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4th GCC Government Social Media Summit held

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The fourth annual GCC Government Social Media Summit began today at the Sofitel Dubai Downtown. Held under the theme of “Leveraging social networks to drive government innovation and create smart cities”, the importance of social media among UAE leaders was highlighted, with the social media campaign launched by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to determine the name for the Mars mission cited as an example of this.

The summit features six industry-specific workshops and hosts around 120 delegates, discussing innovations in social media techniques against the backdrop of its increasing importance in government relations. The event will also run tomorrow, Thursday, September 17, 2015.

“Social media is an effective means of communications,” says Dr. Aisha bin Bishr, Assistant Director General, The Executive Office UAE. “It allows us to target specific segments of the public, especially young audiences and share relevant news and information with them. There is a continuous increase in social media use amongst residents and visitors to the UAE and we are very proud of how the government department is taking advantage of this by utilising social media and its analytical tools to develop ways to communicate with the public.”

GCC Government Social Media Summit announced

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The 3rd annual GCC Government Social Media Summit will return to Dubai from 17-18 September 2014, with a new format to explore how innovative social networks can be leveraged by governments and organisations to achieve their communications and strategic goals. Held under the theme of ‘innovative social networks for effective collaboration and smart governance’, this year’s summit allows delegates to choose from seven workshops based on their specific industry sectors. These interactive sessions provide unique insight, proven social media strategies and in-depth training to attendees from sectors such as social business, tourism, healthcare, defense, government, education and foreign affairs.

Another new feature of the 2014 summit is a dedicated advisory board to help shape and develop timely and topical content for the event sessions. The advisory board hosts top specialists from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, MemacOgilvy, the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, and government advisory firm Exantium.

“The use of social media has grown exponentially in our region over the last few years,” says Ibrahim El Badawi, Founder and CEO, Exantium. “Today, there are more than 135 million internet users in the Arab world, and more than 71 million of these use social media actively. With internet penetration rising at an annual rate of 20%, regional governments today are starting to realise social media’s growing role in the instantaneous provision of news and information to the public. The GCC Government Social Media Summit provides professionals with the opportunity to discuss how social media channels can help government bodies effectively communicate with their various audience groups.”

Interested participants can receive an all-access pass for the summit at a 25% discount if they register by 15 June 2014. Registrations are currently open at www.socialmedia-series.com/GCC.