? There’s definitely a higher sense of urgency in what we do as opposed to print publishing. As a web-based platform, I think it’s very important for us to stay on top of the latest and
What are your top tips for successfully writing for the web? You have to find a balance between entertaining and informing people, and you have to try and build a following based on the consistent application of those two things in your content. When you write for the web you need to keep a lot of stuff in mind like keywords, SEO, catchy titles that get a lot of clicks... can you elaborate on that? You can have a really interesting and informative article on your hands, but if you can’t draw people into clicking on the story and reading it, then ultimately you’ve failed. Working in web-based content means staying on top of Search Engine Optimization. SEO is hugely important to the success of a website. If you can get your website to rank in the top results for particular keywords, it will really add up to some robust traffic for you. But it’s so important not to get caught up in numbers and to keep your visitors or readers in mind because search engines have become exceptionally good at vetting out content that doesn’t provide value for the reader. So while keyword research should be the first step in any SEO plan, content is still king. Content that’s fresh and relevant to the reader will benefit your website not just by inciting people to come back organically but also when it comes to SEO. So really, writing for the web is about creating content with the end-user in mind. How are you able to recruit new writers? Do you think it is a challenge? It’s definitely a challenge to recruit new writers because I want people that really show off a distinct voice and personality and
have a certain spark in their writing. And I think a lot of people assume that they have this trait when they don’t. The other issue in particular for Beirut.com is finding writers who’ve really been around the block. By that I mean: people say they know Beirut, specifically, and the larger areas of Lebanon as well, when they really don’t. Most people just stick to the same areas and don’t really explore the country. So we really want to find people who can strike that balance between having an insatiable desire to explore everything there is to see and know about Lebanon, while also having a special skill for writing. What are some interesting aspects when it comes to revenue generation in online media? There’s been this really exciting shift in the last couple of years in the way businesses advertise online. There has been a move away from traditional banner advertising into something called sponsored content. It’s also been referred to as native content. Sponsored content is a piece of unique content used to introduce a brand’s products or services to the online community in a way that is shareable, generates engagement and positions the brand’s message at the top of customers’ minds. The US-based website Buzzfeed, which anyone who even mildly pays attention to what’s happening on the Internet knows about, is THE site leading this trend. So we at Beirut.com jumped on this form of advertising a little over a year ago, in December of 2012, and it’s been a really interesting experience. We’ve found that it’s still taking some time for businesses in Lebanon to get used to the school of thought that guides sponsored content. Brands need to start looking at content creation as a long-term relationship with the community they are trying to reach out to. Typically, the audience is an afterthought. Brands just want to dish out money to position themselves in the middle of a conversation without putting any effort or thought into the process or having any involvement with the audience. But when the brand is committed to enhancing the experience of the community, and wants to create value but also learn from the community over a long, targeted and engaged period of outreach, then everyone benefits: the content creator, the brand and, most importantly, the audience. How does social media feed into Beirut.com’s communication plan, what aspects of the business does it intertwine with? Social media is ingrained in what we do at Beirut.com. There are so many things happening on our website, so one way that we’re able to get people to pay attention to the stuff we think is important is through Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook posts, depending on what the content is and which platform we feel best fits its promulgation.
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Has Social Media Ruined News? By Paul Gadallah
@paulinbeirut
In our parents’ day, you sat by the television or tuned into the radio for the latest news. You stayed glued to the TV for the latest news or update. You even had a favorite news presenter and channels competed for who got news out faster. You’d watch shows where different people gave their own analysis, each channel providing you with its own political slant. Don’t get me wrong, these things still exist but people are increasingly ditching the news anchor with a blatant nose job for the Twitter timeline. Social media has had a dramatic impact on news reporting. We can now receive news as it happens in real time wherever we go. People who are not tied to a news channel can easily report stories as quick as they happen. Social media has even given regular citizens the chance to join the news world. So-called citizen journalists have helped report stories from much of the recent unrest hitting the region over the last several years. Social media has helped free us from the TV but is that a good thing? Should anyone just be able to send out news? The Arab Spring has epitomized social media and news. Citizen journalists were there to document important protests where the mainstream media could not get their reporters. Social media has allowed local people to break the monopoly that major media companies have had over the news. It has given locals the chance to get the news they want to see out to the rest of the world. Instead of CNN telling a story for them, local citizens can film an event and give local knowledge to the story. They can put photos up on a Youtube channel, Facebook page or Twitter, getting the story out to the public much faster than news channels. The story is raw and unedited, meaning it does not have the chance to be doctored by mainstream media that is owned by huge corporations. Social media has allowed for news to get out even faster then it has previously. As a Beirutbased American journalist told me “Social media has allowed for news to get out faster then it ever has before. Social media has made everything faster. I can find sources through Facebook as though it were the white pages, because everyone is on it these days. I can interview people through Facebook chat. Posting it on Facebook or Twitter definitely helps generate interest.” Accomplished Lebanese journalist Justin Salhani adds “We have access to more information and can find out about stories much quicker.” Yet, has this impact that social media has had positive? With everyone racing to get the news out first and putting it up on public forums the effects have been “both positive and negative” as Salhani puts it. We are now getting news faster but is faster better? Traditional journalists often go through a rigorous process of verifying facts and figures, and can even lose their job for false reporting. This raises the question of who is verifying a lot of the independent news we are seeing on social media? “False information can spread much faster today. You can report on a situation by simply following Twitter and that is not good. It makes one’s reporting weaker in quality” says Salhani. Initial reports on social media are the least verified. Most recent was news on Twitter that Fadel Chaker had been arrested reported by Mayadeen News or previous pictures of what was reportedly Syrians in body bags by the BBC turned out to be pictures from the Iraq War. So, has social media ruined or improved news? Undoubtedly social media has brought the news faster to us and widened the arena for everyone to help shape news. Ultimately, like everything dealing with social media, it is up to the person reporting and the person reading the news to verify what they are reading.
1. Do you follow journalists and news agencies on social media platforms?
2. Do you think traditional media outlets (TV and newspaper) are unreliable?
Yes 78% No 22%
Yes 47% No 53%
3. Do you think social media is good for reporting?
4. Do you check social media platforms first for news ? (i.e. twitter, facebook)
Yes 92% No 8%
5. Do you think social media platforms are quicker than news outlets in getting news out ? Yes 91% No 9%
7. Do you think news from social media platforms is less biased than news from standard media outlets? Yes 47% No 53%
Yes 83% No 17%
6. Which social media platform do you mostly get your news from? Twitter 71% Facebook 22% Reddit 1% Blog/Tumblr 3% Youtube 1% Other 1%
8. Have you ever read or seen a piece of news on social media that turned out to be false ? Yes 91% No 9%
9. Do you think people could do more to verify news that goes up on social media?
10. Do you think more journalists and news agencies should increase their social media presence?
Yes 92% No 8%
Yes 93% No 7%
COVER FEATURE
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Journalism on the Go Mojo Kit Makes Citizen Journalism Better Interview by Paul Gadallah
@paulinbeirut The Mojo Kit also helps journalists to be self-sustaining in case of power cuts. It wasn’t until 2011 that the commercial and tech sectors came together to make the Mojo Kit possible. Then Transterra Media approached me to provide them with a mobile device for the Voices 4 Change project. That was the first time we had a mass deployment. Now based on the feedback we’re thinking of a micro version.
Thanks to social media, smartphones have become invaluable in terms of reporting. People can now upload the first images and videos from a bombsite or major disaster. Yet those blurry images are not enough for a full report. International Media Solutions owner Michael Clarke, interviewed below, has now created the Mojo Kit, a mobile journalism kit that uses a smartphone to produce high quality reporting, and is equipped with lenses and a tripod. The Mojo Kit is now being used in Lebanon as part of the Voices 4 Change program where young aspiring journalists are using the Mojo Kit to produce their own stories. What made you think of the Mojo Kit? I started thinking of the Mojo Kit in 2008. I was working on projects in Iraq and I started realizing people were using their mobile devices for reporting and cell phone footage was becoming really prevalent. I realized that Iraqi journalists did not have the means to purchase expensive equipment. So I started thinking of how to get a camera kit to them so they can deliver a high quality product. Local journalists have an advantage because they can broadcast from harder to reach areas. These underreported areas are known as content deserts. Everyone knows how life is in Beirut, but what about harder to reach regions in the Beqaa?
What kind of impact do you think social media has had on reporting, especially in times of crisis? I think social media has become an essential tool in any emergency manager’s toolkit. Social media allows emergency management to craft and distribute their message across large populations with little or no cost. Most recently in the US, the Colombia Mall shooting took place. The first news report and press conference was by the chief of police, and she said “please follow us on Twitter for the latest updates”. I think that shows you how important social media has become. It’s also very valuable for correcting misinformation. What are some tips for people tweeting during a crisis? It’s very important to provide facts of what you’re seeing and not your own commentary. You should mention the location and what happened without your own feelings. It’s important to get facts out. You can provide information before emergency personnel get to the scene. Use the appropriate hashtags. You want to hashtag the location, and what the crisis is. Is it a fire? Is it a car bomb? Earthquake? These information are crucial so that people know the location and know what’s going on. What do you think citizen journalists can due to make sure they are not reporting any false information during a crisis? That’s a good question. The idea is: if you heard it from one person, it could be a true or it could be a humor; if two, then it probably occurred; if it’s three, then you could publish. Make sure that when you’re reporting during a crisis, that you are sticking to facts and not hearsay. It’s important that
any information you are relaying is from a credible course. If you can cite a source, it makes your tweet more credible, especially if you can mention someone. You can also say “not confirmed” in the tweet if you can’t confirm it. It is your responsibility to make sure the information you put out there is correct. If you start a rumor it can come back to bite you. What can we expect from the Mojo Kit in 2014? Any new products? Right now in development we’re looking for it be more secure for people reporting in hostile environments. Based on the feedback we’ve gotten, we’re going continue with the original Mojo Kit and we’re excited for the iPhone 6. We’ll also be able to film on super high definition on mobile devices. We’re going to have a micro-kit. It’s going to have a smaller footprint. It comes with a macro lens and fish eye lens and a smaller tripod. It could fit in your shirt pocket, a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes.
MOJO KIT SPECS: Blu-Ray® quality 50mbit/sec video 1920x1080 HD resolution 48 kHz (384 kbytes/sec) audio 24fps, 25fps, or 30fps 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Bluetooth 4.0 .raw or .tiff photos Up to 64 GB storage Lavalier & Directional mics LED light kit Mini-tripod 8hr backup battery pack Optional 3G/4G mobile hotspot For more information, visit: www.mojokit.info
What Not to Tweet During Crisis Interview by Paul Gadallah
@paulinbeirut
Tense is an understatement for how things are during the current crisis, especially after a spate of car bombings that have left people more scared and worried then ever. For a growing number of people Twitter has become an important news source, especially as more people are losing their faith in mainstream media that is extremely biased. Let’s face it, Twitter has provided breaking news to us in real time as the situation continues to deteriorate. Journalists, activists, bloggers, and ordinary citizens are also using Twitter to get the word out before the monopolized Lebanese media gets to it. Popular blogger, Mustapha Hamoui of Beirut Spring, brought us up to do date news from the tragic twin car bombings that took place in Tripoli last year, as one bomb was literally right outside his own family’s home. Others have followed suit, helping us see what is out there. Unfortunately though there are many out there who clog the timeline with useless tweets. Tweeting unverified or baseless information can distract others as accomplished journalist Justin Salhani puts it “It is easy to make mistakes while tweeting fast, especially as a journalist, where twitter is usually secondary to your thoughts. You tweet to let the world know what is happening and also to let people know you are following the story but that can be distracting when the story is unfolding and trying to be first sometimes leads us to be inaccurate or tweet something that is just rumor or hearsay.” Needless to say your tweets have an impact during these situations.
So what should you not tweet during a crisis?
So what should you be tweeting?
1. For starters, freak-out tweets. It’s bad enough a regional war is looming over our heads every 5 seconds, we don’t need you to have a panic attack; we need to know what’s going on. Biased tweets. If we needed your political master’s input we would simply just tune into their TV station. Thanks but no thanks. 2. A selfie. We want to see what is happening not what you wore or how you were oh so close to the carnage although you probably weren’t. 3. Your own political manifesto. People are looking to your tweets for news, save your grand thoughts of reform for your blog. 4. Senseless tweets. We want to know what’s going on, that’s why were following your tweets. Tweeting things that are not facts can be harmful, make sure you verify your information is verifiable or coming from a reliable source before putting it out there for the world to see. 5. Nagging tweets. Yes we know the situation is awful, nagging about how you are fed up with everything and ready to move to Dubai or Paris while sitting in your comfortable room won’t change anything, but tweeting which hospital is accepting blood donations will.
1. First and foremost all the facts you can gather. Where it happened? Are people trapped under rubble? Is the area cordoned off? How many casualties so far? 2. That you’re okay. If you’re in a volatile area near an explosion, sending out a tweet can let family and friends know you’re a live and well and what they can do to help. There’s even an app for that now! 3. Pictures. We want to see what’s going on and where is the exact location of what’s happening. 4. What needs to be done. Do people need to donate blood? Where? Which hospital? How can we help? Tweet things that can get people involved in alleviating the situation. 5. Retweet important things. Any piece of info that could potentially help, retweet it! The more people see it they more they could help and lives could be saved. 6. Relevant information. Any important information helps, including casualty numbers, what can be done to help victims, and if you can even get to the scene of the attack.
You don’t have to be a professional journalist or activist though to tweet properly during a crisis.
Next time there is an unfortunate crisis (hopefully not anytime soon) those tweets that you send out could actually make an impact, so forget the selfies and rants and get on the timeline. Your tweet on where to donate blood could save someone’s life.
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Where Should You be Getting Your Online News? By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
After the recent and unfortunate bombings taking place across the country nearly everyone is following the news in one form or another in order to see what’s happening and where. People are increasingly turning to online news outlets to get real news faster. Online websites can gather and publish information quickly and in real time. So what online news sources should you be using in this time of crisis?
Political websites: Like it or not most Lebanese turn to their own political party’s website for news. These websites often get local news out fast and in Arabic. If there’s one positive from all their competing is that it has driven each one of them to get the news out there the quickest, especially local news.
Now Lebanon: Originally built for the Lebanese Diaspora, Now Lebanon gets news out fast. They aggregate news from major TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers, giving readers a wide range of news. Over the years they have also branched out to features, interviews, and editorials. www.nowlebanon.com
The DailyStar: Lebanon’s longest-running English newspaper in Lebanon, their online presence is great. Their website is constantly being updated with news and has a long legacy in good reporting. Their Facebook and Twitter also bring in constant updates. www.dailystar.com.lb
Naharnet: Another news website that aggregates news from all Lebanese media channels. Its website is easy to follow for quick and brief updates on what’s happening
MTV’s News App: Yes, it might have its own political slant, but they do know how to get the news out online and fast. One of the first Lebanese news stations to have a full functional app that is easy to use and constantly updated with the latest events. A must have for smartphone users keeping up with local news.
which is essential in times of crisis. www.naharnet.
El Nashra: If your language is primarily in Arabic, El Nashra is the lone news website
com
exclusively aggragating news in Arabic. www. elnashra.com
L’Orient Le Jour: Oui, even the Frenchies need their news. L’Orient has a long legacy in Lebanon as one of its first daily newspapers in Lebanon. Their website is the lone website bringing up to date news in French www.lorientlejour.com
Lebanese Blogs: Although not delivering news in real time, it brings together every major Lebanese blog. This allows you to see a wide range of views on recent events and topics not picked up by the mainstream media. www.lebaneseblogs.com
COVER FEATURE
CLOUD #8 February 2014
10 News Personalities to Follow on Twitter? By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
The Lebanese Twittersphere is ever expanding, with more recognizable names jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. At first it was celebrities, then politicians, and now increasingly some of our favorite media and news personalities have signed up. As we are currently going through a volatile period that includes weekly car bombs, keeping up with some of these media heavy weights can help us keep track with what’s going on and what the major issues are. Their tweets can often bring us right to the scene of an explosion or highlight important issues in the turbulent times we’re living through. So which news personalities should you be following?
@octavianasr: Octavia Nasr was CNN’s Senior Editor on all things Middle East until she was sacked by the channel when honoring Sayyed Fadallah’s death, which was seen as too pro Hezballah for the American owned station. She now guest writes in An Nahar, and founded Bridges Media Consulting. She regular tweets commentary on the deteriorating regional situation.
@PaulaYacoubian: Started out on LBC with Nharkon Said, she now hosts InterViews on Future TV, regularly tweeting from behind the scenes. She’s also a trainer in public speaking.
@Marcel_Ghanem: One of Lebanon’s most easily recognized talk show hosts, he’s been hosting Kalam El Nas on LBC since 1995 which covers major issues affecting Lebanon.
@justinsalhani: Justin is an American Lebanese accomplished journalist and one of the few who can actually say they’re actually independent. His work has been published in a variety of American and Middle Eastern newspapers
@AKikiJoyce: Senior reporter at MTV, her tweets are often from more behind the scenes of more social events in Lebanon. @MonaSaliba: Senior reporter and MTV anchor, her tweets in both English and Arabic take us from major explosions to her latest reports around the world.
@habib_b: You might not see Habib Battah regularly on TV although he has reported for several major networks, his blog the Beirut Report regularly dissects Lebanese TV stations on how they show the news. He also writes about more topics not regularly featured such as the demolition of archeological sites for luxury towers.
@woodenbeirut: Joshua Wood is Lebanon’s correspondent for the Global Post and also writes for the New York Times. His tweets take us around different conflict zones in Lebanon and show us what Western reporters have to say about the current situation.
@BassamAbouZeid: Reporter for LBC, his tweets often take us right to the scene of the crime and are entirely in Arabic.
@YumnaFawaz: Reporter for Al Jadeed, she’s always there during each explosion tweeting the latest updates. She also often poses important questions to the public such as contimination of evidence and why it’s always a stolen car.
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Round-up of News on Social Media By Lynn Bizri
@lnlne
If you’re like the majority of people, you probably use another device while watching TV. These devices, known as ‘second screen’ devices, are what we use to engage with other people while watching television (the ‘first screen’). Between 6070% of people use a second screen device, such as their laptop, iPad, or smartphone when watching TV. However, apart from interacting with friends, viewers also use their devices to discuss, engage, share, interact and consume news and information. Today, the impact of social media on traditional mainstream media is so great that TV stations, including news channels, are embracing social media and networking, using its power to increase the popularity of their shows. The different social
media platforms provide varying degrees of interactivity with audiences. For example, viewers can watch reruns of shows online, access additional content as well as comment and express their views. Twitter, for example, is a popular medium of choice because it allows television producers and advertisers to get instantaneous feedback about their programming. People will often tweet or open active debates with other viewers while a show is airing live. For news stations, the process of broadcasting news nowadays includes sharing and gathering information from viewers, users and followers. By building relationships with local citizens, stations not only foster loyal viewership, but also get a better sense of what is going on around town and cultivate news tips.
Another way TV new stations are connecting to social media is by covering social media topics in their newscasts, and using social media in storytelling. By capturing content through social media, stations encourage viewers to express their opinions on different social media platforms. With new tools and the latest technology, it is now easier for them to integrate social content on-air and add relevant social media content from their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram accounts.
Official Page: LBCI Likes: 679,573 Talking About: 71,904
Main Account: @LBCI_News Followers: 210,915 Tweets: 89,221
Official Account: lbcgroup Views: 68, 207, 172 Videos: 16,619 Subscribers: 126,364 Channels: 2
Official Account: @lbcitv Followers: 2077 Posts: 181
Official Page: Al Jadeed Likes: 115, 846
Official Verified Account: @aljadeednews Followers: 271, 898 Tweets: 106,178
Official Account: aljadeedonline Views: 134, 838, 739 Videos: 29, 627 Subscribers: 142, 372 Channels: 7
Official Account: @aljadeedtv Followers: 4685 Posts: 353
Official Page: LBCI Likes: 679,573 Talking About: 71,904
Official Verified Account: @futuretvnews Followers: 72, 219 Tweets: 168, 923
Official Account: FutureTV News Views: 2, 836, 453 Subscribers: 3, 779 Channels: 8
Official Page: Al Manar Likes: 126, 159
Official Verified Account: @almanarnews Followers: 84,807 Tweets: 190,959
Official Account: ChannelAlManar1 Views: 77,456 Subscribers: 1,345
Official Page: MTV Lebanon Likes: 831, 505 Talking About: 65, 200
Main Account: @mtvlebanon Followers: 307,897 Tweets: 8,728
Official Account: MtvLebanonNews Views: 7,505,792 Subscribers: 7,518
Official Account: @mtvlebanon Followers: 12,000 Posts: 22
Official Page: OTV Likes: 401, 459 Talking About: 40, 236
Main Account: @otvlebanon Followers: 45,139 Tweets: 11,070
Official Account: OTV Lebanon Views: 23, 529, 479 Subscribers: 47,621
Official Account: @otvlebanon Followers: 799 Posts: 42
Official Page: NBN (Lebanon) Likes: 2, 709
Main Account: @nbnlebanon Followers: 2,386 Tweets: 2,964
Official Page: Al Mayadeen TV Likes: 1, 269, 723 Talking About: 137, 335
Main Account: @almayadeennews Followers: 111,725 Tweets: 51, 807
Official Account: Al Mayadeen News Views: 972, 160 Subscribers: 12, 348 Channels: 3
COVER FEATURE What is Citizen Journalism and Why is it Important? By Lynn Bizri
@lnlne
Citizen Journalism is when people without professional journalism training such as bloggers or the public (eyewitnesses) collect, report, analyze and publish news and information. With the introduction of smartphones and tablets, citizens at the scene of events have been able to report breaking news more rapidly than most news teams, uploading content to the several social media platforms available to them. Twitter is the most popular and highly used platform for citizen journalists, and it is well known that a large number of news stories break on Twitter before they do on mainstream media. For example, in the cases of the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street Movements, Twitter and mobile technology allowed citizen journalists and marginalized people to democratize media by reclaiming their voices and telling their stories. With the power of social media and their smartphones, citizens in the Arab World captured videos and images of those defying the government and shared their stories via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which many claim eventually led to the Arab Spring. As for the Occupy Wall Street movement, citizen journalists reported democratic freedom and the right of free speech of others, which had a great impact on the nation. In the Arab World, Citizen Journalism is on the rise as access to the Internet expands and active citizens seize the opportunity to use technology to their advantage. Giving the world a different perspective on how life is in their region than what mainstream media is providing, their accounts are the primary source of news for thousands. In Syria, citizen journalists continue to document attacks on towns across the country, providing footage to news outlets that do not have access to these areas. In Lebanon, citizen journalists are the first to report bombings, strikes and protests; capturing the events through videos, photos, tweets, their blogs and many more mediums. While professional journalists believe that only a trained journalist can understand the effort and ethics involved in reporting the news, professional news media can and do benefit from people on the ground. Mainstream media often pick up on stories that first appear on social media and in blogs and elaborate on them through in-depth coverage and
some new stations actually feature sections on their websites where eyewitnesses can submit text, images and videos from events. LBCI’s ‘Cheyef Halak’, for example, ‘a civic movement based on citizen journalism that gives every Lebanese citizen the power to report irresponsible and dangerous behaviors’ tackles topics such as traffic, corruption, discrimination and more. The work of citizen journalists is not without its challenges however. Since they are not professional journalists, and often supporters of a certain cause, their accounts can be biased, exaggerated and inaccurate. This is why training citizen journalists has become so important and is happening in countries worldwide, including Lebanon. Without training in ethics, accuracy and production skills, new citizen journalists risk becoming puppets of the government and political parties they follow. That said, it is without a doubt that citizen journalism will change the future of journalism.
Social Media and Exaggeration of News By Lynn Bizri
@lnlne
There is a common saying in the media ‘If it bleeds, it leads’. In comparison to non-violent events, violent and crime-related stories have always been given more coverage and tend to attract more attention and viewers. Details of these stories are therefore often exaggerated, whether it is the scale of the incident, the number of casualties, or the offenders behind the crime and their motives. Local examples of exaggerated stories include those linked to bombings and bomb threats, border clashes with Syria and Israel, protests, strikes, political uprisings, criminal arrests and more. Even nonviolent stories have been exaggerated, such as the reports of recent snowstorm ‘Alexa’, which was made out to be the worst storm that would have witnessed in decades, yet, turned out to be nothing out of the ordinary for that time of year. Due to amplified media reports about Alexa, a number schools and businesses across the country closed, while hype engulfed social media platforms for days before, during and after the storm leading to incessant talk, jokes and memes. The storm even earned its own Facebook page and Twitter account. On a positive note, the hype did lead to an increase in aid for thousands of Syrian refugees through a number of online and offline donation campaigns. Social media and citizen journalists exaggerate news stories in several ways. Firstly, the amount of time between a story breaking and it being reported on the news and online has shrunk over the years from minutes to literally seconds.
Before authorities even have the chance to offer their account of an event, eyewitnesses, citizen journalists and survivors have already flooded the blogosphere and social media platforms with their own personal accounts, which are not always as accurate and tend to be emotionally exaggerated. In addition to causing more fear or hype, this can lead to a spread of misinformation, and by the time reporting teams are in place, ‘facts’ have already been established online. Reporters, rather than revealing the news, then have to correct the unfolding story. However, both social media and mainstream media are capable of exaggerating stories, making it hard for people to discern fact from fiction and inflating fear within the society. Therefore, we as active members of the online community should be more careful with what we post and read on social media platforms and in the news, as the quickest tweets, posts and reports of an incident are not always the most accurate and reliable.
CLOUD #8 February 2014
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Dear News Agencies: Online Users are not Stupid! By Maria Frangieh
@MariaFrangieh
We are now more than 1,800,000 Lebanese users on Facebook, more than 300,000 registered users on Twitter. Traditional media is losing its glow and the interest of its reader. News agencies found it very important to be present online, with a website and social networks. The Lebanese online community is increasing and news reporters are now more active online. They are using social networks to communicate with their audience, market for their programs or just state what they have on their mind. The number of Lebanese news anchors, reporters and journalists has increased largely, using personal profiles and public figures profiles. You can now notice the highlighted information at the bottom of the screen of every show where you will find at least one account on social media networks as opposed to the traditional way “the emails”. Emails did not disappear; however, they were complemented with a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel (more applicable in the case of a news agency), among others… You can notice how the addresses to these accounts are shown at the bottom of the screen or also mentioned regularly during the show by the host. The importance of having an account on a social media network is clearly beneficial. The user generated content, especially during breaking news, explosions, proved to be very important, since reporters cannot be present everywhere at the same time. We can notice how news, especially bad news, is shared online immediately, by eye witnesses who were present at the location and then reshared by the news agencies and the reporters and the large audience they reach. News agencies are aware of the power photos have online, they compete on the use of photos that attract the largest crowd. Sadly, using an attractive photo with a catchy title is enough to interest the reader to click on the link, which is driving traffic to the news agency’s website or social media network. It is very disappointing, this abusive use of photos and titles. Online users are not stupid, they try it out and when they don’t like it they drop it! So watch out news agencies, news reporters, don’t fool the online reader, they will drop you out and you will lose your online audience. Well, it all makes sense, reporters, journalists and news anchors all prefer having personal profiles (with the exception of a few) since it is very difficult to have a double presence, especially on Facebook. This makes sense, having a page on Facebook requires investment, dedicating a monthly budget to market for the content they post so that it reaches all their audience on Facebook. This becomes a burden and unless they can afford it, a personal profile is the best choice. The majority of the Facebook pages related to news in Lebanon are of news agencies, which have the budget to market for their content and recruit the highest number of fans and followers. Twitter gives and advantage to news anchors, reporters and journalists, they can increase their followers and attract more engagement when it comes to tweets. Twitter users in Lebanon use the platforms to share news, jokes, or just say what they are feeling. However, a larger advantage is the speed where news is shared on Twitter that attracts the crowd. Here are some numbers I collected after I asked around for a list of online accounts for news anchors, reporters, journalists, etc...
CLOUD #8 February 2014
ON THE CLOUD
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Crowdsourcing the City By Ayman Jalloul, President, AUB’s Online Collaborative @amnjay Taking directions in Lebanon can get tricky; in most cases you end up deciphering something like: “When you reach this gas station, go left about a hundred meters, you reach this, after this go further a 100 meters and you get to that” and so on. All of a sudden, these little guiding hints become red herrings to your destination. Not that I haven’t been used to such procedure, but when I had to go to Qlayaat in Keserwan for an interview, the situation got a little bit tricky and I was venturing in a completely foreign territory. I punched in the various spellings of Qlayaat into Apple and Google Maps respectively and they both gave me rough locations and directions whose accuracy I’ve learnt not to trust. Despite that, the address that I was given had more information to it that simply the area’s name: schools, gas stations and restaurants have now become a very essential part of directions, a part that simply had not been mapped out by either service. Being a devout Foursquare user, I headed to my trusty app, searched for each of the places I was given and went through each of them one by one, until my blue location dot matched theirs. It was very simple, I did not worry if I had missed the landmark and slowed down only when I knew I was getting close to the targeted location. It then hit me, every single location of the directions I was given has been mapped by another Foursquare user and not officially by a business. People, through their check-in fad, have collected geospatial data about the whole country through involuntary crowdsourcing. When studying geospatial data, how a space or a geography is understood and documented is very much defined by its geospatial coordinates (physical location on the globe), the attributes assigned to those coordinates (such as a name, size, user ratings…) and finally its topological relationship to other data points (such as distance from me, distance to another land mark…). This principle of geospatial data is basic to any navigation system but also extends to have
applications in urban planning, transportation engineering, real estate development and even military applications. Usually, this data is collected by professionals and surveyors. However, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) a workshop/ course entitled: “Crowd Sourced City” has taken this data collection to the hand of the users and their mobile phones. In the three years of the workshop, students and professors have been venturing in the different application of “crowdsourcing the city”. The aggregation of these layers of data can help inform the decisions that city planners, architects and developers make by providing information on how cities are used by their inhabitants.
Such a process ultimately allows users to help decide what type of businesses and services they would like to see in their neighborhood and in that specific storefront and help shape their city. Our smartphones are with us the whole time and we’re always sending and receiving data. The potential this data has can be very helpful if it is utilized properly. Even when we don’t realize it fully, every time we launch an app or tweet a photo, we are collectively collecting and sending untapped information about our environment that if fully realized, can totally transform how we navigate through our city.
Projects done by the Crowd Sourced City workshop range from finding fresh foods in your city by basic mapping to identifying faulty points in the road network through calculating the frequency of the geotagged photos of car crashes. Another application is FutureFront that aims to answer, through crowdsourcing, two questions about specific storefronts in the city of New York: “What was here?” and “What can be here in the future?” The project works in three steps: 1- Prompt users to identify vacant storefronts in their neighborhood using their phone’s GPS (geographic coordinates)
For more examples on this, you can check the Crowdsourced City’s website at www.crowdsourcedcity.com
2- Compile historical facts about by users submitting their memories of the storefront and historical facts. (attributes) 3- Create a poster that prompts user through their mobile phones to answer a survey and know more about that storefront. (collect more attributes)
How to Cause Teenage Drama Over Ask.fm? By Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
Time after time, I have come to the conclusion that Ask.fm is a very lame social media platform. You ask questions and people answer them and that’s it. Over various monitoring streams I would see young teenagers tweeting some of their Ask.fm answers. Answers to lame questions such as “What is your favorite food/restaurant?” or “What is the last place you have been to?” – super lame. And then I spot my teenage sister sitting for hours refreshing ask and giggling. Hey, I recognize that giggle, it’s the same giggle I used to have when I discovered Twitter! And all of this over Ask.fm? “None of my friends are using Facebook anymore, they upload photos on Instagram and post stuff on Ask”, said my sister. I asked her why and she says the most obvious thing in the world – “because everyone is on Facebook, it’s just
lame!”. So I asked her for a crash course and boy was she going to regret it! We sat for a few hours, I started to learn about the teenage drama that is cyphered in the runes of “tick, untick” and other Ask.fm related jargon her friends use. We read the feeds and I learn of break-ups, jealousy and a lot of other very juicy gossip stories published in “private-public” on Ask.fm and the kid in me gets really excited! Now I see how easily ask.fm, where most questions are asked anonymously and all users do not even know who follows them, can be used for creating gossip chains, popularity races, stalkers, teenage love or even bullying, an issue that keeps driving bad suicide press for the platform. Where else could you ask “yourself” the right question without looking too vain? Of course, these teenagers really do not use Ask.fm’s features the way a guide would teach you, it’s a jungle out there! After my crash course, I felt like I need to experiment and see how reactive these “anonymous” social networks are. I needed to find a question that gets fast response. I thought to myself “scandal”. I raked my brain for any info my sister has given me on her friends and randomly picked 20 from her friend’s list to ask the following: “X and her sister are so stuck up aren’t they?”, including the two girls in the question. Answers rolled in after the second refresh, including one of the sisters which answered sarcastically. I debated to myself:
“If I hit like would she know I asked the question?”. I tried my luck, after all it’s all anonymous, or so I have been told. And that’s how I drove a wedge between my sister and her very best friend! I got an Ask.fm from her saying that we need to talk (keep in mind I was squatting my sister’s phone). I messaged back. She cornered me on why, I, her best friend, sent such a mean message. Honesty is the best policy, so I confessed – “I am Lena’s sister, I am experimenting with Ask.fm for work”. She didn’t buy it. What followed was 30 minutes of sweat-filled Ask.fm questions of me trying to fix things. Then, I called her to explain, she still did not buy it! Oh dear lord, what have I done?! These teenagers are less trusting than we used to be! I sort of patch things up by telling her I am writing an article about this, she double checks the name of the magazine with me and says she will believe it when she sees it! What was definitely harder to explain was coming clean to my sister about all of it! Thank God she’s an angel and she didn’t kill me! Oh and the stares I got from my mom who wondered why I would do something so mean to my sister and her friends were excruciating. But I am an Ask.fm expert now, so ask away!
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
10 Things You Shouldn’t Be Posting on Instagram By Lynn Bizri
@lnlne
3. Blurry Party/Concert Photos: The combination of bad lighting, moving people and alcohol usually leads to a crappy photo, so just keep your phone in your pocket and have a good time.
1. Bathroom Photos: No matter how hot your legs are, photos of them while you’re in the bathtub or on the toilet are not okay.
8. SMDA (Social Media Displays of Affection): Yes, we get that you’re in love and we’re really happy for you, but that photo of you practically eating your significant other’s face is not something anyone wants to see.
4. Phone Notepad Screenshots: Instagram is for photos. There are dozens of social media apps for words, so if you don’t already have a Twitter account, go make one. 6. Money: If you’ve got it, don’t flaunt it. Whether you’re rich or not, it’s tasteless and downright tacky.
2. Shirtless Selfies: Guys, as much as we love those abs, you do not have to update us with a shirtless selfie every single time you’re in front of a mirror. As for those of you who are abs-less, you should know better than to flaunt your flab.
5. Work: No one really wants to see a photo of your work-infested office desk, or the urine tests you’re conducting at the lab, so do everyone a favor and spare us the boring/gross details.
7. Duck Faces: Those filters don’t make your stupid pose any less stupid.
9. Illegal Substances: It’s just a dumb idea, especially if your account is public and/or linked to other social media accounts.
10. Your Speedometer: Speeding is already a stupid thing to do. Speeding while taking a photo of it for Instagram is even stupider.
ON THE CLOUD
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Why Are We Such a Burnt Out Generation? By Mohammad Hijazi, Editor in Chief
@mhijazi
By the time a person reaches 25 years of age, it seems that he/she has become fully saturated emotionally, mentally and sometimes physically. In fact, our generation has witnessed the highest stress level among all generations. Recent studies have shown that high school students today have the same anxiety levels as insane asylum mental patients during the 1950’s. Our generation strives so hard to stand out, both at work and at home, in an attempt to be noticed in the highly competitive environment that we live in. Suddenly, attaining a comfortable living is not such an easy task. We work hard to be able to hold everything together and push ourselves to and beyond our limits and this has taken its toll greatly on us. The amount of information that we now acquire by the time we are twenty is probably more information than previous generations could learn in a lifetime. With the widespread access of information through the internet, TVs, mainstream and social media, we are bombarded with a lot of information, sometimes more than we need or can handle. This keeps our brains constantly thinking, reading and analyzing, which increases our anxiety levels, causes less hours of sleep (or insomnia) and keeps us edgy and irritated. The intense change that we have witnessed over the last decade, no matter how incredible, has become overwhelming. The struggles that we have to encounter every day has made us wiser than a 70-year-old man. The experiences that we go through on such a hurried pace have
wrinkled our brains and shattered out nerves. Additionally, we no longer care as much about life interactions such as building and sustaining friendships and engaging in conversations if these interactions would take us out of our way. Friendships before used to last decades, and even if it didn’t, people would still care about childhood friends and would always try to reconnect with them. An average friendship for our generation lasts around three years. Even so, if I compare the value of friends or acquaintances between my father and grandfather with myself, I find that they would get excited to hear news about childhood friends whereas I couldn’t care less about where my school classmates are now. “Burn-out is a disorder of hope. It sucks the life out of competent, hard-working people. You lose motivation and vitality,’ says Dr Borysenko, a Harvard-trained scientist and psychologist. ‘Productivity rises with stress, but only to a certain point. When you’re stressed, you chase the same old carrot, whatever that might be for you. After that, you find yourself in the land of diminishing returns. You’re working harder, but getting less quality work done. That’s when burnout sets in.’ The amount of work that we have to get done is no longer just 40 hours a week. Between work and home, we are working almost all of awaken time, including over meals. According to Spanish researchers, working for more than 40 hours a week leaves people six times more likely to suffer long-term exhaustion, irritability and a lack of interest in their work and non-work lives.
Hanky PANK-y The Rise of a New Digital Woman Influencer. By Sarah Sabbagh
@sxs05
As the digital market becomes more and more competitive, it becomes increasingly important for marketers to re-segment the market to come up with a new niche. And one that has just most recently popped up is the “PANK”, the Professional Aunt No Kids. This trademarked acronym was created by Melania Notkin, a former interactive marketing and communications executive for global Fortune 500 companies and currently founder/ CEO or SavvyAuntie.com. According to Notkin, “It all started as an idea to create a multiplatform media company to support and answer the needs of a very important and often unacknowledged group of women: Aunts.” Notkin has been dubbed the ultimate ‘auntrepreneur’ turning her love for her nephews and nieces into a whole new marketing opportunity. In order to better identify her newly created segment Notkin teamed up with Weber Shandwick, a global public relations firm, and KRC Research on a report called “The Power of the PANK: Engaging New Digital Influencers” to conduct a large scale research that surveyed 2000 North American Women to determine how “marketers and communicators can reach them, and to build an engagement profile to maximize their potential.” According to the findings, “the average PANK is 36 years old, has never been married, enjoys domestic activities, and has an income of $50,000 or more. 76 percent of PANKS spend $500 a year on the children in their lives — not their own, keep in mind — which adds up to about $9 billion in annually in PANK purchases.” What was most interesting about the finding is that PANKs are actually important digital influencers. And the reason behind that is that PANKs are extremely well connected online. They have more social media accounts than the average woman and have nearly 200 more connections, they are driven by Facebook friends and YouTube channels and spend slightly more time per week using social networks (13.4 hours vs. 12.1 hours, respectively). They are
also significantly more likely to enjoy using social media than the average woman does (59% vs. 51%). What makes them even more valuable when it comes to online marketing is that PANKs enjoy sharing information on a wide range of products and services. “We presented 19 categories of goods and services to the women in our survey and asked them to tell us if they share information about these categories with others. Our findings were rather startling: for every category, PANKs are as likely or more likely to share information about the category as overall women. There is no category that they are less likely than overall women to share information about. PANKs are exceptionally good sharers of information about clothing, vacation/travel, websites/social networks sites, and products for digital devices but also index higher on traditionally ‘mom’ categories, such as groceries/ food and beverages, household appliances and home decorating goods. PANKs are also pretty savvy when it comes to what may be considered more male-dominated areas of expertise: electronics, automobiles/other vehicles, life and property insurance, and financial investments/services. PANKs surpass the average woman on sharing information about these categories.” Although aunt-hood as a marketing opportunity is a fairly recent development that does not mean that is has not already been utilized. This past Christmas an ad by BestBuy starring Maya Rudolph was the only YouTube auto-play ad that I actually enjoyed watching. It could have been the witty rhymes or the hilarious lines “Now her nieces and nephews have holiday treasure, they’ll be like “Yo!, Aunt Jude you are like the best aunty ever” that caught my attention, but one thing’s for sure it was great seeing a new target market segment.
Personally, I believe that it is true. Our generation has become less interested in nurturing hobbies, engaging in social interactions or even keeping up with their families. Our generation has so much crammed on their plates, from schoolwork (homework, exams) to maintaining relationships due to social pressures, to workplace pressures (finding internships, gaining experience, finding a stable job and managing financials). We feel that we need to be good at and know about everything in order to have a competitive advantage at work and even at personal relationships. We have to present a well-rounded package to society in order to survive. So what can we do to ease the situation? Obviously, the fast pace of technology is unavoidable. However, we need to learn to pace ourselves in order to avoid information overload. We need to learn that we do not have to and cannot acquire all the knowledge in the world and accept the fact that no matter how much we try, there will be some things that we are not good at. More importantly, we need to start showing some compassion towards each other. We have to support each other through these struggles instead of pretending that we have it all together. We need to learn to deal with the hidden social pressure of being perfect.
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ON THE CLOUD
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Social Media Addiction: How is it Affecting People’s Behaviors? By Armen Bakkalian, President, HU’s Online Collaborative
Social media platforms have gained popularity in the last decade. Day after day, the list of social networking websites is growing bigger. Users spend most of their time on these platforms. All these websites have their own apps on smartphones. People are not able to get rid of their smartphones; they have become addicted. Wherever they are, they should have their smartphone with them. This attachment has for sure its impact on our lives and behavior with people.
@ArmenBakkalian Most of us have Facebook, loaded with hundreds or thousands of friends. Did I just say friends? No, they are not all your friends. Maybe we should call them Facebook friends, or connections. The term friendship has remarkably changed in our minds. It has evolved to become how we know it on social media. Becoming friends with someone on social media or unfriending them has become the new way of having friends or losing friends. Mad from someone? Unfriend them, and see if they’ll talk to you ever again; they won’t. We have even heard some cases of murder simply because of unfriending on Facebook. We even feel achieved when we block someone, as if we have erased him/her from the world. Having connections is good and inevitable, but never confuse between connections and your friends. Whatsapp, the app that every cellphone user has it nowadays, has turned the population into zombies. The first thing we do in the morning when we open our eyes is check whether someone has messaged us when we were asleep. We continue our day using it in the car, bus, class, street, office, home… everywhere! When was the last time you went to a dinner with your friends and nobody used his smartphone? Kids have stopped playing with toys, they chat or play on their tablets now. Relationships start, develop, and end on
Whatsapp. Kisses, hugs, and even love have become virtual instead of real. Lovers are attached to each other by an app, and it is disturbing that many find this satisfactory and the concept of love has become a virtual exchange of emoticons. Tweeting is another form of addiction, where people share every single moment of his/her daily life. Whether you are angry, happy, saw something good/bad, you have to share it on Twitter. Whatever is going around, it is shared on Twitter. Not everybody uses Twitter, especially the older generation. This has led to a great chunk of the younger generation switching to Twitter, to hide from their parents and express freely. This makes us think: do we have real freedom of expression? Or is it just an expression that we fool ourselves with? We all know the benefits of social media. Above I mentioned some negative effects of it, and its negative impact on our behavior in the society. However these effects are results of OUR excessive use of it. The most worrying thing here is the confusion of concepts. The real world’s definitions are arguably different from the online world. I believe in the near future there will be many treatment centers for social media addiction.
DIFFERENT? Creating your personal brand and committing to it! Remember, you want others to perceive you in the way you perceive yourself. So start it online, make your own thing, target your niche, write to them, and share with them posts, comments & ideas. Wait, wait, wait… Isn’t everyone else doing so? The answer is that not everyone who does so means he/she is succeeding. The key for success is to find your voice, share your own thoughts, express own yourself and target your own people. Never lose your own essence, your own existence. As simple as the laws of marketing a product, we have to form the product & specify its competitive advantage and
then we need to segment the markets and target it to the right segment. But before all that, we need to come up with the product; we need the product to have a good objective and an intention that people would push people to wanting to purchase it. The product, not only should be created, but also should preserve its quality and be continuously renewed while preserving our initial goal and intentions behind creating it. “Do not be afraid to be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. So get out there, set your goals, commit to your intentions & objectives, create your brand and work on it, make it personal & special, then aim it to the right people, at the right time, from the right medium; and only then will you succeed.
And You Are?
Taking branding to a personal level By Reem Kassem
@reemk_92
You do not exist to just be another “someone” in society, rather you want to prove your existence and develop equity for yourself as a brand. You, as a person, are becoming a product, just like any product out there, but have you posed for a moment, and asked yourself this question: “Who am I?” Even at interviews, to get a job, you actually sell yourself your image, your brand. But it does not stop there! An interview is just a ticket to the real deal. But to survive this ride, to preserve your identity and your brand is in your hands. Technology has given you amazing means to tap into new markets and create a presence for yourself in between millions and millions of people. But again, what makes you special? What gets you noticed? What would makes you
ON THE CLOUD
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Launching of The Independent Activists The independent Activists website and mobile app are the first of their kind in Lebanon as Civil Society News Channel. They are designed as a functional and interactive tool for the civil society actors, wider public and interested media professionals. People can browse news in different categories (civil, social and environmental) and submit news stories, photos, and links to websites or other sources of information. The mobile app is available for Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows «Independent activists”. The Independent Activists mobile app has been featured on “Appdater”, among BBC, Al Jazera, National Geographic and much more, as the first and only Lebanese news channel for civil society. Many NGOs, activists, journalists and volunteers
are using it as source of collecting news and data regarding all events, campaigns and activities happening in the civil society. For more information check www.TheIndependentActivists.org.
New Features on Facebook By Armen Bakkalian, President, HU’s Online Collaborative @ArmenBakkalian In the last few weeks, Facebook has added some new features in its personal accounts and pages. Let’s take a look at them: Web / Mobile in chat As if there aren’t enough tools for stalkers to stalk your profile, Facebook decided to give them a new tool for their job. It is now visible on Facebook whether you are online using your mobile phone or using a web browser. Remember those times when you could lie and tell you can’t do a certain thing for someone because “you are on mobile”? Now you can’t lie, thanks to this new feature. On the other hand, this feature is good since you can know somehow whether your Facebook friend is awake or not and you can know whether it is appropriate to chat or not. (If he’s on “Web” then most probably he is using his laptop and he’s awake). Dislike Since the introduction of the LIKE feature on Facebook, many users have wanted a dislike button too. Facebook did not add a dislike button until now, but it kind of did. Let me explain more if your brain exploded. Facebook introduced a dislike thumbs down button in its messenger, in a separate pack of stickers available for free to download. You can now tell everybody how you hate them (sarcasm). I personally think it’s useless.
Sympathize button Have you had that awkward situation on Facebook when someone has a sad story posted (death of a close person, terminal illness, failure, etc…) and you want to show empathy for them, but liking the post does not seem right? We all have experienced that. We either comment or sometimes are obliged to like the post even though we don’t want to. Facebook may introduce a Sympathize button for such situations, where Sympathize will appear instead of Like. The Sympathize feature will appear only when you put a sad mood on your status.
phone contacts that have the messenger app even if you don’t have them on Facebook.
Unfollow button Do you have friends on Facebook that you don’t care much about their posts? Are you someone that gets irritated from opinions opposing yours? Facebook got a solution for you: The Unfollow button. When you unfollow a person, you will stop receiving his updates in your news feed, but he will remain your friend on Facebook. It is the same concept of “Hide all” from news feed, but with a new terminology.
Watch similar pages Competition between similar companies is always present on social media. Facebook has added a feature that lets pages to watch similar pages’ activity. For the time being, it only shows the activity of the like counts of each page added. You can add up to 5 pages to watch.
Messenger app upgrade The Facebook mobile messenger app got its new update. The new update has a new design, it lets you see who is on the Web, mobile, and on the messenger app. It also allows you to sync your mobile contacts regularly, and chat with
#SMLAUGHS: Everybody is on the internet! AAAH! 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 This is the fascinating scene I see when I walk into Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Hamra. An elder gentleman in his traditional clothing drinking a cappuccino and asking for internet cards every 30 minutes from the team. Yes, internet cards! And then it dawns on me, all this time we have been still thinking that the internet is limited to the elite, the young, the hip, the more educated, but truth has it, it is not anymore and it hasn’t been so for a very long while. Our Filipino housekeeper has the latest iPhone, the guy at the gas station can’t take his eyes off his Samsung S4, which is worth more than double his salary, even as he pumps our car with gas; but something is very wrong in our world, very very wrong. Now, instead of investing in necessities, or
Donate Now for Nonprofits Non-profit organizations on Facebook now have the option of adding a “Donate Now” button on their page. It has preset values of $10, $25, $100, $250 or any other amount. Donors can pay with a credit/debit card, as well as PayPal. This is a great additional tool for non-profits for fundraising. To add the button to your page, you have to fill a request form with some details about the organization.
Video Ads Video ads have arrived to Facebook. They will be automatically played in your news feed, but with no sound. When you click on the video, you will be able to watch it with sound. Video ads will be previously downloaded when you are on WiFi, and will not consume your cellular data.
Is it only me or does this article sound racist and agist?
what has been traditionally considered a necessity such as education and food, we invest in technology and an internet connection, whoever we are, regardless of our social status. This is exactly what we, social media pros, are not trained to see, the unorthodox use of technology in a non-standard context. And this is exactly how a Lebanese teenager is able to make almost 5,000 USD from making a BBM Messenger app for the Windows App Store. That app is still live in the Windows store, and its description and screenshot clearly explain that, unlike its name, it is not an actual messenger. Nevertheless, users are very willing to part with their 2 USD for the promise, the dream, the technology. And here we are at an age where a 14 year old kid from a third world country can design and build an app and launch it on an app-store and get money out of it, with little guidance from anyone and to the amazement of all grown-ups. Should I be surprised that at 10 months my daughter started playing with Talking Tom on the mobile and demands to have her own “mobile time”?
This makes me feel too old. How will we keep up with the technology curve? But then I look at this photo and know that there is still hope for me, even though I will get a lot of weird stares in a couple of years!
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BLOGGING
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Blogs Newsfeed Selections by Joelle Hajji, News Editor
@joellehajji
Meet Lebanese Rima Najdi, AKA Madame Bomba. http://blogbaladi.com/meet-lebanese-rima-najdi-akamadame-bomba/ Rima Najdi is a Lebanese performance artist who is revolting against the situation that we Lebanese have put ourselves into. “She is protesting against the normalization of suicide bombing in Beirut and she knows that some people may take a glimpse at her and smile, or think this is a joke, but it is not. This is not a joke. It is a matter of life and death.” I think what she is doing; every Lebanese is wishing that they would have the courage to do too. What we are facing in Lebanon today is not a joke and we have suffered a lot that no one can tolerate more and can lose someone dear to him.
Breaking Barriers - Cedars of Lebanon. http://www.joesbox.com/2014/01/breaking-barrierscedars-of-lebanon.html
“Michael is disabled from the chest down due to a jet ski accident when he was 6.Micheal initiated the Cedar Walk October 24, 2013 and walked 19 Km from Bcharre to the Cedars Forest of Tannourine. All the way, he carried a cedar tree that he planted upon reaching the finishing line. The Breaking Barriers Team have captured Michael’s journey in a native documentary, each step of the way. In reaching the finishing line, Michael was nearly reaching the impossible, and by firmly breaking his physical barriers, Michael is inviting everyone to overcome their own obstacles. Everyone should watch the video; it is so inspiring and know that nothing can stop a person if he has strongwill and determination. Lebanon thanks all the kings - كولملا لك ركشي نانبل http://www.karlremarks.com/2014/01/lebanonthanks-all-kings.html Recently a billboard appeared in Beirut thanking the King of Saudi Arabia for donating $3 billion to the Lebanese Army. This caused a lot of controversy, but the Lebanese people as usual changed the original photo with a sarcastic one which thanked King Louis, King of Rock & Roll, King of Fries (Burger King) etc. You can check the Gif photo on Karlremarks blog and the original photo is from Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom
God Interviews a Suicide Bomber. http://www.karlremarks.com/2014/01/god-interviewssuicide-bomber.html
God: Come in, come in Dead Bomber: Blessings be upon you… God: Cut that out, I’m good. There have been so many of you people blowing yourselves up, I decided to interview you personally. But this is not something I normally do. Why are you doing that? Dead Bomber: Eh, we thought that’s what you wanted. God: You thought what? Are you insane? Why would I want you to blow yourself up? And kill other people on top of that? It’s in all religions, ‘Don’t Kill’. Number one. The first thing. How can you miss it? Dead Bomber: But we thought we’re doing it for you.. God: FOR ME? I created all of this all on my own; I can do whatever I want. I can turn a volcano upside down just by clicking this button here. Don’t ask me why I need this button. Why would I need your help? What twisted logic have you people come up with? Dead Bomber: Ehm, it’s the afterlife… God: Afterlife? What afterlife? There is no afterlife! You think this is a computer game? You die and you go to level two? And you didn’t even finish level one, you just opted out. Dead Bomber: But all the Books talk promise an afterlife, a paradise… God: It’s a metaphor! How did you people not get that? It’s specifically written in an allegorical manner so you get that. Look at me, discussing literature with an idiot who blew himself up. Dead Bomber: So there’s no paradise? God: No, you schmuk. That’s it, you die and you’re gone. I’m making an exception because I wanted to understand what foolishness you people were getting up to. I keep my eye off Earth for a few years, and you people spring up! Dead Bomber: And the rivers of milk and honey and all of that? God: You think I’m in catering? What impertinence! It’s enough work looking after you when you’re alive; you want me to spend eternity giving you free food? Like I have nothing better to do. Do you know how many universes I’m running now? Idiots! Dead Bomber: And the beautiful maidens that we were promised…? God: WHAT? Just what kind of establishment do you think I’m running here? It was all a metaphor, a story about how you’re supposed to live your life. How can you take it literally? If you’re good, you have inner peace, that’s it. That’s paradise. If you’re evil, you live a tormented inner life. You people have come and blown the whole system away. No pun intended. Dead Bomber: I’m sorry, we just didn’t realize. You see there were those other people, the infidels who didn’t believe in you correctly. The crusaders and the rejectionists… God: So you blow them up? Who do you think put them there? You utter imbeciles. You know I might introduce eternal damnation just for people like you. I’ll have to send someone to Earth to tell humans about it. I haven’t done that in centuries, I can’t even remember the shortcut. Get out. GET OUT! Before I turn you to salt. Dead Bomber: What will happen to me now? God: I might send you back as a swine that should teach you. No, I’m pulling your leg. You will die and that’s it.
Al Saeh Library Book Drive Till January 31. http://ginosblog.com/2014/01/08/al-saeh-librarybook-drive-till-january-31/ We all know about the burning down of Al Saeh Library, Lebanon’s second largest library. A book drive took place from January 8 till January 31, and this movement was in order to help Father Sarrouj in restoring the library. A lot of damage has occurred and some of the books can’t even be fixed or replaced but this drive was made in order for the people to donate the books they have whether they were new or used English, Arabic, or French books. Here is a link to the Facebook page /alsaehbookdrive, hoping that no savage act like that occurs again which is destroying Lebanon’s culture and history.
Only Cats can save Lebanon. http://ot3etsamak.com/only-cats-can-save-lebanon/ According to ot3etsamak blog who is managed by Hagop, the managing director of Cloud961 Magazine, he thinks that cats can save Lebanon but he has no idea how. This post is a reply to the Only Christians can save Lebanon article by Nadine El Ali on http://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/ lebanon/530076-only-christians-can-save-lebanon According to El Ali, she thinks that all Muslims are controlled by some Arab country, and Christians are the only ones who are free and can save the country. Who agrees with her?
Fashal by Ginosblog. http://ginosblog.com/category/fail/ Let us check some of the latest Fashal or complete fails that the Lebanese do every day and that Gino highlights on a regular basis on his blog. Next Customer in Arabic. “Jakit” in Beirut Mall Airport “Engrish” A Mom’s idea of a screenshot
BLOGGING
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Blog of the Month: Carmel and Vanilla By Paul Gadallah
@paulinbeirut time now; I follow designers, the latest news in fashion trends, fashion week all over the world, and so much more. I also felt like I had a lot to share with people, so with a lot of excitement and a little bit of fear, Carmel and Vanilla was born! Why the title To be honest, picking the title was the hardest part; a name of a blog will stay with the blogger behind it for as long as it is around. I went back and forth several times and made endless lists of what to name the blog. At the end of the day, I decided that the name needed to reflect the things that I love and the one I chose does just that; Carmel is a small town just outside San Francisco. It’s a place I spent quite sometime in a few years ago and it means a lot to me for so many reasons. As for vanilla, well it’s my favorite scent and I felt that coupled together, the two make a nice combination.
Carmel (yes carmel and not caramel) and Vanilla may only be one year old but it already has garnered an avid group of followers. From what to wear to where to eat, blogger Lara Bechalany covers everything and anything trendy. Her blog joins a new crop of fashion blogs popping up in the Lebanese blogosphere, but Lara spices things up with posts on fashion history and even personal posts. So what got you into blogging? I’ve been writing ever since I can remember really. In January of 2013, I finally decided to couple my love for writing with my love for fashion. I’ve been interested in fashion for a long
What was the most challenging in enticing people to follow your blog? I started blogging at a time when so many other blogs where being created and surely, everyone wanted a piece of the cake. My goal is not to be the best fashion blog in the country; it’s true that I like to write about topics that interest me from time to time, but I also want to share information that is valuable to people and that adds to their knowledge about fashion and the industry in general. I’ve written posts about the first fashion show that ever took place and another about the first playboy costume. I was really pleased to see peoples’ feedback to these posts. I also get a lot of good feedback for the dining in style section, which basically contains reviews of my favorite restaurants in Lebanon. And lately, I’ve written about social issues that mean to me such as the helping the elderly and Alzheimer’s. Some times I feel like these posts lead me to shift away from my blog’s main objective, but I think that since I have this platform to speak to people, then
why not use it? I really believe that in order to stand out, I have to be different, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do with each post. What do you think is plaguing the fashion scene in Beirut? In recent years, Lebanon has made a lot of progress in fashion, especially with the opening of major international brand boutiques in the country. However, it saddens me to see places like Dubai get all the attention specifically with events like the Vogue fashion experience and fashion forward. I’m sure that with a little push, a lot of teamwork, and a stable environment, we can do the same, if not more. And I would love to be apart of that! What tips would you give to someone wanting to blog about fashion? Be different. It’s the best tip I can give anyone. Really find something that sets you apart from other fashion bloggers and stick to it. And be as sociable as you possibly can. Go to events, meet people, and talk to everyone… You never know who can open the right door for you! What do you think fashion brands on Twitter could do better? I think that fashion brands can do a better job by talking more to their audience. Just really listen, interact, and create conversations with them, not necessarily about their product offering. A really great example of how this is done is none other than Vero Moda ME. They have relevant content and discuss topics that people are genuinely interested in. The better brands are at communicating with their followers, the more humane they appear. If more fashion brands did that, then this will do so much for their image and their business on the long run.
We Are All Reporters… Online By Maria Frangieh
@MariaFrangieh
Have you ever tried to Google Lebanon on google.com, google.com.lb, or any other search engines? Results may differ among users depending on your browsing history, the browsers used, the search engines, etc… However, if you look closely, most of what will appear is negative: photos of explosives, blood, sarcastic photos of Lebanese, jokes about Lebanese’s behavior, etc… Have you ever tried to search for jokes on Lebanon or Lebanon hashtag on instagram, not to mention Twitter? The results are even more devastating. Most of what is shared online and goes viral are visuals of jokes about Lebanese politicians, or Lebanese people or Lebanese attitudes or personalities, exposing Lebanese in a very sarcastic, stupid, and assaultive way. I don’t want to compare the behavior of online users in Lebanon to the behavior of online users in other countries, since Lebanon or Lebanese can never be compared to any other country on earth. We are unique! But I have some thoughts to share with you. I hope you agree, share and take action. Lebanon is a country that relies highly on its touristic sector to generate revenues. Tourists lately, like all of us, visit online websites to learn more about the different destinations that might attract them to spend their vacations. We already suffer from negative publicity exposed by international and local media, who are very active online, where the content is not always accurate, most of the time false. So allow me to ask: When was the time you shared a beautiful photo of your town, or a beautiful photo of Lebanon, or a Lebanese location you have recently visited? I know that my article might seem a little out of context during the period we are going through, but we are all reporters online, at all times. We reflect the image of Lebanon to potential tourists. Have you ever thought of it this way?
Why is it that many countries, where tourism is the main revenue generating sector, have citizens who are doing a much better job than we are? I don’t want to nag and blame this and that or highlight the fact that the Lebanese government’s efforts are minimal, this is a fact that is very difficult to change not to mention it requires times and a large budget, and to be realistic, all requirements are far from being met anytime soon. Instead, why don’t we take the initiative and begin sharing beautiful photos of different locations of Lebanon where tourists will be safe, and yes there are locations in Lebanon where tourists can be safe, just look a little bit away from the Center of Beirut, Ehden might be a great example. Similar photos will also encourage national tourism. How many of you visited Ehden? Or should I ask how many of you heard of Ehden? If each one of us did the same, and shared photos and more information about his/her hometown away from the center of Beirut, we will be contributing to a new type of tourism and exposing a beautiful and real image of a peaceful Lebanon. This will help encouraging tourists to visit locations they normally don’t think of visiting, or rarely do, just because they simply don’t know of. Let’s help improve and generate revenues in different locations on the Lebanese territory, this will help us go through the rough times, don’t you think? Big thumbs up to accounts such as LiveLoveBeirut, ProudlyLebanese, and personal bloggers such as Gino’s Blog, Blog Baladi, or in the specific case of Ehden, EhdenAlwaysAndForever, Alexy Frangieh, Ehden Adventures, Ehden Spirit among others for sharing beautiful photos of our country. Here is a tip for you: share the bad photos using messages, and leave the dirty job to media agencies whose job is to report
it all. Focus more on exposing a beautiful photo of Lebanon. Let’s make a positive change since we can and we have the power to make it happen. Here is my contribution: Check out a couple of photos from Alexy Frangieh and one I have taken.
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SOCIAL MEDIA SAVING LIVES
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
Campaigns for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon By Lynn Bizri
@lnlne
Our country is currently home to over 800,000 Syrian refugees, and although we have maintained an open border policy for those fleeing from Syria, the government still declines to create official camps like those for Syrians in neighboring countries. Due to the absence of official camps, forty percent of the refugees currently live in tents, abandoned buildings, garages or collective shelters such as schools. Around 100,000 refugees live in over 400 tented settlements across central and northern Lebanon with the majority of the camps (around half) located in the Bekaa area, where heavy snow and rain is common in winter and temperatures reach below zero. The homes consist of wooden structures covered with plastic or canvas sheeting, which do not really withstand flooding or snow. Earlier this winter, before the impending storm ‘Alexa’, the refugees’ drastic living conditions and their need for help were brought to light. While Lebanese authorities, the ministry and international aid agencies mobilized to help the refugees by
distributing plastic sheeting, floor mats, blankets, mattresses, heaters, and food aid; regular citizens, particularly the youth, used social media to launch their own personal initiatives to collect various types of donations. An example of one such initiative, which was organized and launched by Tanya Khalil, grew to become one of the biggest donation campaigns in Beirut. Tanya initially launched her initiative on Facebook in an attempt to get friends and family to donate clothes they didn’t need. In a matter of days the campaign spread across social media garnering attention from people across the region who also wanted to pitch in. The campaign eventually culminated with a huge 7 hour event under the name of ‘I AM NOT A TOURIST’ that took place at Beirut by Bike in Downtown Beirut, and was contributed to by over 4,500 people of different nationalities amounting to twenty five trucks full of donations. There were also more than 50 volunteers in total, who helped collect, organize, transport and distribute the donations, which consisted not only of clothing, but also shoes, blankets, carpets, basic necessities
and more which were sorted according to age and gender before being distributed to the refugees by SAWA and War Child Holland. Another powerful on-going online initiative is the Lebanese for Syrian Refugees which has gathered over thousands of dollars in monetary donations from people across the world, as well as clothing, shoes, blankets, toys, medication and diesel fuel to power heaters. These donations are being transported and distributed to families living in Aarsal, a nomans-land between Lebanon and Syria, where international aid agencies do not operate and hundreds of families suffer from below-freezing temperatures in scanty makeshift shelters. Lebanese for Syrians Refugees and their volunteers visit Aarsal on a weekly basis to distribute everything from hygiene kits to mobile toilets and are even providing medical aid for sick and injured children in collaboration with AUBMC. So if you missed out on the chance to donate or would still like to, this is one initiative that could really use your help.
BUSINESS
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Inspiring People from the Lebanese Online Community
David Munir Nabti: Our Creativity is Limited More Than We Know or Care to Accept Interview by Mohammad Hijazi, Editor in Chief
@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. David Munir Nabti works to wsupport high impact innovation & entrepreneurship, and youth/alternative media. He is Cofounder and CEO (Chief Entrepreneur & Organizer) of AltCity. me, a new media/tech/social impact collaboration space and startup accelerator/support space in Beirut. AltCity includes a newsroom/media café, business support services, co-working spaces, offices, meeting rooms, and more, and is designed to be the ideal place for startups and freelancers to work. He is also co-founder of DevIneMedia/Hibr, a youth-powered alternative media outlet in Lebanon. He grew up between California and Beirut, studied at UC Berkeley (political economy), worked at the UN-FAO in Syria, Stanford University (Communication Dept., Journalism Program), UC Berkeley (Education Dept, ServiceLearning Research & Development Center), and Google, as a freelance journalist, and interned at Cisco Systems HQ and KQED (SF public media). He also conducted research on social entrepreneurship, and the relation between regime interests, the education system, and economic development in Egypt. How and why did you get involved in the start-up community in Lebanon? I left my work in Silicon Valley because I wanted to see what could be done, what I could do, to support the development of high-impact high-output innovation and entrepreneurship communities in the places in the world that need it the most, focusing on post-conflict and transitioning countries. I wanted to start working in Lebanon because of my family connection to the country, but hope we can expand our work outside Lebanon soon. What keeps you going? What’s your mission and where are you in terms of achieving it? We want to help people build stuff, start, produce, create. We are very output-oriented. We hope the different activities we do help people along that path, help them find and succeed at the things they love, and help them build successful and scalable startups and social ventures. While we try to help with technical, space, and infrastructure supports, the most important element we are trying to focus on is helping build and support a positive community where people support each other, brainstorm, share, learn, and collaborate. I think we’re moving in that direction, but we also need to make that effort self-sustaining and profitable. We’re not there yet, but we’re close. Hopefully, 2014 will be our take-off year. What is AltCity and how did you come up with the idea? AltCity is a community collaboration space and startup support space designed to help people connect, come up with great ideas, and get the supports they need to launch and grow their startups. I actually didn’t want to start up a community space at all. Back in 2007 I wanted to work on different projects around the themes of media & tech for social change, not as an organization or company, but as a sort of freelance collective working on different projects with different partners, working out of different spaces and offices, etc. I realized back then that there is a lot of negative competition and territoriality in Lebanon that made my approach difficult. When I realized I needed an office and a company to do the things I wanted to do, I decided to do it in a way that would help others to do what I wanted to do before, to help people do great projects and startup companies and non-profits that would contribute to building the city and community and world that we want. We tried different things over the years, and the idea evolved with the great team that came together to work on this effort. AltCity is the result of those efforts and the contributions
of the people who have been and are a part of it. What differentiates AltCity from other co-working spaces in Beirut? Each co-working space has a different style and approach, and I would encourage any curious person or startup to visit many of them to see what suits them best. I suppose one of the main distinctions with AltCity as a co-working space is that we want to build it as a community space as much as a co-working space, which is why we have the cafe, are starting retail sales for items and projects we believe in, and we organize and host a ton of events. The cafe isn’t accidental, as well. There is a special relationship that people build when they eat together, which is how we got sayings like “breaking bread together” or “khobz wa milh”, since the bond is different when you share a meal together versus just having coffee or sweets together. We want our cafe – and all of AltCity – to help build those bonds within our communities. The emphasis on events has a similar purpose, to try to bring people together around different topics and help build and support communities of interest and communities of practice. How does AltCity contribute to the Lebanese online community? A lot of great online startups, bloggers, designers, and freelancers are part of the greater AltCity family, attend or organize events, work out of AltCity, or got their start at a hack-a-thon or other event we organized or hosted. We hope we can do even much more in the coming months and years, and do an even better job of engaging people inside and outside AltCity. We also really want to boost up our online content production in ways that can be of great value to our AltCity family and the broader community of innovators and makers. In 2014, there are 5 key startup programs we are working on, including a game development program, web/mobile app development, new media, a startup registration and support program, and then overlapping with all of those is the Startup BootCamp we’re organizing and will be launching in a few months with the support of the Central Bank (BDL - Banque du Liban) and the Ministry of Telecommunications. Stay tuned! What is the business model of AltCity like and how does it sustain itself? AltCity has a few different revenue streams, including co-working, events, cafe, and project contracts. We’re also looking to grow the startup program so that we have a small equity stake in some startups, and in that way truly align our missions such that the success of startups we support is our success. How does social media contribute to AltCity’s success? Social media is a great tool for communicating with our communities — hearing from them as much as communicating to them, learning, sharing ideas, and more. Honestly, we have benefited a lot from online/social media, but I actually don’t think we’ve been doing a stellar job at that. It is one of our main goals for 2014 to have a much stronger social media presence, to create some really great content, and to do an even better job at building and supporting and engaging our online community as much as we do our offline community. What does “AltCity” even mean? AltCity is from “Alternative City”. We don’t believe in Utopia, but we want to help people envision the city they want to live in, across all sectors, and then see what can be done to help build towards that. While we are thrilled about helping people build startups that have regional and global relevance,
we also want to help people build startups that improve life and address problems in Lebanon and in Beirut. While we focus on web/mobile, gaming, new media and design, those things can touch across all elements that are part of living in a city – transportation, education, health, energy, culture, etc – and Beirut (and many cities) need help across those different sectors. What was Hibr and what happened to it? Hibr was a youth-run media outlet that worked online and in print for almost 2 years. It was an exciting project, and we worked with young people all across the country. There were two main challenges we had with it. First, we ended up having incredible difficulty innovating within the project, online and offline, which caused the effort to stagnate. A key part of that problem was that we were too focused on “empowering young people” and not enough on “delivering the product”. The second main problem was that we didn’t manage to make it financially self-sustaining. Those issues aside, we are still getting requests from people who were part of the Hibr effort and people who enjoyed reading it to restart the outlet. We’re considering doing something along those lines down the road, in a different format, but we’re not ready for that yet.
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– are good, but we’d like to strengthen them. One of our main interests is to build up and support the community of innovators, makers, entrepreneurs, and creatives, those people who actually want to start and build something. Some of them are active in social media, some of them not, but all of them contribute to and are valuable in this effort. What is your favorite personal social network and why? Between Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, they all have their valid contributions, and some annoying elements. I end up learning a lot from people and posts on each platform, but I wish there were better filtering tools to lower the amount of garbage that comes through. I hate how Facebook is now doing excessive filtering based on their business objectives (rather than on my community/personal objectives). Twitter is better in that sense, but each person needs to figure out how to do their own filtering on Twitter because it really is a flood of information on their, good stuff and garbage all mixed together.
What is your relationship like with the Lebanese online community? I don’t see the Lebanese online community as a sort of monolithic community, but rather a collection of communities that mirror our offline communities. In many ways our relationships with these groups – online and offline
people need to figure out what their passion is and become a pro at it, absorb it every way they can, master it. Too many people are trying to be entrepreneurs without having a passion for something, and I find those efforts are too often mediocre and uninteresting. Perhaps the most difficult things to teach are curiosity and self-learning, but they are critical. Add to those the traits of passion and pursuit of excellence, and that is an entrepreneur or startup that we’d be excited to work with and build something amazing with.
What do you think is the hardest challenge in the entrepreneurship field in Lebanon and how can we, as a society, overcome it? We talk about how creative we are as a community, but I think our creativity is limited more than we know or care to accept. Of course there some people who break that trend and do amazing stuff, but too often the lack of passion, positive creative competition, pursuit of excellence, curiosity, or self-learning constrain our creative pursuits. Again here, I In your opinion, which topics can’t you discuss online? What think the role of a positive innovation community is critical. We hope that supporting the growth of that community in are the red lines? A few things, but I can’t talk about them here. ;-) Lebanon, and then looking at creative ways of connecting that community to spaces and groups working abroad, will help What advice do you give to people who are interested strengthen and advance the creative outputs from Lebanon. in an innovation or entrepreneurial career track? S tay in touch via Twitter at @dmnabti or LinkedIn at linkedin. Many people are still innovating many years behind the com/in/dmnabti. curve. They – we all – need to be better at following key trends globally so that we are innovating at the forefront of technology and human behavior, innovating for 5 and 10 years from now, not 5 years in the past. As part of this,
4 Signs You May Need to Hire a New Social Media Manager By Lynn Bizri
@lnlne
Is your business receiving minimal interaction on its social media platforms? Are you losing reliability online rather than moving forward? Do you suspect the person at fault is your current social media manager? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then here are four more signs you may just need to hire a new social media manager. 1. He/She only posts personal content There are no rules about how often one should share their own content, but it definitely should be in moderation. A good social media manager will be able to find plenty of relevant content by other authors and creators to share. If your social media manager shares content by others in the industry, then they are more likely to share your content in return and help you reach a wider and more diverse audience. 2. He/She posts irrelevant information \Your social media manager should know your business well enough to be able to write informative, relevant, and engaging posts that both educate and appeal to your target audience. If the traffic they are driving to your different social media accounts or blog do not include potential clients or some qualified leads, then their efforts are pretty much going to waste. 3. He/She completely automates posts While it is often a necessity to schedule posts on social media, especially when handling several different accounts, the problem with automating posts arises when the social media manager is no longer engaging with leads or clients. If their questions and interactions go unanswered or unnoticed, people are likely to get frustrated and angry and may take their business elsewhere. Automation can also lead to poorly timed posts that can be perceived as offensive in face of certain events. 4. He/she posts on only one or two platforms A successful social media manager knows that there are many social media platforms besides Facebook and Twitter,
and is aware how to use them. Depending on your business and target market, some platforms will be considered more effective for marketing and brand awareness. Potential clients may look for a business like yours on other platforms such as Instagram or Pinterest, and thus your social media manager should also take these into account. On the other hand, posting on too many platforms often leads to overexposure and an annoyed audience. By doing research and becoming very familiar with different platforms and how they work, your social media manager can help your business build a large and engaged audience rather than drive them away.
Your social media manager should also know what kind of posts belong on which platform. Not all posts shared on one platform (such as Facebook) should be shared on another platform (such as Twitter) and vice versa. While both platforms provide great opportunities for a business to market itself to potential clients, they differ in several aspects and thus your social media manager should invest time on modifying marketing strategies to fit within the distinctive constraints of different platforms.
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
5 Minutes with the Community Manager
Raymonde Chbat: I Can’t Seem to Get Bored! Interview by Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
Community Managers are the super heroes in the shade who shadow brand pages and twitter accounts, embodying those brands and speaking to us with their voices. They are the ones who create amazing content that makes us like and share and ultimately welcome the brand to our daily offline lives. If you have been curious to know who those superheroes are, you are in luck! Every month we will be interviewing a Community Manager, to not only showcase their talents and wits, but also let you know the real people behind the brands. This month we have interviewed Raymonde Chbat who lends her cheerful attitude to Malik’s Bookshop on the Malik’s social media channels.
Can you describe Malik’s journey on Social Media?
the best thing to do is to stay honest and don’t overdo it.
Within two years, we managed to gather more than 35,000 fans on our Facebook page and around 4,500 followers on twitter, resulting from our fun, interesting, educative & engaging content. Our main purpose is to engage our followers and convert them into loyal clients. We always make sure to target the right fans and not just any fans. Thus our social networks have become a virtual branch, with 24/7 customer service: catering to all our fans’ needs from simple questions about our products, to feedback, suggestions, and orders.
Share one tip you would give to other brands on social media.
What is the funniest thing that happened while you were on social media watch? We have lots of regular fans that keep in touch with us on a daily basis especially on Facebook! Among them a young girl who I talk to approximately every day answering her questions about Multimedia items, books… And all this time she thought I was a guy! But I guess this is a good thing because when speaking for a brand on social media, we have to forget who we are and stress on the image of the brand itself. How did working in social media affect your personal social media presence? Well, because of my job I am always up to date on new trends, news, influential people and brands and of course digital marketing ideas. But to be honest, I feel that my job is keeping me away from my personal social accounts. I am putting my job first, and giving it all the attention I have. What was the biggest/most memorable social media crisis you had (personal or professional)? How did you deal with it? The crisis I faced, and unfortunately still facing, is whenever something bad happens to the whole country… I always hesitate about how to react in such situations; I’m always scared of doing or saying something wrong. But I found that
Never delete a bad comment on your social channels. Instead take action, deal with it and convert it to a positive one. What is your favorite social media network at the moment and why? I love Pinterest. I find it a quite interesting. It has now become the third most popular network after Facebook and Twitter. And for me, it’s the ultimate search engine. It gave a whole new meaning and style for research. It’s much more fun to search for things on Pinterest than anywhere else. What do you think makes a community manager successful? Multitasking and creativity. Content creation is probably the hardest task on social media, how do you approach this? What are your tricks? How do you deal with content creator’s block and not being repetitive? Well, Hootsuite is making this task much easier for me, it helps me access all international websites and blogs from one platform. I always do my research and try to get as much of new creative content as I can. If I read something interesting that might come in handy for me, I just save it and use it later on. Plus, my colleagues from different departments at Malik’s sometimes help me generate content. We always have something to say to our fans. If you could work with any brand in Lebanon, what would it be? I would choose Malik’s with no doubt! It’s been a year and few months at Malik’s and I can’t seem to get bored. I am always juggling between our services, products, multimedia, books and office supplies… We talk to school and university students as well as
professionals. I have the chance to interact with different ages and sectors, as well as working on the online and offline marketing strategy. The experience I am getting is unbeatable. Can you name 3 things you love the most about your job? The most satisfying thing about my job is turning bad comments into positive ones. The ability of multitasking and working on different channels at once. Mixing the Offline and online marketing. The outcome is much more satisfying this way. What do you say when your boss ask you “Is social media getting us clients? Prove it.”? That’s easy! By looking at our engagement rate for sure! Contrary to what most people may think, online marketing is much more effective than offline marketing: it gives you the advantage of tracking real time feedback and starting instant conversations. Online customers have the option of expressing themselves directly and that’s what brands are looking for. The way people use social media is always changing. What are the latest trends that you have spotted? Facebook is always updating its features, Pinterest is now on the rise and Instagram is now sharing videos. Social Media trends are unstoppable and that’s why I love my job!
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Standards Consultants Trainings can Benefit Bloggers and Entrepreneurs Interview with CEO Hady Safa by Cloud961 Staff
@Cloud961mag People today believe everything can now be learned and taught online. Being a professional coach and trainer, do you approve on such a notion? Live Training instruction does not always translate to successful online instruction. If the facilitator is not properly trained in online delivery and methodologies, the success of the online program will be compromised.
Fourth, do you approve or call on imposing regulations on this service online?
Even if a virtual professor is competent enough to create a comfortable virtual environment in which the class can operate, still the lack of physical presence at a session can be a limitation for an online program.
Do you plan on shifting your coaching and training services to become available online? If yes, do you believe then that being online in this field opens the international market to local businesses and experts like you? In other terms, do you see that online will revolutionize the coaching and training business like it did with other businesses like commerce and banking and journalism?
Today, everything is being posted online. If you want, you can research any topic and find not only information about it, but even slideshows ready to be presented! What is missing here is the core value of the training session, the logical sequence of the ideas and topics discussed, and of course the level of understanding you need the attendees to reach by the end of the session. Since its founding in 2008, Standards Consultants has become one of the leading organizations in Human Resources and Business Management Consultancy and in Training and Development fields in the MENA region with its Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, and offices in Kuwait city.
Anyone can simply download a presentation from the internet and present, but what happens is that they take the shortcut of not researching for their objectives. Instead, the look for what is easy to obtain, and accordingly use the information which would defeat the purpose of learning.
Standards provide innovative management and human resource solutions necessary for employers to fully meet core business goals. Their services measure success in the critical areas of Leadership, communication, productivity, internal and external customer satisfaction, and compliance.
Having said that, information was always available through libraries and documentations, internet came along to make it bigger and easily accessible.
With his background as the Managing Partner of Standards Consultants, Safa enhanced his skills to motivate audiences who are often hard to motivate. With his engaging, and stimulating personality, Safa connects with his audiences immediately and delivers content that they can immediately use in their daily lives. Safa is a professional Member of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), and having a Ph.D in Talent Management, and MBA Majoring Human Resources Management. A recognized authority on leadership, management, effective negotiations, Human Resources Management, Customer Service, Selling Skills, and peak performance, he has been honored consistently for his strategic intellect and humanitarian endeavors.
When it is online, it’s only a matter of preference, but there is no quality check whatsoever that can distinguish the good from the bad.
In an online session, there is a lack of physical presence and activities, rapport with the attendees and the whole spirit of the session may be lost. Also, in an online session, the trainer cannot well “read” the reactions of the attendees, which will be a major doubt in the level of understanding they would reach by the end of the session.
Coaches and trainers from all over the globe post videos and articles online without any restrictions. First, how does this affect your business, given you need lots of legal certifications to be able to sell such a service?
For the last 15 years, Hady Safa, a Life Coach and Motivational Speaker, has been motivating and inspiring audiences to get out of their comfort zone and get a front-row seat in life.
the credibility of the training company/institute providing the session, its reputation and credentials, the training materials quality, and the trainers’ knowledge and interaction.
Ultimately, the clients who are in need for certain trainings are maintain a high awareness level in Lebanon, and they do their homework when it comes to the credibility of the trainer. Second, how does this affect your business given a lot of such stuff are available free of charge? Indeed, many resources are available on the internet, and for free. On the information-seeking level, they could be quite helpful for anyone seeking knowledge in a certain topic, yet, there’s the good, there’s the bad, and there’s a lot of what is in between on the internet. When it comes to ensuring the quality of learning, and the value for money invested in that learning, it does not affect our business. In addition to that, what is in an actual training session is so much of interactions, case studies, and debates, there’s a lot of the HUMAN experience factor that the online training available is not even close to match in the perspective of the attendee. Third, how can people differentiate what’s good and right and what’s not when the online world is open to anyone? In the real world, people can differentiate on three levels:
There should be, of course. I am not sure about how practical this can be, however. I sincerely hope there will be a solid methodology of imposing regulations on such service.
It may add value to marketing our business more, but definitely does not give the attendee the full experience of a live training session. We are already working with a production house to produce our first video-based training that will be posted online. Moreover, we are also working on building an online webinar platform which will be executed within 2014. If you were to provide coaching for a blogger planning to turn his passion into a business, what are the main axes you believe you should focus on with him or her? First, we would be working on branding him/herself. This is a specialty training program that we conduct here at Standards Consultants, which provides the attendees with the information and skills needed to market themselves, especially if it was a blog. One other key topic here would be marketing, and obviously strategic planning and management. Is it like training and coaching traditional types of business? Yes, but as we do with all our programs, it would be customized according to the industry, so the examples and case studies conducted would fit the need of the attendees and make them reach optimum results. How can the training and coaching services that you provide help the new entrepreneurs (most of which are in the booming online and IT fields) develop and expand their skills and their businesses? Our programs totally fits the entrepreneurs in meeting their training needs, since they revolve around the core skills needed for their objectives; starting from the basic soft skills, to business acumen, leadership, marketing and sales skills. Any entrepreneur would be efficient enough technically in their field, but when it comes to the previously mentioned competencies, our training programs fill in for them to immediately use the skills learned in implementing their businesses.
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Agency of the Month
Right Service: From A Home-based Direct Mail Company to Conquering Dubai through Offering a “Great Experience” By Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
In this series we try to take a look at Lebanese Agencies and Companies in the Digital Sphere to shed light on their successes, challenges and latest news. Perhaps Right Service is best known for their training programs for executives who want to venture into the digital marketing realm. But very few know that this digital marketing company specializing in social media marketing, as well as e-mail and mobile marketing began in 2000, as a small home based company, which has then evolved into a pioneering global direct and digital marketing chain, located in Lebanon/Jordan/Saudi Arabia. According to the founder Mr. Joe Ghantous, however, what he wants his company to be best known for is first and foremost providing a great experience whatever the service may be. Darine sat down with him to find more about his formula for this as Right Service is about to move to new offices and is also expanding their business to the UAE market through new offices in Dubai. What do you consider the greatest challenge in your business field especially when it comes to social media marketing? Our greatest challenge is figuring out how to “talk about digital & social media” with the top senior executives in the market. How do we help them have a better user understanding of today’s platforms, networks, devices, and services? And also, the big question of ROI has never gone away, we need to answer what value do their social networks and activity bring to the overall customer experience? Tell us about the project you are most proud of? We exist in the market to craft excellence through tangible great experience. We are proud in how we were able convince many CEOs and business leaders in the Lebanese market to use social media and enter the 21st century and truly empower their businesses. Some examples include Nakhal & Cie, Bou Khalil Supermarket, Orient Plus-The Travel Shot and many others. We gave them enough reasons to make a compelling enough case for how social media will add to and enhance the following: reputation management, customer service, public relations, customer acquisition, creating brand communities and many other benefits we have seen them take the plunge when social media was at its very beginning in Lebanon and with great results. What are the most interesting things you are working on at the moment? The two most interesting projects that we are working on at the moment are: First, in the field of Social Media, “Right Service” and “Fanpoint” (the worldwide leader for Facebook applications) have joint ventures and are officially partners in the Middle East to help brands to promote and communicate on social media. The second interesting development is in the field of e-marketing. We are announcing a partnership to officially represent “GraphicMail”, one of the worldwide leading players in the e-marketing industry in providing the latest e-mail marketing, social sharing & mobile messaging services and technology in the Middle East. What do you consider to be your agency’s biggest achievement? We are proud to that we won the third place for Google’s Best Online Ad Campaign in the Middle East in 2010, and we were also one of the first companies in the Arab region to receive the Hootsuite University Certificate in 2012. Furthermore, we have proudly received the Facebook Studio Edge Badges on December 10, 2012 and were also among the first professional companies in Lebanon and the Arab region to gain this recognition from Facebook itself.
What makes the Right Service team special? Today, one of the main businesses challenges is to find the right people, and this mission is not easy especially in our industry, because we are not working in a technical field. We are working in “social media” and what I like to call “technical media”, that’s why finding the right people in our industry is hard. The right person in our industry is not someone who knows technology, but rather someone who knows how to interact with others, how to share his/her passions with others, know how to use emotion to motivate and help others. We create have created at Right Service, with time an excellent team that knows how to share our passion with our clients. Tell me a bit more about the trainings held by Right Service. What are the upcoming plans for them? Social Media is similar to swimming; you can’t learn it by reading, but by practicing. In addition, all the imported social media strategies and knowledge are made for different markets than ours and teach us how we can win in their racetrack. We need someone who can teach us how we can drive within the traffic jam. For all above reasons, in 2010, Right Service launched “Digital Marketing Training and Consulting Department” and has started to provide a group of successful digital marketing workshops that meet the market needs. Here’s our workshop agenda for 2014: Social Media 360° for Business - 19, 20, & 21 February 2014, from 9:00 am until 1:30 pm Twitter & Hootsuite for Business - 3 & 4 September 2014 Facebook for Business - 28 & 29 May 2014 LinkedIn for Business & Recruitment - 5 & 6 November 2014 There is a lot of competition in the market now, how do you respond to that? Our business field, especially in the Middle East region, is at the end of the introduction stage of the product life cycle and at the beginning of the growth period. All the companies want to use this new way of advertising and will invest more and more in this sector. Today our mission as market players is to persuade companies to go more and more digital and we should all cooperate in this mission not only compete, because there is a place for all of us. What trends do you see in the social media sphere? Image and video-based applications and networks (mainly Instagram) will be the trend. In addition to that, across the social media networks, there will be more use of paid media to gain visibility and enable brands to cut through the chatter. What are your expansion plans in Lebanon and abroad? Now our new office in Dubai is ready, we already have many clients there, but we need to be closer to serve them better, and after Dubai, the sky is our limit! How has the stagnation in the Lebanese Market affected your business? We are real survivors in Lebanon. We have been living in this situation for a long time and nothing will change in the near future. Today, Lebanon is a ground test for successful Lebanese companies, we start, train and practice in Lebanon, before proceeding to in the other Arab countries and reaching bigger successes. You work with several competing businesses. How do you manage that? Innovation, credibility and great experience are our secrets with all these competing businesses and others. Our objective is to showcase each of our clients at their best and embody their messages and reach their target audiences.
Right Service Signs Exclusive Agreement to Represent Fanpoint.me in the Middle East Right Service Signs Exclusive Agreement to Represent Fanpoint.me in the Middle East On October 5, 2013 Right Service for digital marketing and Fanpoint for Facebook applications have joint ventures and have officially partnered for providing engaging customized applications and services for the Middle Eastern Market. Right Service will exclusively represent Fanpoint in the Middle East, handling client orders from the following Arab Countries: Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, UAE, Jordan, Palestine, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain. Right Services have selected Fanpoint, a worldwide provider of Social Media Marketing Solutions for Business, and a leader in Poland and Europe for the quality and diversity of the applications that they provide for brands to run integrated campaigns on Facebook like Contests, Quizzes, Surveys, Polls, Coupons, Social Commerce and many more. Brands that have used Fanpoint include: Mastercook, IKEA, Yamaha, Wittchen, Brenda, HBO, Pringles, Monster Energy, Marks & Spencer Poland, Toyota, Subway, Beko, and Gap. For the Middle Eastern markets Right Services & Fanpoint have customized Solutions, packages, and prices to fit the needs and sizes of the organizations. These can be checked on www.fanpoint.me which is also equipped by a certified secure online payment system to make it easier for clients in the Arab world.
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4 Ways Working for a Startup is Like Having a Baby @sdarine
By Darine Sabbagh
It’s a 24/7 Job Everyone knows being a parent is a 24/7, 365 job. But very few realize that working in a startup environment is the same thing. You don’t get to check out after a 9 hour shift, or go offline for the weekend. And you can never just say: “My work here is done. I have completed all my tasks!” and take a breather. There is always something to do in a startup, there are probably more tasks than one person can complete in a lifetime, as you need to meet a new deadline and launch a new feature. Startup life is very fast paced and intense.
Working in a startup, even as just an employee, is completely different to having an office job. I have learned that through working with several startups in the region and also currently trying to launch my own. If you are an outsider, and listen to people talking about it, you will learn that it is a lot of hard work and stress and most probably they may not be attracted to it. That pretty much summarizes my trepidations towards having a baby, but I always consoled myself that if I have finished doing my work during the night, I can always find the energy to take care of my baby. One year after our baby was born, I see a lot of parallels. Let’s see why I wasn’t all that wrong.
You get very little time to sleep At least for the very first few months of having a baby, sleep is very limited. You need to follow your baby’s pace and work at the mercy of his/her schedule. It’s very similar when it comes to startups: there’s quite a bit of overnights involved as the whole team pushes itself to its limits to achieve a new milestone. From what I have seen, it is not an optional decision, that’s simply the effort startups need in order to succeed; all of the key team members need to be onboard with that. There’s always guilt The first thing they tell you at birth preparation classes is that from the moment your baby arrives, you will always feel guilty
and question yourself about being a good parent. It’s the same with startups. Though there’s no HR or appraisals involved most of the time, it is an internal feeling each team member experiences, if they are conscientious and passionate of course. You keep questioning whether there is something else you can do to improve the results you are getting. Would you be letting the team down if you take a break? It’s the most rewarding work you’ll ever do By now you may be asking yourself, “Is it really worth it then? Why would one do that to themselves?” My answer is: yes, it is worth it. You will never experience fulfillment with your work as much as when you are working with a startup. Traditional companies have long cycles, employee appraisals, budgets… but with a startup, in a very short time you can see the actual results of your work and every single contribution you have made. And the best thing is that all the team gets to experience that, not only the founders. Perhaps, the only thing more satisfying is the pride parents experience with every milestone their child takes. So despite the risks and ups & downs of startup life, I would definitely advise you to try it at least once in your career. I guarantee you, you’d feel hooked afterwards.
Zoomaal Roundup By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
Zoomaal is Lebanon’s first crowd-funding platform for all creative projects across the Arab world. Their first crowdfunding project helped popular indie band Mashrou3 Leila raise $67,000 for their newest album. Since then they have helped countless entrepreneurs across the region raise vital funds for their initiatives. So what are their latest projects being funding on their website?
Rebuilding the Torched Library in Tripoli: Armed assailants torched AL Saeh Library in December, Lebanon’s second largest library. Now activists are aiming to raise at least $35,000 in hopes to rebuild the library, buy new books, and install security equipment.
Trochet: A line of fashion and household accessories made from recycled materials, this project is named after play on the words trach+crochet. It is based in Jeddah, KSA and run by Reem Bakheet & Diana Raya. Their project aims to raise environmental awareness in KSA where there is a growing solid waste problem. The money they generate goes towards building a factory so they can have their own assembly line.
EngleezyPod: ArabicPod is the number one site for Arabic podcasts on iTunes. They are currently looking to raise $20,000 to launch EngleezyPod, which would be a free online resource for Arabic speakers looking to learn English on the net.
12 Middle Eastern Startups Look at Ways to Expand to the US through PITME Labs By Darine Sabbagh
@sdarine
While the Middle Eastern Startup scene is booming, to truly make it big Middle Eastern startups should consider accessing bigger markets. That is why PITME has launched a month long immersion program in Silicon Valley, supported by over 100 mentors for startups from the MENA region who have raised a round of investment. After an intensive round of selections, PITME (Progress in Technology Middle East) has chosen a core group of
12 companies out of 147 applicants, to participate in the 2014 PITME™ Labs, and among them is Lebanese based Presella. The selected teams will receive expert training on all aspects of their business, including product development, UX/ UI design, marketing, business modeling, the latest customer acquisition strategies, and funding. This will be followed by PITME™ Catalyst is a demo day conference, organized by PITME, to showcase Middle Eastern Entrepreneurial Talent,
which will be taking place on February 13th, 2014. PITME have also launched the selection process for their second squad of PITME LABS if you would like to nominate a team or your startup just visit: http://www.pitme.com/
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CAMPAIGNS
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Follow @tmclebanon For Road Updates in Lebanon. We have a Lebanese Traffic Management Center which consists of 30 employees who work in shifts (teams of 10) 24 hours a day. The center shares information related to all roads in Lebanon, whether they are closed due to heavy snow, or there’s a lot of traffic etc. The center also created a twitter account @TMCLebanon which helps with the updates also and you can also check them anytime you want. #notamartyr Campaign #notamartyr is a campaign that was launched on December 30, 2013 and its Facebook page is https://www.facebook. com/notamartyr. This movement was launched after the bombing that happened in Beirut. People started sharing their photos and expressing their opinion of why they want to live with the #notamartyr. The next step of the campaign started with turning the selfie into a conversation, and in doing so, find solutions, together. One selfie will be chosen every Tuesday and posted on the page. That selfie’s message will determine the subject of conversation for that week. Sukleen’s # انيلع_بكنت_ام_ىتحcampaign. #FactsBehindTheRubbish - #انيلع_بكنت_ام_ىتح After the Garbage disposal in Nammeh got closed because all the garbage was being thrown there, and after the roads were filled with trash, accusations started following Sukleen about how they are not doing their job, and this made them start the following campaign and they shared the the following facts about it. Some people are complaining how Sukleen among others is violating the contracts and throwing all types of garbage in Naameh including hospital waste, organic waste and everything they grab. With accusations from both parties being thrown, however, the fact is that the trash is filled in our streets and there is no one who is taking action or responsibility.
Slowear Beirut Clothing Donation 22 admen broke their black dress code and put on a Slowear colored outfit! For every ‘Like’, Slowear donated 1$ to Lebanese NGO Arcenciel. The men wore all colors and shared their photo, and with every like $1 was donated to Arcenciel. The campaign ended up donating $8,184.
#VRLTakeMeThere and win a trip to Dubai Hashtag on any social media #VRLTakeMeThere. Virgin Radio we call back and you have to answer with: “Virgin Radio, be my Valentine”. You and your friend could be flying to Dubai all expenses paid, staying in a five star hotel, one thousand dollars cash in your pocket and VIP tickets to see Olly Murs & The Wanted up close and personal!
#Wake up and Unite The campaign is to heal the wounds of what is happening in Lebanon. With all the bombings and the killing, people have decided to take back Lebanon from all the politicians who are not taking any responsibility and are leading us to all those tragedies. This movement is asking people to not vote for the same people and to change their destinies, also to accept each other and not follow their own sect. Basically, they are asking all Lebanese to unite and forget who they follow in order for Lebanon to become what it was once before all these wars and tragedies and murders occurred. Innocent people who sometimes we don’t even know their names are dying for all these politicians who are causing this misery. Thus, this movement is asking for unity of Lebanon and they are not with any political party or affiliation; they want to live peacefully and happily in their country. https://www.facebook.com/wakeupandunite
Zaatar W Zeit Loyalty Challenge. The challenge started in the beginning of January and it consisted of 8 challenges. - Challenge 1: Watch a video and find the hidden word. - Challenge 2: Find out what is hidden in the logo of Zaatar W Zeit. The fastest 250 correct answers via the tab only were chosen. - Challenge 3: Guess the missing item in a picture. The fastest 200 correct ones will advance to challenge #4. - Challenge 4: Spot one of Zaatar W Zeit delivery guys, take a picture of him & upload it through the “Loyalty Challenge” tab. The most relevant 150 photo submissions will advance to challenge #5. - Challenge 5: Head down to the nearest Zaatar W Zeit branch, take a clear picture with the waiter wearing the “You Won” tag & upload it through the “Loyalty Challenge” tab. - Challenge 6: To redraw or replicate the Zaatar W Zeit LOGO and upload it through the “Loyalty Challenge” tab. - Challenge 7: Demonstrate the loyalty towards Zaatar W Zeit, by getting creative or crazy and accordingly the top 10 for the last step will be chosen. - The final challenge took place on Saturday, February 1, 2014 in Zaatar w Zeit, Kaslik and three prizes were given for the last the three, a 13” Macbook Pro 2013, a trip for 2 to Ayia Napa & an iPad Air.
ewishforlife This campaign was launched by Born Interactive in partnership with Maliatech. The initiative was to write your wish and share it with the Children of the CCCL on their own e-tree and we will donate 1 US$ for every wish. The objective was to reach $5000 and it was reached. http://ewishforlife.org/
CAMPAIGNS
CLOUD #8 February 2014
ABC embraces the power of the digital world and partners with a blogger for ‘Designed & Signed’ Campaign whilst raising vital funds to support Brave Heart Fund – an initiative supporting children with congenital heart disease. For the first time, an influential blogger was not only invited to feature the campaign but also to be part of it! By partnering with Lana Al Sahely – a fashion blogger, stylist and contributing editor – for ‘Designed and Signed’, ABC embraced the power of the digital world and created a bridge between the offline and the online platforms. In her piece of art, Lana personalized Christmas relating it to her identity and world: Fashion. She transformed and modernized ABC triangle into a Christmas tree made-up with fabrics, topping it with gold balls, cut and disposed in a way that reminds us of the classical gold star. Leading Lebanese retailer ABC teamed up with renowned Lebanese designers to launch ‘Designed & Signed’ campaign in 2013. Twelve Lebanese designers transformed ABC’s triangle from a simple geometrical shape into a piece of art,
ABC ‘Designed & Signed’ project was a first of its kind in Lebanon! It was a fusion of a country’s love for giving, the artists’ thirst for creative innovation and ABC’s constant devotion towards its community.
New Windows devices for work and play. Microsoft takes holiday shopping to a whole new level During the holiday season, the gift shopping frenzy was at its peak with stores buzzing and people rushing to buy the perfect present. Microsoft, in collaboration with their partners HP, Samsung and Asus, took holiday shopping to a whole new level by revealing a wide variety of Windows devices ideal for both work and play. The holiday campaign comes in line with Microsoft’s commitment to delivering unparalleled experiences to their customers by combining devices and services in a unique way. “Software will always be at the heart of what we do, but over time the full value of our software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and services at work and in their personal lives”, said Hoda Younan, Microsoft Lebanon Country Manager. “Whether we build a device ourselves or work with our partners, we will focus relentlessly on delivering
outstanding experiences across hardware, software and services to empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most”, she added. The campaign revealed new Windows operating tablets with amazing features including detachable keyboards that give customers the choice between using the keyboard or the touch screen; a wide selection of gaming, media and many other local and international apps available in the Windows Store; as well as a memory card and USB port to save and retrieve data, to name a few. From his side, Pierre Risk, Distribution Business Manager for HP Lebanon commented: “This is the perfect time for us to help our customers get the most out of technology, and provide them with a better buying experience, working to help them stay connected. This holiday campaign shows that
Microsoft truly makes technology relevant to everyone The campaign was launched through a series of activities and competitions giving people across Lebanon the chance to win spectacular prizes ranging from Windows devices to a trip to Euro Disney. A large selection of Windows devices was made available this past holiday season and some will be launched throughout the coming year, giving Lebanese customers a chance to find the device that is tailored to their specific needs. The devices include: HP Split, Asus T100, and Samsung Ativ Pro. They are available in the Lebanese market at: M2, Khoury Home and Abed Tahan.
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CLOUD #8 February 2014
The Top 5 Essential Mobile Applications in Lebanon
LAF Shield
By Maurice Rustom, Secretary, AUB’s Online Collaborative | @MauriceRustom
Apps, apps and apps, everywhere you search. New applications are being developed for different purposes tackling different customers. Some of them are fun, others are quite interesting and helpful, and the rest are pretty much useless… Seriously, how many times did you download a “kind of helpful app” that turned out to be nothing but ridiculous? Don’t you have a big file on your phone where you dump all the apps that you think might come in handy one of these days, but this day never comes? Well, I won’t give you a lesson on how to manage your application downloads, nor am I trying to advertise for some apps. However, I’m going to spot the light on five essential apps that you must have, and that will come in handy to you as an up-to-date Lebanese citizen.
whereLeb The last smartphone app I’m going to talk about is the m os t a w e s om e . Let’s forget about all the problems that the previous applications tried to smoothen or solve, and let’s focus on the fun stuff. “whereLeb” is one of the most helpful Lebanese apps out there, whether you’re looking for movie show-times in a nearby theater, or feeling like trying a new diner or pub, this is your app to go! You can just type what do you feel like eating in the search bar and it’ll automatically give you a list of all the nearby restaurants that serve what matches your taste buds’ mood. If you just want to go out, you can ask “whereLeb” where to go and what to do! By simply selecting a region that you wish to hang out in, the app will let you know about all the possible activities you can have there and it will provide you with the specific location of the restaurants, pubs, coffee shops or resorts; with trusted directions to get there via Google maps. In addition to that it also gives a rating to the places it suggests to help you make a better choice. Not to forget that it also keeps you updated with the latest gas prices and provides you with a TV guide of your favorite channels.
Speed Ticket Lebanon Moving on, the next essential mobile application that you must have as a Lebanese is “Speed Ticket Lebanon”. This lovely app made the task of checking your highway speed tickets way easier, by setting up a super simple interface where you fill in the plate number of your car in addition to the zone code and you’ll directly receive the number of tickets you have (hoping it will always be zero). By the way, this app can cause you mini heart attacks while seeing the number of tickets that you’ve been “blessed” with, to avoid this just make sure to stay under the speed limit all the time and on every highway.
Kif El Seir
Always with our lovely stress free Lebanese highways, the third essential application knows all about traffic jams that might, and most probably will, get in your way. “Kif El Seir” has become one of the most asked questions in Lebanon, also, the name of the app that allows you to post the answer. Reporting traffic jams in specific sections of the highway has become so easy, you’ll just have to pick one traffic state out of four available: “meche”, “fi amal”, “msakkar” and “khabsa”; select the specified road you’re on and press “report”. Your traffic status update will be posted and you’ll help the app users to reconsider the choice of roads they are taking if there’s any alternative to it, and if not they’ll at least know what they will be dealing with once in the car. In addition to this, the application provides you with a cool feature that gives you, once you’ve set your location and destination, the overview of your entire trip on the map with colored tracks varying from green to red depending on the traffic state. Not to forget to mention also the availability of live webcams placed in important sections of the highway and some primary streets: Dora, Charles Helo, Jounieh, Sassine Square, Tarik el Jadide, Hamra and Saida.
First things first: Security. You surely don’t want to ignore all the dramatic and lifethreatening events that are happening in Lebanon, but also you don’t want to get a notification every five minutes concerning unimportant political or economical news, that you couldn’t care less about. That’s why I highly recommend that you download the “LAF Shield” application on your device. The Lebanese Army Forces has released a mobile app that contains a lot of interesting yet extremely helpful functions, presented in a quite user-friendly interface, focusing only on security and important news. This application provides you with hotline numbers of several emergency departments such as the Red Cross, Civil Defense, EDL electricity and MOT phone network emergencies. It can also point your location on the map and indicate security zones near you that need to be avoided currently, if there are any. Furthermore, LAF Shield has four main sections in its menu. The first one is the wanted charts providing you with pictures of potential suspects; and the second gives you the ability to report any sort of law breaching activities, like theft, armed assaults, illegal drug use, etc… By doing this LAF has engaged the Lebanese in maintaining the law and becoming its ally against possible crimes. The other two features are, an overview of the latest military related activity and news, and a gallery of photos and videos of recent military events. In addition to all of this, this one of a kind application is equipped with an SOS button that is of outmost importance in unpredictable moments of terrible accidents that might, sadly, happen to anyone of us during these critical times.
Electricity Beirut Further on, the next application makes your Lebanese life a bit easier by notifying you that the electricity will be cut off few minutes ahead. This is “Electricity Beirut”, as the name indicates, it only comes in handy in Beirut’s area by letting you select the three hour cut off time just once during set up, and it’ll do the math. Not only it will notify you a few minutes before the city goes dark, but it is able to give you a precise calculation of the cut off time in a specific day you set, weeks, months or years from now. I know, “years from now” is rather pessimistic and a proper solution would have solved the electricity crisis by then (or at least I hope). Nonetheless, it is a very useful application and I hope it can be expanded to enclose several Lebanese cities in addition to Beirut.
TECH
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Instagram Direct vs Snapchat By Armen Bakkalian, President, HU’s Online Collaborative
After Snapchat’s rejection of a 3 billion dollar acquisition offer from Facebook, Instagram, which Facebook owns, launched a new feature called Instagram Direct. Instagram Direct is pretty much similar to Snapchat in general. It allows users to share photos privately with some chosen users. However, they have some differences in them which we will take a look at them closely below. Capturing Photos/Videos Instagram allows you to take photos or videos (up to 15 seconds). You can also use photos and videos captured previously in your camera roll. Snapchat allows you to take photos and videos (up to 10 seconds) instantly only. You cannot use your photos or videos in your camera roll. Editing Photos/Videos Instagram allows you to edit your photo or video with many filers in the app. Snapchat has recently launched two filter.
@ArmenBakkalian Additionally, you can add a drawing on the picture or video. Adding Text Snapchat allows you to add a text directly on your picture or video, and you can put it wherever you want. Instagram does not have this feature, but you can add a caption separately (not on the picture/video). Timer In Snapchat, for every picture or video you capture you have to set a timer from 1 second to 10 seconds. Users can view the photo once for the amount of seconds set and then it will disappear. However you can add it to your Snapchat story, and it will be available for everybody for 24 hours. Snapchat also recently allowed users to replay on Snap that they receive every 24 hours. Instagram does not have a timer. Once you send the picture or video to someone, it will remain there and they can view it as much as they want. Sending Instagram allows you to send a photo or video to up to 15 users. All users that are receiving the photo or video can see the other users too. Additionally, a checkmark will appear when a user sees the picture or video. On Snapchat, there is no limit; you can send it to as many contacts you wish. Users cannot know which users received the picture or video though. When the picture or video is received, you will find a “Delivered” mark, and when the user opens it, it will write “Opened”. If a user takes a screenshot
before the timer runs out, the sender is notified. Block/Report Instagram allows its users to block someone if they are annoying or sharing undesired images or videos. It also allows users to report that user to Instagram. Snapchat allows you to block some users, but you cannot report an account. Comments I see Instagram Direct as a new chat room in Instagram. Users have always wanted private communication through Instagram, and there are a few apps that make Instagram users chat with each other (example: InstaMessage). You don’t need third party apps now; just send a photo privately, and chat by commenting. One thing to be careful with Instagram Direct is that all users see each other, unlike Snapchat. For example don’t send a pic to your girlfriend and other female friends at the same time. If you are that kind of person, use Snapchat instead. (Come on, don’t cheat). Questions to think about Is Snapchat’s 3 billon dollar rejection haunting their dreams? Why did they reject it? What is they had accepted, and Facebook had acquired Snapchat? Would they keep Snapchat as it is, or incorporate it to Instagram?
LG Unveils World’s First 105-Inch Curved Ultra HD TV LG Electronics announced it will be unveiling the world’s first 21:9 aspect ratio Curved Ultra HD TV (Model 105UB9) at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. LG’s newest premium TV is also the company’s very first Curved Ultra HD model. The award winning groundbreaking 105-inch (measured diagonally) 105UB9 is officially the largest curved TV ever made. This awe-inspiring TV offers magnificent picture quality and a wide viewing angle with the ability to render the minutest detail in breathtaking clarity to create an unprecedented level of viewer immersion. The 105UB9’s cinematically proportioned 21:9 CinemaScope screen is ideal for enjoying movies as they were meant to be enjoyed. Another advantage of the extra-wide screen is that it enables users to access viewing information on the side of the screen without blocking any of the ongoing action. Boasting an 11 million pixel (5120 x 2160) screen resolution, the 105UB9 represents the successful collaboration between LG Electronics and LG Display. In order to realizethe TV’s curvature, new technology was introduced to resolve a number of issues, such as maintaining structural integrity and delivering uniform color and brightness across such a large
screen. Until now, OLED panels were preferred for curved displays due to their ability to generate their own light. LG Display overcame the challenge of uneven backlighting by refining its Thin Film Transistor (TFT) pixel circuit technology to prevent color leakage and to ensure a superior viewing experience from virtually any angle. “LG Display has kept its dominant position in the display market with innovative and differentiated technologies,” said Yong-kee Hwang, Senior Vice President and head of LG Display’s TV Business Unit. “With a resolution of 11 million pixels, the 105-inch curved LCD panel is proof of our continued leadership in the next generation display market, offering exceptional world-class value to our customers.” “We’re proud to reveal our 105-inch CURVED ULTRA HD TV at the world’s largest technology event,” said In-kyu Lee, Vice Pre`sident and head of the Home Entertainment Company’s TV division at LG Electronics. “Claiming the world’s first and the world’s largest titles, LG’s 105UB9 employscutting-edge technology to provide a truly unique viewing experience. We will continue to drive the next generation TV market and demonstrate that with LG, it’s all possible.”
Atheer One: Lebanese 3D glasses that can compete with Google Glass By Joelle Hajji, News Editor
@joellehajji
AtheerOne glasses, built by Lebanese Entrepreneur Soulaiman Itani and Allen Yang at Atheer Labs in Mountain View, bring fantasies to life, allowing people who wear it to exercise with virtual targets, conduct conferences calls while browsing data online, and play three dimensional games,
thanks to hand sensors and an advanced algorithm. The project took 2 years and 20 team members to be completed AtherOne Glasses have a lot of advantages over Google Glass since they offer a bigger field of vision and can allow all existing Android apps to work within their platform; also they are 3D and are lighter. However, they always need to be physically attached to an Android device to work. The first Atheer glass is called the Atheer Dev Kit and it has a lot of options: It has state of the art SnapDragon processor. Has the ability to connect to all kinds of devices over HDMI,
wi-fi, Bluetooth, and even memory extensions. It gives a very natural interaction in a large 36⁰ of view high resolution display. The second glasses, Atheer One has a: 65⁰ field of view high resolution display. The high resolution leverages your phone in order to view an amazing immersive experience all in 75 gms and for a very low cost. The Atheer One is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2014, while the ADK is expected to be launched beginning of 2014.
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DR. CLOUD
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Whoever said that celebrities should not have their accounts managed or supervised by social media experts have obviously not seen May Hariri tweet.
I’m not saying that celebrities do not encounter weird things online. On the contrary, just take a look at what the weirdest people on the internet have in store.
And you will never be as good as a selfie professional as this guy.
Then, there are other people (like aspiring celebrity Karter Zaher) who uses Haifa’s photo as a Facebook advertisement, claiming that he’s her “SEXY Brother.” Desperate Times indeed.
But that’s not the most scandalous Facebook ad we’ve seen this month. Check out this porn-like ad advertising a fashion portal for women. I don’t really know what they are trying to advertise exactly.
If porn doesn’t work, why not try the Lebanese Memes way? Use patriotism to get more engagement and likes on your page.
What do you do if you found out that one of the tweets you posted is not true? Very simple. Blame others.
Blue ribbon of the month: Norton making fun of Justin Bieber on their Facebook page. I found it quite hilarious (even though no one actually uses Norton anyway).
But whatever you do on social media, you will never be as cool as our president who caused a massive media uproar by just tweeting a dot.
Guide to online advertising: give away a two year-old prize as a reward to a very creative competition. That will definitely encourage people to participate and they will not call you cheap...
EVENTS
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Rising Interest of Venture Investors in the Levant Digital Sector Investment Driven by Growing Exports of Digital Services Venture capital investors in MENA have their eyes set on the digital sector; three times as many investments took place in 2010-2012 than in 2006-2009, and almost half of all investments were in digital products and services. Most ventures happened in Tunisia, Morocco and Lebanon, who currently lead the region in terms of quantity of VC investments. Numerous promising initiatives are being launched in the region to back the steadfast growth of early-stage tech and e-commerce ventures. One notable example is Berytech which announced that $30 million will be invested in startups and SMEs starting 2014 with a focus on the creative industries and value-added sectors. Another notable example is Aramex’s Founder and Vice Chairman, Fadi Ghandour, who is raising a $75 million to $100 million fund to push forward the growth of early-stage tech and e-commerce ventures within the MENA, mainly in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories. This fund will provide tech firms with $1-3 million funds for each venture. In downtown Cairo, Ahmed Al-Alfi, Founder of Sawari Ventures, the Egyptian venture capital firm, is taking a leap of faith by using his
personal funds to create a center for technology startups at one of Egypt’s most volatile flashpoints dubbed “The Greek Campus”. Sawari Ventures’ startup accelerator Flat6Labs has graduated more than 30 companies out of six cycles in two years. The public sector is also launching initiatives to support entrepreneurship. For example, the Central Bank of Lebanon recently announced that it has dedicated $400 million USD to guarantee 75% of Lebanese banks’ equity investment in startups, incubators, accelerators, and funds. Most of these investments are channeled into the Levant, which is emerging as a chief exporter of digital products and services, including software and mobile applications. In Lebanon, more than 60% of firms engaged in ICT pursuits are export oriented, with the majority of profits originating primarily from the Gulf region. Similarly, almost half of Jordan’s IT revenue comes from export, which has increased from $202 million in 2010, to $300 million in 2012. The Levant has a competitive advantage in skilled workforce, and affordable labor. Lebanon, for example, has 40% lower wages than the GCC yet ranks 4th in quality of sciences and math education globally. More than 2000 university
graduates related to ICT activities join the sector every year, and the market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 12% and reach a value of $570 million in 2017. With new investments in startups and SMEs on the rise in Levant, ArabNet will take the opportunity to explore diverse perspectives on entrepreneurship in the region during its upcoming ArabNet Beirut 2014. The 3-day event is a festival of digital creativity, business, and development taking place on March 4 - 6. ArabNet Beirut will feature more than 80 speakers from across the MENA region and abroad to discuss the opportunities in web and mobile for the media and entertainment industries, fashion, creative communities, food and beverage, and more. It will also feature a Design+Code Day, on March 4, which will host workshops for developers and designers to build their skills and network. The event will include ArabNet’s signature entrepreneur competitions, the Ideathon and Startup Demo, as well as the Creative Combat, which aims to highlight emerging regional talents in digital marketing.
Discussing Holiday Marketing. Let’s Meet for a Coffee’s Meet-up By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
Having a coffee with people can sometimes turn into a great business meeting. For some entrepreneurs, coffee shops are literally their offices. Book of Charms has transformed this timeless meeting into a monthly discussion amongst Lebanese entrepreneurs and designers, with discussions lead by experienced mentors who offer their advice and get important discussions started amongst aspiring entrepreneurs. Held in AltCity s Mezzanine Café, Let’s Meet for a Coffee’s installment focused on branding and marketing for the Christmas season. The holidays are the ultimate shopping season as it’s the most consumer driven part of the year, meaning if you’re going to market yourself you’ve got to do it right. Let’s Meet for a Coffee is a monthly discussion on branding, marketing, and communication for entrepreneurs. The event is organized by Book of Charms, an organization that aims for creating a sustainable innovation hub that allows
for creativity and promoting entrepreneurship, especially in the design world. Ghalia Boustani, a marketing specialist, and Hasmig Boyoudjian, a communications specialist and conscious designer, put on this month’s talk. Ghalia opened the discussion with the origins of giving presents on Christmas, Christmas marketing and its important today. As she put it “Christmas marketing is the most strategic tool for a brand”. Brands try to give customers a new experience during the holiday season. They pay more attention to the customer. Brands should go even farther and engage customers to be part of this new experience, paying more attention to the customer to get their shopping list done and giving them a new shopping experience. This experience should put your customers in the holiday mood to give and receive gifts. Hasmig then took over the discussion. As a communications specialist and conscious designer she focused on how brands
should communicate their ideas especially by making sure that the Christmas spirit is always present in your marketing campaign. Marketers shouldn’t focus on just savings or prices; they need to make people feel happy for the holidays and Christmas itself. Each brand should try to reinterpret Christmas in its own way and all brand pages should be updated including Facebook and Twitter, giving examples from Vogue and Time Out Beirut. All in all, Let’s Meet for a Coffee is the type of event that needs to happen more often in Beirut. Free, open to the public, and a place to learn new much-needed skills. I think it is time more entrepreneurs meet for a coffee.
Meet the Women Entrepreneurs By Paul Gadalla
@paulinbeirut
This year AltCity decided to ring in the Holidays with a female twist. Hosted at their Mezzanine Café, several female entrepreneurs gathered for a special Christmas market and workshop as part of the second installment of Meet the Women Entrepreneurs. After the success of their first event at L’escalade in Zalka, female entrepreneurs came to show what they’re selling and share their experiences. Meet the Women Entrepreneurs is organized by Book of Charms, an organization that helps manage different collectives of entrepreneurs. The aim is to promote mentorship for female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in general. As female entrepreneur Hasmig Boyudjian puts it
“People still don’t even know the real definition of what it is to be an entrepreneur”. Meet the Women Entrepreneurs’ Christmas addition brought together four distinct female entrepreneurs. Each female entrepreneur was a designer as well as a specialist The entrepreneurs included Hasmig Boyudjian, a conscious designer and communications specialist whose creations are made from reused materials, Sandra Younes, a designer working with pearls and semi precious stones and a teacher at NDU, Ghalia Boustani, who works with detailed lace and also specializes in marketing, and Taghrid El Hage, who is a fashion designer and stylist. All four women had their current designs on display and even made special Christmas decorations to sell. Attendees could come shop as well as sit and talk with the female entrepreneurs. Later in the evening participants entered a raffle for 2-hour entrepreneurial mentoring sessions. I had the chance to sit with Hasmig who has started her own business by creating fashion pieces from recycled materials.
I asked her about some of the challenges that entrepreneurs are currently facing in Lebanon; her response was very telling, “Young entrepreneurs do not receive enough mentoring, which they need. The youth think that starting a business needs too much money. I’m 25 and I already have my own brand by becoming an entrepreneur.” Sandra Younes also added: “There are budget and financial expenses. But people are not aware of new trends. Social media can really help push your brand, and it is cost effective. Everything is step by step.” Although the event had an atmosphere of a new age Christmas market, it could have been much better promoted. People mostly came and went and it was unfortunate that there were not more people to learn from these female entrepreneurs, especially since women entrepreneurs do no receive enough attention in Lebanon. Let’s face it, who gives consulting for free? For those who did come though, they got to meet four successful women showing off their entrepreneurial skills, something you do not get to see everyday.
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EVENTS #CalleChristmas Tweetup Calle is a cozy pub with a friendly ambiance and mouthwatering drinks located in Mar Mikhael, Beirut. The #CalleChristmas Tweetup took place on Monday, December 16, 2013 and was co-organized by the Online Collaborative and Cloud961. It gathered the online community in the festive season where they hanged out and had a few drinks and mingled with everyone. The night ended with all having a great time and enjoying the music and special drinks that Calle were serving during Christmas.
CLOUD #8 February 2014
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EVENTS
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Berytech End-Of-Year Party 2013 Berytech hosted “The End of Year Party” on 21st of December 2013 at Minus 5.The evening featured entertainment acts which included acrobats, jugglers, dancers and live music, and an indoor snowstorm. There was also live broadcast of guest pictures on social media channels. Mr. Maroun N. Chammas, CEO of Berytech, gave an introductory speech welcoming guests and highlighting major achievements of 2013 and he wished for another year of prosperity and development for the entrepreneurial community. H.E. Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui, Minister of Telecom, expressed his enthusiasm to celebrate end-of-year with the Berytech community, wishing everyone continuous success.
Small Tycoons Workshop & Competition By Armen Bakkalian, President, HU’s Online Collaborative Part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Haigazian University’s Business Society (HUBS) organized a workshop called “Small Tycoons”. The event was at Beirut Souks on Saturday November 23, 2013. Haigazian University’s Business Society (HUBS) members welcomed the students and guests for being there, and introduced the first guest speaker: Gilbert Doumit. Gilbert Doumit, Managing partner of beyond RDI group talked about how to convert your ideas into a startup plan. He said entrepreneurship is a lifestyle. He made the attendees think of extraordinary ideas and for every idea given He gave them chocolates as incentives. Similarly to this, we should think of incentives in our startup he said. He stressed that money is not the aim of a business; it is the byproduct of it. Doumit advised that before starting your business, ask yourself these questions: Am I passionate about it? Am I ready to make it my lifestyle? Am I ready to bear the consequences of failure? Maria Frangieh, DBA candidate, and lecturer at Haigazian University talked about how to market your startup plan using social media. She talked about many social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest.
@ArmenBakkalian Frangieh told that it is important to follow the crowd, and most importantly have “House rules” which are some rules the users have to abide-by during their engagement. Finally she said that monitoring your results is vital to see what have you done and where have you reached. A panel discussion was followed. Ali Chehade Farhat, founder of The Dream Matcher was the moderator, and the panelists were: Mounir Nabti CEO of Altcity and Abdallah Absi CEO of Zoomal. The topics discussed were mainly about how to build your startup, what are the difficulties that you will face, and when is the right time to ask for funding. Many of the participants engaged in this discussion, and the panelists pleased them with their informative answers. After the lunch break, Mr Ralph Stephan introduced Kafalat, what they do, how they help new start-ups, and when to apply for the Kafalat program. Fadi Bizri, Managing Director of Bader talked about how to make your startup grow up and attract more investors. He advised not to talk to investors in the very beginning phase when you have no users or customers. He also gave examples of young entrepreneurs that succeeded in their startups, and
told the audience that anyone of them can be the next one. At the end of the workshop, HUBS announced the Small Tycoons Competition where students will have to submit their business ideas in a proper business plan. The deadline to submit ideas was December 23, 2013. The winning idea will get the chance to win $10,000 in cash and prizes. Prizes include two courses provided by Morgan International and an office work space by Altcity. Beholders of the top five ideas will attend a second workshop to help them improve and finalize their final pitch. As a final step, the winner of the “Small Tycoons Competition 2013” will be chosen by a committee of judges at Haigazian University.
FUN
Contest:
The first person who sends in the correct answers to the crossword puzzle below to editor@cloud961.com will win 2 tickets to attend the Folie Rouge!
Across 1. A leading Lebanese online ticketing platform 3. The third most popular social network in terms of traffic 6. Social Network with self-destructing photos and videos 8. A Lebanese crowd-funding startup 10. Two users on average sign up for this social network every second 11. A Facebook feature designed to get someone’s attention 13. Winner of Best Personal Blog at the 2013 Beirut Social Media Awards 17. Links about this topic is shared 90% more than any topic on Facebook 18. 60% of the posts pinned on Pinterest are about this topic 20. A Lebanese startup that is rivaling Coursera 24. Twitter is accessed 60% of the time on a user’s __. 27. The most popular Instagram filter 28. A Lebanese mobile game that allows users to raise a virtual pet. 30. Famous application that was made available on 3 major mobile operating systems in 2013 31. Microsoft’s search engine 32. The most popular user occupation on Google+ 34. The most popular mobile messaging application 36. Google’s anticipated wearable technology product 38. A person who executes a company’s social media strategy and posts its regular updates on different social networks. 39. A website that suggests articles and sites based on a person’s interest
Down 2. The only person to have a Klout score of 100 in 2012 4. There are more than 10 million __ on Facebook. 5. A Lebanese food blog run by Cynthia Bu Jawde 7. International e-commerce service that was launched in Egypt in 2013 9. The original beta of this social network was launched on the Birthday of its CEO Evan Williams 12. To nudge someone on Blackberry Messenger 14. Lebanese blogger of the most popular movie blog 15. Lebanese startup that makes offline marketing via social networks possible 16. Popular Lebanese comic blog 18. A social network that connects people based on their music taste 19. Blogger that won best Lebanese blog of the year at 2013 Beirut Social Media Awards 21. The first decentralized digital currency 22. A Lebanese initiative that aims to raise awareness about social media and proper digital citizenship 23. A cloud-based presentation-creation tool 25. 25% of Facebook users don’t bother changing this setting. (backwards) 26. When a user is being spammy or abusive, one can __ them to the social network’s customer service. 29. A Lebanese digital agency whose mascot is a ninja 33. Celebrity that claims that all her 2.5 million Twitter on followers are real, but in fact only 15% are 34. The action of publishing a blog entry 35. Facebook’s main source of revenue 37. Previously called Google Docs 40. A Lebanese website that allows users to translate from Aranglish (chat language) into Arabic.
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HOROSCOPES
CLOUD #8 February 2014
Aries (March 21 – April 19)
Libra (September 23- October 22)
Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)
Your disconnectedness from the offline world and abrupt communication style is sure to annoy some of your colleagues at work this month, so put down your phone and move away from your screen from time to time for some quality face to face conversation. Your associates are always more than happy to offer you assistance, so make the effort to meet them halfway. Romance requires some serious effort once in a while, and your romantic life needs quite a bit of work right now. If you’re in a relationship, take a break from the texting and call up your significant other or have a face-to-face discussion instead of using FaceTime. If you’re not in a relationship, take that online flirting offline and make the connection with that person you’ve been talking to a lot lately.
Gemini (May 21 – June 21)
You might have some juicy news to disclose, but watch out where you share it and whom you share it with. Think twice before revealing that personal news on Facebook or Twitter, as you never know who may read it and use it against you. You would be surprised how very little control you have over who sees and uses that information once it is on the Internet.
Cancer (June 22-July 22)
This month is a good time to the separate the good people in your life from the bad ones. You have all the time you need and recent events have provided you with the information you need to make the distinction. You can start by going through your FB friends list and removing all those so-called friends who only contact you when they need a favor, like voting for them in some cheesy competition.
Leo (July 23 – August 22)
This month may bring an uncharacteristic emotional meltdown with it, so just ride the wave and it’ll be over before you know it. Venting always helps, so contact your bestie (Whatsapp or Google Chat works best if you’re at work or in class) and rant until you feel better. It’ll allow you to get back to business with a much lighter heart. There is some serious acting happening on your timeline lately. One or two people, who appear to be bright and cheerful on the outside, may hide alternate personas. The happier they appear, the more negative, depressed or twisted they may truly be. Also, be cautious about getting yourself involved with new tweeps, especially when it comes to certain commitments.
Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)
You may be famous for your charming ways on social media, but practicing some self-control won’t hurt, unless you want to risk coming across as egotistic. There’s no need for drastic changes, just try toning you enthusiasm down a notch. Self-control is all about learning when to speak and when to stop talking or in your case, tweeting.
Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)
You may be feeling strongly about certain topics, happenings and events lately; why not let others know instead of keeping it to yourself? Twitter’s 140 characters may not be enough, so go ahead and start your own blog. Wordpress, Blogger and Tumblr are all blog-publishing services that offer different features and themes you can use to finally get your thoughts out there.
Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)
You may have to sacrifice some privacy this month, but it will be for a worthy cause. Your company is in high demand, and you’ll have to step out into the social spotlight to do some networking. If you’re feeling outgoing, it’s your time to shine so go out there and get those names, numbers and emails that may just open new doors in your future.
This month you’re feeling particularly passionate about your job and thus taking on more responsibility without too much additional effort. However, you feel eager to do things in a new way. Tap into the power of social media and you’ll be surprised how much potential there is out there and how much social media has to offer. It also gives you the opportunity to outshine your conventional coworkers.
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
Your concentration isn’t the best these days, and you find yourself working on one specific task for a few minutes, and then switching to another. In order to avoid wasting your time and energy, do yourself a favor and get organized! Evernote is just one example of an organizational app that can cloud961-ADS-outline-ad1.pdf 1/17/14 5:41and PM keep track of those tasks! help you become1more productive
You’ve been dreaming about that vacation for a while now, so it’s time to make it happen. Choose your destination and start planning the trip as soon as possible. Apps like Tripomatic will help you by allowing you to enter a destination, the period of your stay and will then plot out all the attractions and things you can do on a map. Pretty nifty, eh?
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80% OF FACEBOOK’S LIKE AND SHARE CLICKS COME FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S.
According to exclusive data released by Mashable, Facebook has witnessed a 5% increase in clicks since it redesigned its Like and Share buttons last month. Although the social giant didn’t share details on the exact number of clicks, 80% of all Like and Share engagement comes from outside the United States.
.com
Here’s a breakdown of the stats: Asia-Pacific accounted for 21% of Facebook’s Like and Share impressions, Latin America 13%, U.S. 20%, Western Europe 21% while Central and Eastern Europe scored 18%.
Online journal bringing you the latest digital, web, user insights & social media news! MOOD SWEATER READS 2. GER HUMAN EMOTIONS
IS GOING TO BLACKMAIL YOU 3. GOOGLE
RELEASES 4. BEYONCE SURPRISE ALBUM ON ITUNES
The GER Mood Sweater interprets emotions detected from sensors users wear on their hand and displays mood instantly as an interactive LED light display.
CollegeHumor took on Google privacy concerns in a humorous way with a video entitled “Google is Going to Blackmail You”.
To everyone’s surprise, Beyonce released her fifth studio album on iTunes without any promotional marketing or traditional teasers as the superstar wanted to reach out to her fans directly.
Developed by San Francisco-based design firm Sensoree, the mood sweater looks like a glowing futuristic loose fit turtleneck and contains a type of sensor known as the Galvanic Extimacy Responder.
Either you join Plus, or Google will release your search history and private information gathered over the years!
5. INSTAGRAM DIRECT
6.
At a press event in New York City, Instagram unveiled its newest feature called Instagram Direct, which lets users send photos and videos to private groups or individuals.
Now this is marketing! Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi star in Turkish Airlines’ new ad, “The Selfie Shootout” showing these sports icons like you’ve never seen them before. In the 60 second ad, Bryant & Messi are seen taking a series of selfies in different locations around the world.
The company is embracing user-to-user communication: “Photos, when they are transmitted, become communication” announced Instagram cofounder and CEO Kevin Systrom at the event. Let’s just hope this doesn’t become another spam tool for brands to promote their latest services.
‘CRASHED’ VEVO WITH 7. LORDE NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR ‘TEAM’
KOBE BRYANT AND LIONEL MESSI IN ‘THE SELFIE SHOOTOUT’
9.
Work has begun on a new generation of USBs that will break compatibility with existing connectors in order to improve ease of use and allow for thinner devices.
Parents will love this! Now you can know the location of your children with FiLip. The smartwatch’s simple design includes just two buttons, with a red one for emergency calls.
www.trendingbytes.com
Lorde crashed Vevo with her new music video for “Team” as fans rushed to watch it for the first time. The 17-year-old singer-songwriter from New Zealand took to Twitter to express her thoughts on the situation. Here’s what she tweeted, “I think you’re all overloading the video... let it breathe! hehe.”
The spot comes after the word “selfie” was named the Oxford Dictionaries’ official Word of the Year for 2013. We have to say it’s a smart way to advertise the airline’s offers!
NEXT USB PLUG WILL 8. THE FINALLY BE REVERSIBLE
Called Type-C, this new technology is an addition to the existing USB 3.1 and is expected to be finalized by mid 2014.
The self-titled album features 14 tracks and 14 videos to go along with each song as well as three additional videos.
OF THRONES’ VIDEO 10. ‘GAME GAME COMING IN 2014
FILIP SMARTWATCH HELPS PARENTS TRACK THEIR CHILD’S LOCATION
Parents can track their child’s location, make calls, send texts and set “SafeZones”. FiLIP sends a notification to parents whenever their kid leaves or arrives at a SafeZone.
facebook.com/trendingbytes
Game of Thrones fans rejoice! HBO and Telltale games are joining forces to develop a Game of Thrones-inspired video game to be released in 2014. The news was announced on Saturday during Spike TV’s “Video Game Awards” while TellTale Games tweeted “It’s TRUE! We’re working with @HBO to create an all-new episodic game series based on GAME OF THRONES in 2014! #VGX”.
twitter.com/TrendingBytes
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BUSINESS
CLOUD #8 February 2014