Summary Global revelations about interaction between Facebook and governments spark great debate.
DUBAI (Web Desk) - The role of governments in social media has been thrust back into the limelight following the ongoing global revelations about the interaction between Facebook and governments, which have ignited public debate.
The social networking giant’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, recently issued a public statement reassuring users that their privacy would not be compromised in any ‘data requests’ from the authorities.
This global online debate coincides with the build-up to the region’s leading social media platform that is specifically geared for governments: the 2013 edition of the GCC Government Social Media Summit. This will be held from 2-3 September, with an introductory master class on September 1st, at the Ritz-Carlton, DIFC in Dubai.
The summit aims to empower GCC governments with cutting edge ideas, success stories, the latest innovations and research that will keep them at the forefront of the social revolution. To shed more light on the latest social media trends and best practices, GCC government delegates will gain insights from industry heavyweights such as Facebook, leading academics, media organisations as well as international government entities that have successfully harnessed social media innovations, such as the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
Governments are particularly eager to build online bridges with their populations considering that the Gulf has emerged as a pacesetter in social media: in just two years, the region’s Facebook users have tripled from 16 million to 45 million. Not to be eclipsed, the Middle East’s Twitter users are contributing a staggering 5.8million tweets per day - a rate of 4,000 tweets a minute. Predictably, the most popular hashtags have been those featuring ‘Syria’. The influence of the Gulf’s Twitter users has seen Arabic surge in popularity, with English and French no longer enjoying an unchallenged dominance.
According to the 2013 Arab Social Media Report by the Governance and Innovation Program at the Dubai School of Government, the UAE has retained its spot as the region’s most social media-savvy country, followed by Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon and Jordan. Underlining the importance of the youth demographic, 70% of these users are aged 15-29.
Biju Saith, Divisional Director for the event organisers Streamline Marketing Group, pointed out: “The region’s social media revolution shows no signs of slowing down, and on the contrary it is gathering momentum with more innovative campaigns, smarter tools and more proactive solutions. By bringing together global thought leaders in this field, this summit gives the region’s governmental decision makers an opportunity to benchmark their social media activities against the very best practitioners in the world.”
The high profile conference speakers at the GCC Government Social Media Summit will include one of the brains behind arguably the most successful social media campaign in history: Adam Fetcher, who steered the ‘Obama for America’ campaign as a Deputy National Press-Secretary.
Giving a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at how Facebook interacts with governments will be Elizabeth Linder, Facebook’s Politics & Government Specialist. Her insights are particularly topical given that Facebook has recently come under increased scrutiny from users eager to decipher how the company balances its national security ‘data-sharing’ obligations to the government while maintaining its privacy commitment to its users.
According to Fadi Salem, Director of The Governance & Innovation Program at Dubai School of Government, sometimes it is not a change of tools that is required, but merely a change in mindset: “The exponential penetration rates and the creative adoption of social media in the Arab region have opened new horizons for multifaceted innovations by individuals, developmental uses by government entities as well as unleashing new social trends by different forces in Arab societies.
Our research indicates that social media technologies today are increasingly acknowledged by different Arab government organisations as core enablers for inclusive policy formulation and better service delivery on an institutional level.”
