Me and Twitter in Media Week Middle East

As I mentioned, a couple of posts ago, I'd written a 500-piece on Twitter for Media Week Middle East. Here it is:

From Middle East PRoject

What's more is that I got two hits in the same edition (I'm becoming a regular media whore) and had my mug (and belly, from the looks of things) featured on the People page with Andreas Keller, Regional Director, Weber Shandwick:

From Middle East PRoject

Twestival: The aftermath

Image via CrunchBase

I have to admit that Thursday's Dubai Twestival was more fun than I thought it would be. It was a bit like meeting old friends I'd never met before.
@BinMugahid and @Esperanca, the two Tweeters I've known the longest since moving to Dubai, were both there. With his characteristic humour and honest takes on life, love and women @BinMugahid is probably one of Dubai's best known Tweeters and definitely its most original. @Esperanca, on the other hand, is a vault of information and does a great deal to steer people away from the oh-you're-on-Twitter-you-must-be-a-bespectacled-overweight-geek-with-no-friends-in-the-real-world image. It was also a real pleasure to meet @PKGulati who was responsible for bringing Twestival to Dubai. As he tell it, "It all started with a Tweet..."
Other people (Tweeple?) I bumped into were @CarringtonMalin, whose SpotOn PR did a brilliant job spreading the word about Twestival and @Abhamalpani, my counterpart from ASDA'A Burson Masteller. I'm really surprised that, besides ourselves (Weber Shandwick), SpotOn and ASDA'A, other PR agencies working in Dubai appear to have ignored Twestival, when they should have been all over it. I could be wrong about that (it was impossible to meet everyone at the event) but I'm sure that it was only these three agencies that devoted time and resources to pitching in to help for the event. If I am right, however, that doesn't say much about the region's PR industry.

The Dubai Twestival

Image via Wikipedia

Having missed the last Dubai Tweet-up, I'm really excited about going to the Dubai Twestival this Thursday. Unlike my Tweeps in London (and other places with cold, miserable weather!) we're having our Twestival at the beach-side Barasti Upper Deck, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort. Hah! Eat your hearts out!!
The organisers (@PKGulati, @DrBaher, @Esperanca, @BinMugahid and @CarringtonMalin) have done a brilliant job securing sponsorship from Le Meridien and Virgin Megastores Middle East. Last I checked, about 120 Tweeple are expected to attend the event.
Its incredible that, less than six months after it was unblocked in the UAE, Twitter is seeing the kind of growth that it is. By some estimates there are now between 300 and 500 Tweeters in Dubai, and its popularity continues to grow. We'll just have to wait and watch to see what the rest of this year has in store for Twitter in the Middle East.

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• Global Twestival-time (twingly.com)