Mind Soup

It has been a while since I last blogged on this platform and I do miss blogging about what's going on in my life. Truth be told, for the last couple of years, I have been extremely busy, not only when it comes to my professional career as a communications consultant, but also working on social impact issues with several local and international organizations such as Junior Chamber International (JCI) which is a 101-year-old UN-partner organization that aims to make positive impact through youth empowerment as well as the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers program which empowers successful individuals in 436 different hubs to positively impact their communities. Hopefully I will be writing more about these organizations in the future. In this post, I am going to be talking about the two activities that I took part of this month in Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul is one of my favorite cities. Having been traveled to dozens of cities in the last couple of years, Istanbul has my ...

JCI Beirut hosted me on Wednesday March 2, 2016 to conduct a hands-on training about Social Media Strategy at Berytech Beirut Digital District. In this workshop, where more than 50 people from different backgrounds (students, fresh graduates and professionals) attended, I explained how to create a social media strategy for business. The points discussed included examples of brands that do not have a proper strategy, defining social media goals, the sales cycle, asset mapping, defining the audience and creating personas, choosing channels, voice & tone, posting frequency & time, crisis management, and understanding Facebook's algorithm. The session was followed by a Q&A session. I was really overwhelmed by the positive feedback from the attendees after the session especially that several ha said that they learned so many new things that they have not learned when they took expensive workshops or companies. It had been almost two years since I had given a public so...

I was invited to speak at the 4th Arabian Social Media Forum in Kuwait last week. I spoke about some case studies that reflected the state of social media in the Middle East. In my presentation, I discussed successful campaigns from Lebanon, UAE, KSA, Jordan and Egypt. I have also included examples of bad conduct from brands and celebrities on social media, in addition to examples of really bad (ugly) examples of social media customer service from Lebanon and Kuwait. Some key takeaways from the presentation: A simple campaign can go viral for a long time if implemented properly. (# MyDubai ) Negative content spreads much faster than positive content. Campaigns that use negative content in a smart way can take advantage of this with a smaller advertising budget. (Ugliest Couch campaign) You must know and study your demographic before you launch an online campaign. (Samsung Levant's Secret Valentine) With a small budget, small businesses can hugely increase their sales wh...

This was the first post we came across by Malik's Lebanon . It's a cute idea, but we're a bit worried that One Directioners (is that the official name of the fandom?) might take it seriously and possibly murder Malik's workers when they find out it's a joke.  Abril foul indeed, good one NGNO !  XXL Energy released an original new flavor inspired by Lebanon. haha Oh Beirut+ TV , how we wish all of what you said was true! Watch the episode here.   Selfie sticks gone too far spotted on Mashable . Update: Apparently this is not a joke? We weep for the future of our planet. A very apparent fake product release was announced by Barry M , the Nip Dip would hypothetically allow you to apply glitter to your nipples.Not sure how we feel about this one... We love it when law enforcement agencies have a sense of humor, good one GMP Radcliffe   One of our favorites (if not absolute favorite) was obviou...

I was invited last month to speak about the state of entrepreneurship in Lebanon at the Lebanon SME Congress by eBusinessLebanon. Below is my presentation from the conference. Is entrepreneurship in Lebanon really what it is hyped up to be? Don't believe all the fluff, this is what start-ups, accelerators and crowd-funding really like in Lebanon! A clever presentTion by mohamad hijazi of cloud961 at lebanon sme congress yes SOME entrepreneurs have a big mouth and are simply ignorant — Maan Barazy (@maanbarazy) December 18, 2014

It has become undoubtful that technology is changing our lives drastically, mostly to the better. This change, however, did not only affect us physically, but also psychologically and behaviorally. Social media in particular has changed the way we view and manage communication and interpersonal relationships. The virtual is slowly but surely becoming the reality. Social media has certainly given us better and more efficient communication tools, but has also altered our personalities. In our cover feature for this issue, psychologist Lea Hannouch discusses how the Internet makes users more confident and efficient with their virtual lives, but also more aggressive and impulsive. The quick pace of tech has also caused a psychological shock that has led to several disorders such as the Phantom Ringing Syndrome, Nomophobia, Cybersickness, The Google Effect, Cyberchondria, Sleep Texting, among others. Additionally, our health has taken a hit due to the increased stress and fear levels,...

Linkedin is the premiere social network for business, yet most people do not know how to use it effectively. Cloud961 Magazine's Editor in Chief, Mohammad Hijazi, will be giving a seminar for entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs about using Linkedin to promote their start-ups, find investors, partners and employees and build a solid connection base. This seminar is part of Global Entrepreneurship week that is taking place on November 17-23 and is FREE OF CHARGE . Date: November 20, 2014 Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm Location: Coworking +961, Sursock Palace ( View Map ) Get your ticket on ihjoz now before they run out again! About Mohammad Hijazi Mohammad Hijazi runs the Online Collaborative, a non-profit initiative that aims to promote awareness about technology and social media, and is the organizing entity of The Social Media Awards which took place last year in Beirut and launching in several Arab countries this year. In addition, he is the Editor in Chief of Cloud...

Founded in 2012, Game Cooks is a collective of artists, designers and developers with a shared passion for gaming. Based in Lebanon and catering to the world, the team creates fun and feel-good type games, with a twist, which people from the region can relate to and players from all over the world can enjoy. Game Cooks focuses on producing international games for iOS and Android. So far, Game Cooks has launched 7 mobile games, available for iOS and Android, the latest being Cubama, a 3D reflex game, which requires concentration and speed. Here is an interview with Lara Noujaim, Game Cook's marketing manager. How did the idea for Game Cooks begin and how was it funded? Game Cooks was born out of a shared passion for gaming and how games are created! It all started with an idea for a game—and that idea turned into Birdy Nam Nam. Birdy Nam Nam proved to be a great success; having amassed over a quarter million downloads from its first week alone! This was enough motivation for...

With an extensive background in computer science and information technology as well as the entertainment, music and mobile industries, Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun crossed paths and founded Anghami, a platform providing access to over five million international and Arabic songs through a convenient, user-friendly application allowing users to stream all the music they want on their mobile. Anghami has agreements with over 4,000 record labels, thus granting users access to the widest variety of content in the region. The mobile application is available for download on different smartphones, including iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Nokia devices. The company offers a free, ad-supported version of the app, which allows usage only with an Internet connection. Anghami+, the premium ad-free application, allows users to stream an unlimited number of songs and to access playlists when offline. Anghami has partnered up with MBC and added songs from popular shows lik...