Mind Soup

I can vividly remember the first time I was briefed about the concept of Cloud961  by our managing director. Back then, I had no time to even think about anything outside of the realm of the first Social Media Awards (SMAs) in Beirut, which were coming up. There was just so much to do. I must say I was skeptical about how the concept of the magazine would be received by the online community and digital agencies in Lebanon, knowing how the local vibe is generally tainted with competition and jealousy. At that point, Cornerstone PR, the publisher of the magazine, wanted to sponsor the SMAs, but did not want to be a traditional sponsor with brochures and roll-up banners related to their work. They wanted to give back to the online community and put their voice through a louder speaker, and attract a relatively traditional audience who still believes in print media. Cloud961 was born on April 30, on the night of the SMAs, as a gift to the online community in Lebanon. We start...

Earlier this month, I was invited to speak at the 3rd Arabian Social Media Forum hosted by Promedia in Kuwait about the state of e-commerce in the Middle East. My presentation from that talk was featured in the Business section and Retail section on SlideShare . Check it out below. You can also read more about the state of e-commerce in Lebanon in Cloud961 's 7th Issue ( pdf  | online ).

Facebook vs. LinkedIn advertising: which one is suitable for your business? A version of this article was published in Entrepreneur Middle East and Entrepreneur Qatar magazines on pages 52-53. Without a doubt, online advertising has become a necessity for businesses, brands, and organizations online. It allows your content to be exposed to a wider audience, but it requires a lot of attention and knowledge of the market. Knowing how to use the advertising tools available on platforms is just as important as having the budget to do so- study your target audience, then choose your medium. Before you start an online advertising campaign, you should consider all of the following factors. • Your objectives for the campaign What are you hoping to achieve from the campaign? Is it brand awareness, acquisition, increasing likes, call to action, competition participation, etc…? • Your target audience Who are your customers or users? Who do you think will be interested in particip...

Inspiring People from the Lebanese Online Community A version of this article appeared in the April issue of Cloud 961 Magazine . You can download it here . 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 . If you ask anyone in Lebanon about blogging, Gino’s blog is bound to get mentioned eventually. This 4-year-old blog, which is run by Gino Raidy has been read over a million times and won the Best Personal Blog Award at Beirut’s Social Media Awards 2013. It is both the most praised and most criticized blog in Lebanon. In this interview, I will be addressing some of the rumors about this blog as well as some insights from Gino’s experience. Gino is a 23 year old blogger who currently works as a ...

Photo by @AUB_Lebanon on Instagram Have you wondered why very few people find jobs at the AUB job fair? AUB charges each company a minimum of $2,000 to be present at the job fair. Obviously, big companies and agencies can afford this and that is why most of them are there. But most of these companies and agencies are not there to hire, very few of them even have fresh graduate positions. These companies are there for three reasons: prestige and brand awareness, a change of scenery for their HR staff and to get the student's emails and phone numbers for spamming purposes. Many start-ups and small companies that are actually recruiting may not be able to afford (or do not have the budget) to participate in the job fair. Thus, AUB students will not be exposed to these new or small companies and struggle more before or after graduation to find jobs in Lebanon. In comparison to other universities in Hamra, LAU charges $300 per campus and Haigazian promotes the companies for ...

A version of this article was originally published as my editorial for Cloud961 Magazine 's April issue . It seems that everyone is sticking their noses in the bloggers’ business these days, with no regards to their feelings—as if they are not living breathing human beings, but rather products that they can exploit or manipulate as they see fit. (If you cannot pick up on OR do not master the art of sarcasm, I suggest that you do not go through reading). First, there are the agencies who proudly announce to their clients that they are so close to the blogging community in Lebanon that they practically “own” them. They brainwash their clients into believing that they can push any content they want publicized to these bloggers and those  would gladly oblige because they “crave content” and they would “do anything to please the agency” or get the opportunity to test the latest smartphone model or car. Second, there are those washed-up-advertisers-turned-bloggers who tr...

How to piss off the online community in 10 simple steps The online community is an important part of a brand’s public relations strategy. It can make a huge difference for your brand resulting in more profit or loss, and in some cases even bankruptcy. That is why it’s crucial to handle these relationships very delicately. In general, this community is mostly made up of 16-30 year-olds who are extremely tech savvy and connected round the clock. As a brand, you should be extra careful about navigating this demographic, and here are the 10 things you need to avoid. 1. Discrimination We all know that discrimination is something that we want to avoid, but when it comes to social media, it is even worse because it’s public and you will get a lot of heat. This includes the different forms of discrimination including ageism, disability or so forth. 2. False News Fact-checking and research are the key words here. On the internet, news travels fast, even if it is untrue. Eventually,...

Inspiring People from the Lebanese Online Community David Munir Nabti works to support high impact innovation & entrepreneurship, and youth/alternative media. He is Co-founder 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, Service-Learning Research & Development Center), and Google, as a freelance journalist, and interned at Cisco Systems HQ and KQED (SF public media...

Celebrities Should Not Trust their Social Media Accounts with Agencies or Employees. 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 high-profile figures throughout her career, including George W. Bush when he was in office back in 2005. 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 . What motivated you to start using social media as a media professional? I think that I started ver...