Oman Collective Intelligence - MPiRe

10 dumbest social media questions

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Tue, 07 May 2013 04:14:00 +0000

The following is a sort of frequently asked questions I get from clients or potential clients, usually CEOs or GMs, not junior marketing. Obviously I'm not very convincing since i get to hear the same questions again and again.

Can we manage to sell the old stock before the end of the month?

Most likely not. As you know, we’re not currently using social media as a selling platform, except when we have offers or promotions, but as a place to inform and engage our audience. Connecting with people and expanding our fan base will increase brand loyalty which, in the long term, will translate into revenue.

Why our competitor has more fans? We need at least 100,000 fans!

They usually ask me this question a week after we started working together. It takes time to create a loyal fan base and we’re still in the set-up phase as drafted in the main strategy (remember?). At the end of the set-up phase we’ll evaluate the various platforms we’re using, their growth and engagement as well as doing a comparison with competitors. A month later I usually get to hear the same question from the same person again...

Why don’t we buy fans, I heard they’re really cheap!?

Sure, you can buy fans, they’re very cheap. They will also have zero contribution to your page, they will NEVER EVER be your customers and they will lower your overall page engagement making your page nearly invisible. Plus, I won’t be working with you any longer.

Why didn't you delete that negative comment and banned that fan?

We've created a policy (remember?) which states how and when we delete comments and ban fans. We’re not a dictatorship and fans are free to leave any feedback, whether positive or negative. Thanks to feedback we can improve our services, build customer loyalty and show our ‘human’ side.

Why should I pay you to use Facebook, my assistant can easily do it as she’s already writing our news releases and our (outdated) website.

Of course your assistant can do it but to properly implement Facebook, for instance, she would require at least 40 hours a month, including evenings and weekends, and I’m sure she would love to get so much extra work. Your assistant though can definitely be a great addition to the team.

Why do we publish so many photos?

Ever heard the saying ‘an image speaks for a thousand words’? Images are more eye-catchy, generate more interest, are more likely to appear in fans’ news feeds and also are likely to be shared.

My assistant is very popular and on her personal profile she has more than 2000 friends, why don’t we change it into the corporate page?

NO! Facebook launched Pages for businesses and brands back in November 2007 with several advantages such as advertising options, analytics, apps and many other features. Plus, maintaining a personal account for anything other than an individual is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Can you guarantee me our next promotion will go viral?

No, nobody can guarantee you that. It’s hard to say what people will/won't like and anyone that promises for your content to go viral is lying. This is a useful checklist for a highly effective online campaign.

Can we link Facebook with Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram so we only need to post once?

Better not. Each platform is different with different audiences. We need to cater our messages and their tones to each specific audience if we want to be listened. Let’s not be robots.

I heard social media I very cheap, if not free…

This is the biggest lie of all time! Social media is cost effective if compared to other activities such as TV advertising but it still does not come cheap if you want to plan and execute it the right way.

Hope nobody gets upset ;). Do you have any to share too?

For beginners: setting up a Wordpress site like a pro

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:04:00 +0000

Guest post by PressTheWord - Wordpress has become one of top programs used for web developers looking to build new websites. The reason behind this is the speed and ease with which even the most basic user can setup a website. In this video, you will be walked through step-by-step in building a website from scratch using Wordpress.

Since Wordpress is so widely utilized in web design today, many web hosts have made it as simple as possible for webmasters to initialize a Wordpress install. The first part of the video will introduce you to Hostgator and how you can setup your own domain name and web hosting and then follow that up with a quick and simple Wordpress install.

Once you've completed the installation, you will need to learn how to setup the look of your site and then setup content for that site. Wordpress themes are a simple and convenient way to change the overall style and functionality of Wordpress sites. You will learn how to find new themes for your website and then learn how to quickly install and setup those themes to your new site.

After setting up your theme, you will be shown how to setup new content on your site. Ever wonder how bloggers create those amazing posts? You will find out how in this video. In just a few minutes, you will have the basics to setup content like a pro.

Finally, you will learn some of the little tweaks that many Wordpress users can use to improve their site functionality and also how you can use your site to connect to other users. You will learn the functionality of widgets, how to create a free logo for your website, and also how to link Facebook and Twitter to your web page.

Just a decade ago, you would have to spend countless hours or thousands of dollars to create the same type of website you can create with Wordpress. This hour long video will give you all the basic you will ever need to setup your site and get your prescience on the World Wide Web.

PressTheWord is a tutorial channel in youtube that helps Wordpress beginners create mobile friendly websites like a pro, if you are in the hunt for detailed Wordpress tutorials, visit their channel at www.youtube.com/PressTheWord

The mystery behind the Nissan Oman Facebook page

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 04:22:00 +0000

The other day during a meeting I was asked how it is possible that the Nissan Oman Facebook page has nearly 6 million fans when in Oman we have a population of about 3 million people. That conversation inspired me to write this post about 'global pages'.

The Nissan Oman page actually has about 18k fans but what you see when landing on the page is a much bigger number. You can see the following screenshot, it clearly shows 5.7 million fans.

How’s that possible? A trick? No, very simple.

At the end of last year Facebook rolled out FacebookPages for global brands which allow international brands to maintain a single fan page with additional localized sub pages for users in different countries.

All multiple pages, from the same brand, are able to merge into the one URL www.facebook.com/brandXYZ, and still keep their content.

This is great from a branding point of view, as users from all countries will see the same page name (translated into their local language), and also to keep communication more consistent. The ‘number of fans’ and ‘People Talking About This’ will show the combined total number for all countries...a bit of showing off is always good!

What sub pages admins can change is the profile photo, cover photo, about section, photos and the various tabs/apps.

Users who visit a global page are automatically directed to the version specific to their region or country, so if I’m in Oman I’ll see the Oman sub page. If I’m in the UK I see the UK sub page. This allows the social media teams in each country to post specific photos and comments which can engage only their local audiences.

So if we look at Nissan again; this is a screenshot from the Nissan Global page (which has 77 sub pages) at it has exactly the same number of fans and 'Talking about this' but status updates, as well as profile pic, cover image, about section, photos and tabs, differ from Nissan Oman and all other countries:

Mystery solved!

Facebook in Oman - Merge 104.8 Top of the Pops!

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:27:00 +0000

Success on Facebook is not how many fans you have; more important is their activity such as likes, comments and shares which fuel the virality and high rankings in news feeds.

Keeping your fans entertained is not easy task, especially when you have tens of thousands, if not more. It’s a bit like inviting friends over for dinner; cooking for two guests is easy while cooking for ten guests is quite a task.

It also needs to be said that it is way easier to engage people if you sell cool gadgets rather than financial services so each industry differs a lot from another.

Having said that let’s have a look at the top 10 Facebook pages in Oman in terms of fans:

And here is again the same 10 but according per engagement. The engagement rate(%) is calculated by the average amount of likes, comments and shares per day divided by the number of fans (I don't agree much with this way of measuring engagement but it is the most commonly used, maybe i'll do a post dedicated to this).

A few differences there but clearly the table shows that a few pages are doing ok while the others seem to ignore, or not engage enough, their fans. Here, Merge 104.8 is the clear winner.

It seems the happy gang has the right content for all fans. On Facebook content is king (they say) so if you provide informative and valuable content both your fan base and engagement rate are likely to increase. It’s not rocket science and this I'm going to give is the winning formula:

planning+dedication+time+passion+some humour+cash=LOTS OF WORK!

Well done to our good friends Chris, Rummy, Neil, Sami, Sayeh (even if not there any longer) and the other Neil who does lots of great work behind the scenes.

Of course there are many other pages in Oman with higher engagement but out of the top 10 Merge 104.8 looks at everyone else from above and in the next few days i'll show you how they're doing it ;)

Social media job of the day

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 04:01:00 +0000

The Role

Summary:

To create, lead and expand the function of a social media center within the corporate communications division of bank.

Management accountability profile.

To direct and execute the following:

General:

Start-up and manage a social media center to manage the brand reputation for bank.
Strict compliance and maintenance of bank online brand corporate identity.
Implement stakeholder relationship strategy.
Initiate and create online marketing and communications strategies for corporate, bank retail products and CSR products.
Direct all through-the-line communication campaign briefs, and follow-through supervision of all roll-out deliverables are converted to social media space usage
Supervise internal communications briefs plus follow-through supervision of roll-out deliverables for bank staff and stakeholders
To ensure social media space runs as a profit center based on quarterly forecasting as per budget requirements

Staff:

Ensure the social media center is in full compliance with HR department KPIs and staff appraisal metrics.
Lead and coordinate internal departmental staff.
Initiate social media training programmes.
Inspire a culture of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking in the social media center.
Ensure the social media center reflects a true and favorable corporate image of bank amongst all stakeholders, especially Government authorities, bank customers and the general public in social media space/channels.
Social media space accountability profile.

To direct and execute the following:

Specific:

Brand guardian of the bank’s online corporate identity – ensuring total compliance internally and by all media space channels; also ensuring the brand CI guideline is kept up to date and enforced.
Interpret external influences as they apply to bank to prepare effective external marketing/communications online strategies.
To executive the policy and procedural guidelines through which the social media center can conduct responsible, constructive interaction / engagement in both official and unofficial capacities for bank and all business units.
Establish rules for employees to govern their own social media usage when they speak of or for bank.
Promote a corporate environment for bank to share (narrative post) its expertise
To recognise and develop specific bloggers as key influencers (assets) to offer educated opinions on bank stories, products and services.
Protect bank integrity, the brand, products, services and employees through specific rules, regulations and immutable laws across social media space.
Develop and implement comprehensive plans to provide an effective interface between the stakeholders (especially the general public) and bank through online media, participation in social media bodies, associations/ investment communities etc. as appropriate.
Quarterly health check on online branding presence and SOV/SOM analytics.
Respond to requests for information from stakeholders (internal and external posters); thus responding to inaccurate or negative reports regarding the Bank, and to both clarify and safeguard the bank’s position on such issues.
Provide assistance to senior members of the Management and Board members in preparing speeches, letters and articles that are made public online.
Prepare in consultation with other relevant departments, updates about the performance of the Bank, which could include annual and quarterly reports and regular brand health checks that will be published online.
Create social media guidelines for employees, customer and vendors so they understand who can post what, where and when in all social media.
Ensure the reputation of the bank’s brand presence.
Identify the stakeholders and other relevant communities.
Identify trending social media spaces.
Conduct on-going surveys and questionnaires to ensure content accuracy (through metrics and analysis).

Time management expectation

Managing brand equity and bank reputation.
Collating feedback and talking-back to people.
Working with stakeholders and complying with BU needs.
Assessing challenge management

Requirements

Qualifications and experience profile

Formal qualifications in either journalism/ mass communications / marketing

And / or

Minimum 10 years’ experience in corporate communications position is a must.
Certifiable previous positions may include: marketing director in international corporate, or, regional creative director in international advertising agency network, including G.C.C region.
Understanding of latest social media space marketing / online practices & technologies.
Senior management experience / team cultivation is a must.
Start-up / profit centre leadership and direction is a must.
Excellent networking contacts in communications industry (worldwide).
Excellent presentation skills (to create and to present).
Smart looking and hardworking team attitude and multi-tasking ability is a must.
Understanding of bank (or other large-scale financial institution) is useful.
Candidate must be a natural leader, naturally articulate, and bring vast hands-on experience to this role.

About the Company

MENA HR Solutions offers an extensive portfolio of HR services, from regular temporary staffing and permanent placement to on site consultants, seconded specialists, recruitment of middle and senior managers and a comprehensive range of specialized HR services covering:

- Permanent hire recruitments

- Secondment and contract hire

- Executive Scan

- HR Consulting

- HR Outsourcing

- Project Management

- Training and Development

For those interested check out this link.

History of Handwritten Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:12:00 +0000

Guest post by Stephanie Garcia, from Sample Letters, with an infographic presenting a brief history about the origin and evolution of handwritten letters, right from the ancient times to the present day.

Twitter turns 7

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:22:00 +0000

A nice video with some of Twitter's milestones...

Muscat Where can I find? Social media at its best!

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:40:00 +0000

What is social media?

According to Wikipedia social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.

According to me social media is simply…people. People who share, exchange, create or discuss any type of information or content just for fun or helping others. Online forums are usually good examples.

So I’d like to highlight a very popular Facebook Group in Oman called 'Muscat Where can I find', started by ‘Mompreneur’ and ‘Super-Facebook-Admin’ Nicholla Henderson-Hall.
This group, with the very appropriate slogan ‘Somebody always knows Something!’, has more than 2200 members and the whole point of it is to help others finding pretty much anything and avoiding bad experiences.

Whether you’re looking for non-stick cookware, or a ballet school, or a hypnotist, or a car rental company or the best spots for bird watching there will always be someone out there willing to share their knowledge and experiences with you, for nothing in exchange.

Members of this group are not keen on advertisements, therefore Nicholla, in order to keep it genuine and advertisements free, came up with a few ideas to keep both members and potential advertisers happy, click here and find out more.

Check out Muscat Where can I find, and well done Nicholla!

Yanni live in Oman on March 21

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:06:00 +0000

Brought to Oman and organised for the second time by the Black & White magazine, this year’s show also has a charity initiative behind it. The B&W has teamed up with Dar Al Atta’a to build a school shelter for children in Yiti Village.

Oman on the musical map

“Besides bringing a world class event to Oman, for the second time that is, we also feel that world famous musicians like Yanni can help put Oman on the musical map of the world. Yanni and his team are known to promote the countries they perform in and this was evidenced in the media blitz that he created during his last visit to Oman,” Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali, Editor in Chief of B&W said. “Also, all our events have a charity initiative. This time, we wanted to support Dar Al Ataa’a to build a school (building) in Yiti Village. We sincerely hope our Yanni event will help us in our humble attempt.”

So once again, the smoky-eyed Greek-American with flowing hair and magical fingers is set to enthrall music lovers in Muscat. Legendary composer and live performer Yanni, who played to rhapsodic listeners in Oman two years back, is all set to unleash his live musical extravaganza at the magnificent 5000-strong capacity City Amphitheatre, Qurum, on March 21, this year.

Tickets priced at OMR25, OMR50 and OMR100 and VVIP can be booked on 24565697 and 98675976. They are on sale at the MacDonald’s, The Sultan Centre and Woodlands.

More details on www.yanni.com, www.yannioman.com or mail to yanniconcert@blackandwhiteoman.com.

Blogs in Oman (2013)

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:31:00 +0000

Nearly two years ago I blogged about the “Top 15 most popular blogs in Oman” so I thought it’d be good to do an update on the local blogosphere, English only, and all those people who entertain us through their blogs.

There are plenty of new blogs in Oman, not only in Muscat but from other cities too, while some of the ‘old bloggers’ have stopped or don't post as regularly as they used to. You’ll find all kind of stuff; from local events to photography, from fashion to tourism, etc. There’s blogs for any and every taste. One interesting stat; there are more female than male bloggers.

I’m not going to call it “The best blogs in Oman” or “The top blogs in Oman” as I believe all blogs, one way or another, are great. We all blog for different reasons and we all put efforts and time in sharing our feelings, experiences, views, findings, etc. and we have different audiences.

So the list below was made, to be fair, according to Alexa. The rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and page views over the past 3 months. Let me know if I've forgotten someone :)

Hold tight to your sits, there will be surprises...here we go!

1. Muscat Mutterings

2. Oman Law Blog

3. Andy in Oman

4. Anubis

5. a nomad in the land of nizwa

6. Salim Al-Harthy Photography

7. suitcaseandumbrella

8. How to live like an Omani princess

9. Live From Muscat

10. Freezing Omanis

11. Pumpkin Polar Bear

12. Our new life in Ohhhhman!

13. Dhofari Gucci

14. Oman in monochrome (mostly)

15. Arwa’s blog

16. Susan Al Shahri

17. Oman coast

18. Mademoiselle Shosho

19. Omanly

20. Yellow Street Photos

21. KishorCariappa

22. Maria’s Chronicles

23. Travels into Oman

24. Dhofar Eco Bug

25. Rummy’s Scribblings

26. Sweetness of Salalah

27. English girl in Oman

28. Blue Chi’s

29. Running In Heelz

30. De Primo

31. Is this serious?

32. Mirroring my thoughts…!

33. Memoirs of An Omani Jewel

34. Destination Muscat

35. Coffeebean’s Dailies

36. winie.ariany

37. A window within myself

38. Indian School Sohar

39. n dot interiors

40. Rummy’s Doodles

41. Rainbow Touch

42. Spreading My Wings

43. A Safe Harbour

44. Rosmee’s Blog

45. Counter Culture

46. Reem Alshaikh Photography

CORRECTION: I forgot to include Maya's blog, 'Sew, Chic and Unique' which would actually be in the top 5. Thanks Maya ;)

If you want to see the full list of blogs please click under the blogroll where it says ‘Show All’.

World record - biggest Kumma in the world!

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:28:00 +0000

I’m re-blogging this from local blog Mademoiselle Shosho, by Shurooq Al Haremi (check her blog for more photos).

A new world record was established the other day, the biggest Kumma in the world! This extraordinary work was made by Amani Al Raisi and a team consisting of Ojas BH, Rohit Jadhav & Family.

Well done!

ooredoo, branding failure or social media success?

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:38:00 +0000

You probably heard it by now, as also blogged by Rummy, Nawras is going to be re-branded as ooredoo as part of Qtel Group new global strategy.

Let me start by saying that I’m not a branding guru and I’m not going to judge whether this is a good move since I don’t know the reasons behind it however this has generated some interesting feedback by Nawras’ customers, especially on Twitter, as well as comments from all over the region (there are tons in Arabic too).

Some people think is an old PR trick...

I bet the PR behind #ooredoo going 'we'll drop th bomb & get ppl to talk abt it & wonder what th name means' THEN we'll explain #oldesttrick
— Fatma Alsaleh (@fatewm) February 26, 2013

Someone else pointed out that maybe there should have been an opportunity for internal stakeholders to express their concerns about a re-branding strategy.

The lesson from the #Ooredoo branding fiasco should be that out of touch executives should run ideas by their kids before approving them
— Osamah Al Abdullatif (@muscati) February 26, 2013

But generally people, whether locals or expats, don't seem to get it.

@muscati "Ooredoo" in an Indian language Malayalam (malabari) means Disconnect ! :O
— Kalpak S (@kalpak_s) February 27, 2013

@muscati @khalphan Also I'm an Arab and I don't get the concept. #ooredoo twitter.com/MohammedAlRahb…
— Mohammed Al Rahbi (@MohammedAlRahbi) February 26, 2013

@muscati I am trying to understand the idea behind it .. Forget the logo .. What #ooredoo represents?
— Um Azzan | أم عزّان (@umazzan) February 26, 2013

Some others have just joked about it...

Everybody has got the #ooredoo logo wrong. The company is actually called red and the two "o's" on both sides are just circles.
— OK™ (@o3mer) February 26, 2013

Oreo with an extra O and D in it. OD-operating disorder "@gmrme: What do you think of Qtel's new branding? #Ooredoo"
— Varun Visruthan(@varun_kv) February 26, 2013

Maybe the oo oo are boobies.. We all know that sex sells... And red is a provocative color. Think about it #ooredoo
— Fatma Alsaleh (@fatewm) February 27, 2013

@techonefive one of Oman's home grown brand 'Nawras' needs to be saved from #ooredoo. #savenawras
— Muscat Mobiles (@MuscatMobiles) February 27, 2013

Just Keep repeating this word ( #ooredoo ) slowly , and you will feel relaxed and fall a sleep.
— Abdullah Alhuraizi (@Alhuraizi) February 25, 2013

Most people, across all continents, criticized the authenticity of the logo as it recalls several others in particular Beats by Dr. Dre as also mentioned by the Financial Times too on its blog.

#OOREDOO should ask for their $$$ back from the company that ripped off Dre's logo. How stupid do these branding companies think people are?
— Mohammed bin Hamad (@MbinH) February 25, 2013

I don't think anything has ever failed worse than #qtel rebranding to #ooredoo. Will Dr.Dre sue them ? #wmc13
— Hashmi (@Raxil) February 25, 2013

@sarahmk_ ooredoo ooredoo. Btw the logo is the exact same as Dr dre beats audio. What's up with that. Qtel was much more creative.
— Shaima Sherif (@ShaimaSherif) February 25, 2013

Even nawras’ former Brand Manager, sent out some strong tweets:

Also on Facebook, on Merge 104.8 page, the feedback wasn't particularly great.

It does not look encouraging however social media has given lots of useful insights to Nawras about customers’ feelings. So far Nawras, rightly so, sat back and avoided entering potentially dangerous conversations. All it did was to answer to several people with a general reply.

@shivanimadani Hi Shivani. The name will be changed later this year or during 2014.
— Nawras (@nawras_oman) February 27, 2013

Tough situation to be in; lots of world-wide negative sentiment which could have been avoided. Was ooredoo really poorly created or maybe it's a strategy to initiate online conversations and create a buzz? Or both?

Madonna too sexy for Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 04:44:00 +0000

Madonna, the pop music queen, recently joined Instagram and uploaded 19 photos. Of course within days she attracted nearly 200,000 followers but also grabbed the attention of photo sharing network.

Madonna seems to have broken one of Instagram rules by posting sexually suggestive photos of herself. The three naughty photos in question are one of her drinking in a lace bra, another zooming on her cleavage and one of the back of her, or maybe another woman, in dark lingerie.

So an official warning was sent to her by Instagram asking to get rid of those photos or her account will be terminated but so far Madonna has not taken any action.

Good publicity for both Madonna and Instagram.

The Harlem Shake phenomenon

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:51:00 +0000

It’s the ultimate thing. The latest internet trend.

If you have not heard of it yet, here's a brief explanation of the Harlem Shake.

On January 30 2013 the widely followed grotesque video-blogger Filthy Frank posted a video which opens with four people dressed in latex suits dancing to Baauer's Harlem Shake.

This was the start of the phenomenon!

Since then, many versions of the famous video have been made in offices, studios, subways and streets. Even the US Air Force, Google's office, the Norwegian Army and Manchester City Football Club, just to name a few, have done theirs. You'll find Harlem Shakes under water, skydiving and even in Egypt by the Pyramids, crazy!

All these are being viewed and shared by huge numbers of internet users. As of today there are about 50,000 video named Harlem Shake!

These are usually 30 second videos where at the beginning there's one person dancing, usually in a motorcycle helmet, while those around this person are seemingly oblivious to the action.

Then, when Baauer intones the words, "Do the Harlem Shake", everybody in the video dances wildly until the action hits slow motion as the music fades out. Here come some of the best ones:

New photography blog in Muscat

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:13:00 +0000

Some people say social media is destroying the art of photography while in my opinion it is actually making it even better...if possible.

This post is dedicated to our good friends Skyler and Heather who live and work in Muscat and recently set up their online presence; to me it is a good example of how online media, website and blog, are the best ways for displaying your creative work.

The photography duo, also known as Yellow Street Photos, has a great website with some fantastic photos taken in different places over the years. Several categories such as food, hotels, travel as well as a video section, check it out.

Their blog, Yellow Street Photos, is one of the best looking blogs I've seen around, elegant, modern and colourful. Loads of photos there, I love the Zanzibar ones but there are some astonishing photos of local places such as Musandam, Shangri-La, Jebel Shams and many more.

Of course, they’re on Facebook too. And I guess soon they’ll be on Instagram, who isn’t these days ;)

Check out their work and have a look at this awesome video...

Jebel from Skyler & Heather Burt on Vimeo.

Real or fake hacks....Twitter isn't laughing

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 06:59:00 +0000

Last Monday the Burger King Twitter account was hacked (and a few hours later Jeep was hacked too). Not too much of a surprise really as these days is quite easy to manipulate online data.

Obviously someone managed to hack the account and started to tweet promoting BK’s rival McDonald’s and insulting followers. Even the main image of the account was changed showing Mc Donald’s Fish McBites.

The hacker also had fun by posting other stuff such as the tweets and images below.

This lasted for about an hour after which the account was suspended. A few hours later the account was back to normal but it definitely costed a lot to BK in terms of reputation as many followers probably had not realised what was happening. However this hack created a big buzz and the number of followers increased from 83k 110k within an hour, not to mention that the story was covered by all sort of media.

Of course McDonald’s had nothing to do with it and tweeted the following:

So someone at MTV had the ~~brilliant~~ idea to pull a hack stunt to raise awareness of a BET (MTV’s sister network) live event in Los Angeles and, of course, gain more followers. MTV and BET pretended the same kind of hacking was happening to their accounts by switching profile photos and logos. MTV became BET, and vice versa.

There were some marked differences between the hacks of Burger King and Jeep when compared with MTV. MTV soon admitted it was just a marking stunt but many fans really did not like that.

What’s Twitter saying about all this? It has been silent on the episodes, aside from some well-timed password advice. If you recall a quarter million account passwords were compromised earlier this month so I’d assume Twitter isn't too happy about it. Twitter, unlike Google and Amazon for instance, still doesn't support two-factor authentication, the app-and-password-based security, and it can be an easy target.

Real or fake, these hacks are a public reminder...if a brand wants to protect itself against the next hacking, what should it do?

Twitter in a Freezer – world record

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:42:00 +0000

We’re currently tweeting and blogging at a temperature of -20!

We’re doing this social media world record attempt in order to highlight the profile of the Sultanate of Oman as an environment conscious country. Several environmental issues are in Oman and hopefully our efforts will raise more awareness and more importantly actions. It’s really hard to type J but it’s fun!

A few pics...

Rummy

Andy

Ameer and Bader

The gang

You can also find updates on the Freezing Omanis' blog, Rummy's blog and Andy's blog.

Omani bloggers and tweeps to attempt social media world record!

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:48:00 +0000

In their ongoing quest to increase awareness about protecting the environment and spreading awareness about the need for clean energy the soon-to-be-world-famous Freezing Omanis came up with an original idea.

Bader and Ameer, supported by several local blogger and tweeps, will do a tweet-up at a temperature of -20 degrees in the famous ‘evil freezer’! The attempt will take place this Thursday, February 21st, at 11am.

Click here to visit the Freezing Omanis blog and find out why a country like Oman, with its unique and diverse environmental issues, needs to get those different issues highlighted and show the world that the Sultanate and its community are serious about taking a step forward.

So who else is joining Bader and Ameer in the freezer? Who are these ~~crazy~~ brave people? Ladies first of course:

Maya from Sew Chic and Unique blog. You can follow her on Twitter too.

Fatima, you can follow her on Twitter.

Saba, you can follow her on Twitter.

Andy from Andy in Oman blog. Follow Andy on Twitter too.

There will also be someone from the happy gang of Merge 104.8. Maybe Rumaitha? She enjoyed the freezer a lot last time. Follow Merge 104.8 here.

Last...myself! I couldn't have missed such fun thing especially when related to both social media and the environment! You already know my blog, in case you want to find me on Twitter click here.

Will blog about the whole experience if I survive it! Stay tuned :)

Riot, the new ‘Google for spies’

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:46:00 +0000

Raytheon, the world's fifth largest defence contractor based in Massachusetts, developed software capable of tracking people's behaviour from social networking websites.
Riot, or Rapid Information Overlay Technology, can gather vast amounts of information about people from websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, but Raytheon says it has not sold the software...yet.

Riot is able to create an instant dossier covering a suspect's (or anyone really) likely geographic location, friends, photos and activities. In the video below, Raytheon's Brian Urch, principal investigator for RIOT, shows how easily the software can track one of Raytheon's employees, named Nick.

Have a look t it, it’s quite interesting...and scary (video likely to be removed soon).

Liverpool never walks alone in Muscat

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 04:17:00 +0000

If you live in Muscat and are a Liverpool fan then you might know this page already. Our friends at Muscat Reds have been in touch as their Facebook page reached 1000 fans, the first football supporters club in Oman to achieve such milestone.

On the page you can find all the good stuff you can expect; news, videos, players’ highlights and much more. Most importantly fans regularly meet on match days at the Habana sports bar at the Grand Hyatt to cheer for the Reds together. Let's see if Liverpool can improve their current form and make them proud ;)

Facebook page management checklist

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:41:00 +0000

A simple but useful infographic to help managing your Facebook page, courtesy of ShortStack.

Dynamic Content: making content unique for each visitor

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:46:00 +0000

This is a guest post by *Linda Forshaw - Websites have come a long way since the days when they were essentially an online brochure that presented the same information each and every time a customer paid a visit. Blogs, RSS feeds, content management systems - they have all played an important role in changing brochure-ware into more dynamic pieces of online real estate. Dynamic content goes one step further.

Dynamic content can be defined as those aspects of content on a webpage that change according to the profile of a visitor to a website or the history of their interactions with a company. Perhaps the most easily understandable example of dynamic content in practice is that of retail site Amazon who provide different purchase suggestions for each visitor according to the data they hold about that visitor in terms of previous searches, purchases, and other interactions.

Adapting website content to each unique visitor goes a long toward fulfilling the desire of marketers to guide potential customers and leads intuitively down the sales funnel. By creating experiences unique to each customer or, at the very least customer segment, brands can actively engage those customers in different ways; adapting their approach to each customer to maximise the possibility they will enjoy their experience and ultimately convert.

Convert? That all important and slightly magical word that all marketers love to hear. While deploying dynamic content methodologies does not automatically mean that every visitor to your site or every recipient of your email will become a paying customer, it does tend to reward you better results than non-targeted content. According to a Jupiter Research report The ROI of E-Mail Relevance, a targeted email campaign can result in 18x more revenue than that of a broadcast campaign. That’s hardly insignificant.

HubSpot, in their free downloadable guide to dynamic marketing, identify four key tools that are required in order to achieve dynamic content in your marketing mix.

Centralized Marketing Database

Your database acts as a central deposit for all the information you hold about a particular contact. It stores historic download and interaction data.

Editable Web Pages

Dynamic content works best if you have easy access to your own site. If even the smallest of changes have to go through a third party, making any updates to your site will result in delays.

Smart Content Generator

A smart content generator does exactly what it says on the tin; generates (or hides) smart (dynamic) content blocks. You set the rules as to how the generator behaves based on information held in your centralised marketing database.

An Integrated Email System

This is not essential but a definite nice-to-have. If your email system is integrated into your marketing database, you can just as easily deliver dynamic content via email as you can through your website.

Once you have the key tools in place, setting up dynamic content is fairly straightforward. It is likely that an increasing number of businesses will start to use the methodology in their marketing mix. Will your business be one of them?

*Linda Forshaw is a Business Information Systems graduate from Lancaster University in the UK. A leading contributor to college ranking site Degree Jungle.com, she is a full time writer and blogger specializing in education, social media, and entrepreneurship. Contact her on Twitter @seelindaplay.

Best of YouTube 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 06:11:00 +0000

My last post of 2012. Another year has gone so quickly! This below is the review of what happened on YouTube in 2012.

A few stats:

4 billion views per day (growing 1 billion views each year)
Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute

Over the period of time YouTube certainly has become the most prodigious online video library. It’s not only famous among PC and laptop users, mobile and tablet users have also started embracing and admiring it.

Traffic from mobile devices tripled in 2011
More than 20% of global YouTube views come from mobile devices
3 hours of video is uploaded per minute to YouTube from mobile devices
YouTube is available on 350 million devices

Check the video, it’s worth it as it looks to me they invested quite a lot of money in making this: the YouTube 2012 Rewind Style

And this is the behind the scenes J

Thank you everyone and I wish you all an amazing 2103!

The ultimate guide to restaurants on Facebook in Oman

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 04:05:00 +0000

Here is a list, a long one, of restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets and even people who enjoy cooking from home. Whatever type of food you fancy, whether pizza, curry, ice-cream or a cupcake, you’ll find it below. Some pages are really well managed and very engaging, while others not so much. I've taken into consideration those pages, in English, which have been updated in the past six months. As usual, if I missed, very likely, any let me know.

Not surprisingly most big international brands top the list but it is good to see how local companies and entrepreneurs managed to build a name, reputation and a brand online. The combined number of fans is 108,944; that’s 25% of the entire Facebook population in Oman. It shows how much we like food here J.

Lastly, if you want to know more details (reviews, prices, service, etc.) about some places mentioned below I strongly suggest paying a visit to the super blog Omani Cuisine.

UPDATE:
I was told i missed a page, it is called Lubna's Cake (276 fans) and Caramel Oman French Bakery and Pastry Muscat (1470 fans); on both pages you'll find lots of yummy things!

Facebook’s Midnight Delivery

noreply@blogger.com (Oman Collective Intelligence) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 06:04:00 +0000

Want to wish your Facebook friends a happy new year without having to get on your phone or computer? Facebook just launched an automated service that will let you write your New Year's greetings now, and they'll be sent automatically when 2013 arrives in your friends' time zones.

Midnight Delivery suggests friends you might want to send New Year's greetings to; could be friends you often interact with or others you haven’t spoken in years, if at all. Simply go to the Facebook Stories page and select the people you want to send the message to. Only 10 people at one time can be chosen and you also have the option of sending photos along with your message.

I can see the advantages (you can set it up in advance or your friends will receive it at midnight no matter in what part of the world they live) but I find it as lazy and impersonal as sending a mass SMS.