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)

Mea Culpa

Its been a manic past couple of weeks. Three new media presentations (with a fourth in the pipeline), our first project (we're providing the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature with social media support on a pro bono basis), a 500 word piece on Twitter for Media Week Middle East (coming out next week) and loads of regular account work for my existing clients. And this is the so-called 'downturn'.
If anything's clear in this blur we call 2009, its that new and emerging media is the way to go and, refreshingly, clients are starting to realise that. Just this morning I presented to the mar-coms team of a leading consumer electronics company (sorry, no names!) who were very receptive to the idea of closing their communications loop with an online programme. The other two presentations were to a food and beverage company and a non-profit organisation. Whether or not fee-earning projects emerge from these presentations isn't the be all and end all of what I'm doing (though it would be nice to see the $$$s come in). I'm just glad that business and organisations across the Middle East are open to the idea of doing something, anything, online.
And that is why I haven't posted anything for the past three weeks (a bit long winded for an excuse but its true...honestly!).

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.