Twitter and social media played a huge part in the Arab Spring as it unfolded in Eygpt in 2011 and as the country continues to struggle with political division new dramas are unfolding daily on Egypt’s streets. These dramatically came to life last night as The Semiramis InterContinental hotel in Cairo sent out a Twitter SOS via is @ICSEMIRAMIS handle as it came under attack by thugs.

Demonstrators had already burned police vehicles as they fought with police near Tahrir Square and then headed for the hotel. Read More »

Last year during the Arab Spring we had the Egyptian man who named his newborn daughter “Facebook” and now it is being reported that a mother has called her newborn baby Hashtag – proving if nothing else that this has really been Twitter’s year.

Ironically the news came via a Facebook post where the parents, as many now do, have apparently set up an account for their newborn baby whose full name is “Hashtag Jameson”. Read More »

A good addition here to the tips for journalists using social media file from the Wall Street Journal.

Social media and journalism have developed a symbiotic relationship evidenced as we reported recently by a study showing many UK journalists say they “can’t work without social media. It is only some on the fringes who continue to argue that social media destroying good journalism. That is simply not true.

You only have to look to how journalists have used it to cover the Arab spring and Syria — that conflict in-particular has been noted as a ‘War Reported by social media and citizen-journalists’.

The tips here while aimed at those working in the media are more widely applicable to many others working in social media. It’s about good practice and that is universal.

Read More »

The Economist takes a look at the other side of the Arab Spring as investors look for the next big idea to come out of the troubled region.

It reports on how private-equity are investing in high-growth companies as they help incubate new internet and mobile companies across the Middle East from Cairo and Beirut to Dubai and Jordan.

Although in the same way that people have struggled to change regimes start-ups face problems of their own from bankruptcy being a criminal offence in several countries to miles of red tape elsewhere. Read More »

Some interesting examples here of how both sides are using social media in the battle for Syria.

Particularly striking is how Instagram is being used the the opposition to document the fighting.

In the previous Arab Spring uprisings  in Egypt and Libya we saw much less of that and more of  Twitter and Facebook — particularly in the former. Read More »

An interesting piece on Middle East Voices looking at how Western journalists from the likes of the Washington Post, the Associated Press and Die Zeit are using social media and citizen journalists to help supplement their stories on the fighting in Syria.

With the government of President Bashar al-Assad trying desperately hard to keep the international media out of Syria reporters are taking advantage of the output of hundreds of Syrian activists who are producing YouTube videos as well as using Twitter, Facebook and Skype to tell their stories. Read More »

The tension between journalists and bloggers has raged ever since “web 2.0” emerged in the new millennium. The journalist is educated and trained, and considered the voice of the nation. Surely they are above other wannabe hacks? But the internet came along and broke this business model, allowing “citizen journalists” to share what they wanted with the world.

Yes, that leads to a lot of dross. But there are some people who can write well, deliver a balanced opinion, and actually share real facts. So what’s the difference between these writers and ‘journalists’? The difference is that journalists get paid by newspaper brands that add credibility and scale with which they can broadcast their views. Read More »

Here we go again. Last year it was Microsoft’s Bing capitalising on the #SupportJapan campaign in the wake of the earth quake and tsunami there and then we had fashion designer Kenneth Cole riding on the coattails of #Egypt.

We’ve had a few pieces on social media and journalism asking in the first instance if social media was killing it with another post arguing that social media wasn’t killing journalism, but rather changing the system.

So interesting to add into that mix these comments from Tony Maddox, the executive vice president and managing director of CNN International, talking about how social media is no substitute for journalism. Read More »