By Mouza Al Hamrani
DUBAI – As an avid user of social media, I follow a lot of personas and popular individuals from Instagram, Twitter, to bloggers, YouTubers and the like, so when Zayed University gave us the chance to attend the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit March 17, 2015, I took it in a heartbeat.
The event was nothing short of fantastic, not to mention that the presence of extremely important figures such as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, gave the event and the industry in general even more credibility in my opinion.
Students spread out upon arrival to attend speeches, explore the venue and conduct interviews. I personally had the pleasure of interviewing several people including traveler and YouTube persona Louis Cole, the popular local comedian known as Bin Baz, and the inventor of the hash tag, Chris Messina. It was my first time meeting this many people I admired from afar for so long, so I had a blast talking, interviewing and taking pictures with them.
I also sat a little bit to attend the awards ceremony, which was remarkably motivating. Giving recognition to people who started out on social media seemed surreal and wonderful all at once. It made me understand that any form of contribution is valid whether it is “traditional” or not.
All in all, the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit reaffirmed the importance of social media in this age, and as the first and biggest event of its kind in the region it was an honor to attend it.
Such attention to the social media industry in the Middle East is encouraging, especially to young people my age who are willing to put themselves out there and use social media as an outlet for creativity and good content.
I definitely look forward to attending more of such events with the university in the future and would love to attend the second annual Arab Social Media Influencers Summit next year.
This story was originally published on March 23, 2015. It was re-uploaded on Dec. 24, 2020.
