Arabian Bytes - Digital and Tech Trends in the Middle East

Facebook users in Arab Countries

In the wake of Facebook’s stock market flotation on Friday, here is a neat infographic by Khaled El Ahmed detailing the use of Facebook in the Arab world so far this year. Source: Wamda Facebook use in the Arab world has grown exponentially over the last few years, with an approximate total of 43 million [...]

The Week That Was: May 17, 2012

Today we’re rounding up TWTW with a mixture of mouldy sandwich bags, a Google Street View photo bomb, Facebook billionaires and “Sabotage” kids, bringing to you some of the most fun and extreme PR and digital stories from the week. Enjoy! Value of Facebook to reach $100bn? Trading in shares for the social networking giant [...]

The Week That Was

So much great news to condense into one small space this week, but here’s a selection of some of the best! YouTube channels on the rise in Middle East According to a report in The National, the popularity of the online video sharing website YouTube has increased ‘phenomenally’ in Arab countries, with particular growth in [...]

The Week That Was: Reloaded!

After taking a short hiatus, The Week That Was is back in full force, bringing a roundup of the best, most awesome, and on occasion downright shocking PR and digital stories from around the globe! Kick–starting TWTW, we’re going straight to our old friend Facebook, whose weekly news is never too far from the Arabian [...]

Arabic volunteers strive to boost Arabic e-content

Taghreedat, the Arab initiative extending 10 Middle Eastern countries in support of Arabizing digital content, is set to introduce the first Arabic Tech/Web 2.0 Dictionary. According to Gulf News, so far over 2,500 people have volunteered to take part in this new global glossary which will standardise Arabic definitions of online e-terms, such as “spam”, [...]

UAE-Tube Live; MENA Second in Content Consumption

In a recent story about the launch of the UAE-centric YouTube site, YouTube.co.ae, Google’s Managing Director of Middle East North Africa, Ari Kesisoglu, confirmed that, “…[YouTube] users in MENA upload one hour of video per minute. There are 167 million video views a day in MENA, putting the region in the number two spot in [...]

Choosing the right digital channels

Years ago, simply having an online presence was enough for one-way broadcasting and distribution of information. Today, the explosion of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many more are driving new forms of social interaction between brands and customers. As a result, there has been a hugely growing demand on becoming social as almost [...]

Twitter in Arabic: Now a reality

On Tuesday, Twitter announced on its blog that its homepage is now available in Arabic. Long-promised by Twitter, their blog thanked the 13,000 volunteers who helped translate Twitter into four new languages, adding Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu. More from Twitter’s blog: Twitter Now Available in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu

Infographic: 7 Successful Tech Pivots

Technology and media are evolving before our eyes it seems, a point the Pivot Conference has illustrated beautifully with an infographic they compiled showcasing how seven tech and web companies today started out. It’s a great reminder that we are right in the middle of a technological revolution. While established industries rely on large scale [...]

Arabic Twitter version on the horizon

With the #LetsTweetinArabic (or #Taghreedat) movement on Twitter and the investment of $300 million in Twitter by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, it’s little wonder Twitter is preparing to launch its long-awaited Arabic interface this spring. Promised as long ago as November 2010 when Twitter founder Biz Stone was in Abu Dhabi, according to [...]