The Doha Twitter Story

The below article was published in Gulf Times on 09 June 2010, my initial interaction days with the people in Doha to speak about twitter. Click on the below image to read the article.

Twestival Article in Qatar Tribune

The below article was published in Qatar Tribune on 26 March 2011 for Doha Twestival. Click on the pic to read. Doha Twestival Team managed to raise QR 87,000. Proud to be part of the Doha Twestival team.

Mobification of your Website

The below article was published in Qatar Today's March 2011 issue (Qatar's No. 1 business magazine). Click on the images to read through.


*** Article Text***  Mobification of your website!

 When was the last time you spent more than 30 seconds on a mobile based website to find some content? You may try using your iPhone, Android or Blackberry to get a daily dose of news, social media or other information, however the experience may not be pleasant if the website is not mobile friendly and takes time to load? As new mobile devices, development platforms are introduced it is difficult to keep pace with the technology. A classic example is a Financial Institution planning to introduce mobile banking; however the management is not able to make up its mind on various options like -  Developing an iPhone Application

- Creating a customized mobile website for devices like Blackberry, iPhone, Android etc. A recent study by a Dubai based PR firm *Spot On Mobile Internet Usage proved that 45% of the MENA Internet users use mobile phones to access Internet This means there will be less dependence on the use of desktop computers as people prefer to access information on the move. The question is how your website will appeal to those 45% users who access it from a mobile device. Despite the fact that the expansion of a mobile web business has been on the industry list for a while; the dazzling adoption of smart phones will see it actualize in this decade. As per Mary Meeker, the managing director of Morgan Stanley and an active Internet analyst, the world is going through a 5^th major technology cycle within last five decades. The 60’s was a mainframe era, the 70’s was a mini computer era, and 80’s was the personal computing whilst 90’s was the desktop Internet era. The current cycle is the Mobile Internet era, as per Mary Meeker who was dubbed as “Queen of the Net” by Barron’s magazine in 1998. Let us see few bite sized tips which may help you catch up with the 5^th tech cycle and enhance your mobile based website: - Having the best of technology doesn’t guarantee traffic on your mobile website – With the massive influx of iPhones and other smart devices, users are migrating from desktop to these devices at a rapid pace. Some of these devices like iPhones don’t support the multimedia platforms like flash and others may have issues with JavaScript. Till date approximately 85 mm iPhone devices have been sold and your website may not reach these customers due to flash limitations. A few alternative programs like HTML 5 and CSS 3 can do the trick. Simplify your website – The mobile version of your site needs to be simple with minimal graphics. Eliminating graphics is an effective way to optimize your website. You may redo your website layout, menus, content etc. Develop an application for various platforms – As previously mentioned in the article; influx of various mobile development platforms has left many websites in a dilemma. Many organizations are not willing to pursue an app for various platforms/mobile devices. However it is wise to invest in the popular device like Google Android and definitely iPhone to extend your reach. Irrespective of the devices visitors are using, give them a link to access your standard website and vice versa. This can be done be placing a small link at the bottom of your application. Track your visitors – I am rather concerned but not surprised that many commercial websites don’t have metrics software installed to help them track usage. There are some good analytical software’s like Google Analytics and Piwik that can be used by your website to track number of visitors, daily traffic, etc at no cost. With the help analytical tools you can identify the pages that are frequently visited by the users. If the users immediately navigate away from your landing page, it may need to be redesigned. Another reason why you should consider launching a mobile website is because Qtel may launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) in 2011, which was announced in the World Mobile Congress, 2011. LTE is 4G technology which will result in: - High-Speed data connection can delivers speeds than can be 10x faster than 3G Lower operating and expansion costs for the operator may lead to reduction in customer usage prices. To conclude, mobile websites are here to stay and if you are new in the business ensure that your new website doesn’t get outdated before its launch.The mobile internet is so addictive that the embracing of the Apple devices is taking place at the rate of 11 times faster than that of AOL, as per Meeker. Helping to drive this is the 3G technology, which is expected to reach a penetration rate of 19% by 2011 E in Middle East and Africa. Wait and watch as the global mobile usage is expected to surpass desktop internet usage by 2013. 

Online Media Analysis on #Egypt Crisis

The Egyptian crisis has moved the International media as the world focuses its attention toward a peaceful political breakthrough. The social media has played a very important role in creating awareness, organizing protests in the country, reporting various events at the rallies etc. Below is a summarized analysis of 

Let us go through a few trends on the keyword #Egypt and #Jan25: -

- Approximately 13k tweets are being tweeted on an hourly basis

- More than 3 million tweets have been tweeted on #Egypt across the world past 1 week.

- Approximately 11k tweets are being tweeted on #Jan25 on an hourly basis

- More than 2 million tweets have been tweeted on #Jan25 across the world past 1 week.

- More than 17000 videos have been uploaded on Youtube past one week using the word #Egypt

- Sentiment Analysis on #Egypt

I also did a quick analysis on other countries where the protests against their current government is on a rise.

- #Yemen takes the lead on Twitter with 20k tweets past 1 week followed by #Jordan and #Algeria.

The above analysis was done use various tools available online and using Twitter and Youtube search engine data.

Google Trends for Middle East 2010

The below study covers UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Check out below the Top Keywords that the users searched on Google in 2010. The searches are dominated by social media sites.

One interesting point to be noted is how users are searching their interests in Arabic (العربية) on Google.

Dubai emirate has dominated search in UAE, considering it has been in highlights for financial issues through out the year. Facebook remains the most sought after site in the search world.

User search for صور (Games) was the 3rd highest in Oman. Forums (منتديات ) stands at 7% of the top 10 searched items. 

Youtube is the most popular video engine site in the Middle East and Facebook the most popular Social Media Site.  People are keen to play games, view photographs and participate in forums. 

Interestingly Lebanon has Nokia among the top 10 searches, which can predict that it may be one of the most popular brands there. 

Qatar 2022 - Twitter Times

FIFA awarded Qatar the 2022 world cup to Qatar today evening. Qatar brings the World Cup to the smallest host ever but one which has unparalleled financial power to stage the world's biggest single-sport event. It overcame the reservations of many people about holding the games in desert heat. 

Qatar will stage a World Cup in and around Doha in a desert summer but promises state-of-the-art technology to cool fans and players alike. It beat the United States in the final round of voting 14-8.

The community tried to bring the #Qatar2022 amongst the top 10 trending topics on twitter, however, twitosphere had different plans. Varied versions of Qatar like Quatar and Katar came out as a trending topics on twitter. 

Check out collection of some interesting tweets posted before and after the announcement: - 

@dohanews 'Russia's really cold, so maybe they'll be ok that Qatar is really hot' overheard watching #qatar2022 bid

@AlmahaAli When Americans ask me "what's Qatar" I will go like "u know the country who beat u 2 the bid 2022

@rachelannmorris To all those (mainly in dubai) who told me I was nuts moving to #doha all those years ago...don't make me say "I told you so"

@AlexKunawicz The speed camera in Doha that fines you £800 is going to be working overtime for next 12 years. Wonder what fine will be by #Qatar2022 ?

@ya3gooby We learn from #Qatar2022: 1)Importance of clear Long-term vision, 2) Work Hard and You'll achieve, 3) Top-Level Support is vital for success

@sghazzi 21 degrees in doha but tonight doha is on fire #qatar2022

@Alkhulaiwi Thank you Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani. You are a true hero for the younger generation. #Qatar2022

@Xische The bid website has to be contractually taken down 60 secs after announcement. Its down already! http://www.qatar2022bid.com #Qatar2022

@eskaff if Beers not allowed go for #redbull #Qatar2022

@hussdajani am seriously out of words! I don't think it has kickd n yet!:) this has HUGE positive changing effect4this region

@leiandroid It makes me smile knowing that a country people can't even locate won against... well, the US. Maybe it'll motivate people to grab an atlas.

@Mohsinaltaf i need your support for 2028 for pakistan :) . ok?