Politics 2.0

Just saw a Mashable post on how Arnold Schwarzenegger is using Twitter, a widget (below) and YouTube to push California legislators to pass his budget.



In many ways social media has come of age in 2008. Far from being perceived as a waste of time or a gimmicky marketing tool, political use of social media seems have given it a new air of respectability and seriousness. And politicians using social media are seen as being in sync with web savvy voters and open to interactive dialogue with their constituents.
While Barack Obama is the perfect case study of a public figure's use of social media, it wasn't just leaders in the West that embraced the Internet. In the Middle East we have Queen Rania of Jordan whose YouTube foray has won her accolades.
On the eve of a whole new year (not one that looks particularly bright) I wonder what 2009 will hold for social media. I guess we'll just have to wait and watch. But one thing's for sure...this isn't just a passing fad.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Governator Takes to Twitter and Widgets to Pass California Budget
• Data: What are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing?
• Jordan's Queen Rania receives YouTube Award

Was 2008 the year of the smartphone?

Image via CrunchBaseThe BBC's Mark Ward reports that 2008 was the year of the smartphone, citing the launches of "iconic devices such as the iPhone 3G, Google G1, Blackberry and Nokia N97" as evidence.

What's also really interesting is how social media-on-the-go is far more common now than it was last year. Personally speaking, since getting my Blackberry earlier this year, I spend a lot more of what would have been downtime (for example, waiting for a cab or bus) on Twitter or Facebook. I would think this has to do with a combination of technology (i.e. smartphones) and the fact that services and hardware seem to have become a lot cheaper than they were last year.

Any thoughts?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mobile predictions for 2009

Merry Christmas

Have a good one folks! Here's a song that's appropriate for today's sad state of affairs. Peace.

The importance of being on Twitter

Telegraph.co.uk has an interesting piece of analysis on Twitter by Robert Colvile. Its interesting because Colvile seems to have largely missed the point.
In describing Tweeting as "a chore for the overloaded web surfer - another means of being bombarded with useless information," Colvile hasn't quite done justice to what is already an important social media tool.
Twitter's suddenly found itself in the media limelight (again) after Mike Wilson twittered away while escaping from a burning plane that crash landed in Denver. While terrorists held Bombay hostage, locals were tweeting eyewitness reports. At a less extreme level, Dubai Tweeter Binmugahid is looking at setting up a Twitter-based traffic alert system to help users get around the city's chaotic traffic. Twitter was used extensively during the US elections by candidates, journalists and ordinary people.
My point? Twitter is not just "a chore." When used properly it can be an important source of information. Whether or not you receive loads of "useless information" is entirely up to you because you decide who you follow and who you don't.
And yes, Twitter is full of people who want to share an evaluation of their lunchtime sandwich in 140 characters or less. But then, that's the most wonderful thing about the Internet...you don't have a gatekeeper who decides what gets said online.

Related articles by Zemanta

• When Twitter becomes mainstream, we won't miss anything
• Survivor Tweets Plane Crash

And now...Google Earth inspires a conservation effort

Spotted on Gizmodo: The Daily Telegraph reports that a scientist browsing through Google Earth chanced upon a conservationist's wet dream. Nice!
Apparently Julian Bayliss, a scientist working with Kew was browsing through Google Earth looking for new conservation projects when he noticed a previously unexplored patch of forest in Mozambique. An expedition actually went down there and discovered a new relative of the Gabon Viper and three new species of butterfly.
From a PR point of view, a scientist's endorsement would have made the Google PR team's Christmas. I mean look at the part of the story that says, "He believes there may be other small pockets of biodiversity around the world that are yet to be discovered that could be stumbled upon by search on Google Earth..."
Surely this calls for Google Earth to be given a permanent place in the Natural History Museum!
PS: I know this isn't Middle East specific but I couldn't help myself!

Google UAE Zeitgeist

Spotted this on Fahad Inc.. Google annual Zeitgeist found that 'Beijing 2008' was the fastest rising search term in the UAE, while 'Dubai' was the most searched for term. Hawaii was the most searched for holiday destination, Nasser bin Zayed was the most searched for person (Obama came in a close second) and Al Mahara was the most searched for restaurant.

The Middle Eastern Media landscape

Gulf Marketing Review's December 2008 edition reports some interesting findings from Maktoob Research's media landscape study. It may not come as a surprise that the Internet almost entirely dominated the results but I'm not entirely sure about the integrity of Maktoob's research structure. 

I'm no expert pollster, though I have handled a few snap polls for clients in the past, but I think the Internet should have been considered as a medium on par with television, radio and print. Instead Maktoob split digital media into websites, search engines and email newsletters. 

I wonder if a broader categorisation (print, broadcast-TV, broadcast-radio and the Internet) would perhaps have worked better. But then that's just my opinion.

 

  

From Middle East PRoject

Virtual world...by religion

ITP.net recently reported the launch of Muxlim.com's new virtual world Muxlim Pal. Muxlim.com is an online community designed to bring communities together from different parts of the world and has been around for a while (though I must confess I hadn't heard about it till last week!).

Its interesting that Muxlim has launched Muxlim Pal at a time when virtual worlds aren't exactly as hot as they were at about this time last year but we can only wait and see how successful Muxlim Pal is.  

From Middle East PRoject

A new beginning

When I was a student I used to write a blog called PRoject (get it? PR-oject?!). Somewhere along the way, I stopped blogging regularly and soon got 'too busy' to blog. 

Anyways, to cut a long story short, I'm back and I'm aiming at consistently blogging for as long as I can sustain this. I make no promises, but as they say in this part of the world...inshallah you'll be seeing a lot more from me.