SPECIAL REPORT EUROPE & THE MIDDLE EAST LESSONS F R O M T H E FRONT LINE The demonstrated the power of people—and social media

by Silvia Cambié

ommunicators the world over struggling to convince their management of the importance of social media have received help from an unlikely source. C The Arab Spring, which over the past year has Co-creation—the act changed the political landscape of major parts of the Middle East, has played an unprecedented role in pushing Web 2.0 into of producing content by the mainstream. All of a sudden Twitter and Facebook became part of prime-time news and entered our living rooms together sharing voices and ideas from with the images of toppled regimes. Activists in the Middle East had been using social media for a wide audience—is probably the a number of years, but the Arab Spring made people realize just how powerful these tools could be. most important lesson that According to Socialbakers.com, the number of Egyptians using Facebook increased by 30 percent in the course of communicators can draw 2011 to surpass 8 million. This is remarkable in a country where only a quarter of its 80 million inhabitants have access from the Arab Spring. to the Internet. A study conducted by Philip Howard at the University of Washington found that “the total rate of tweets from Egypt—and around the world—about political change

28 Communication World • January–February 2012 www.iabc.com/cw ̇ BACK TO CONTENTS Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni (photographed in May 2011) was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her coverage of the uprising that led to the ouster of Tunisian Presi- dent . JASON ANDREW/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES GETTY BY ANDREW/CONTOUR JASON

www.iabc.com/cw Communication World • January–February 2012 29 ̇ BACK TO CONTENTS SPECIAL REPORT EUROPE & THE MIDDLE EAST MOHAMMED HOSSAM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES HOSSAM/AFP/GETTY MOHAMMED

Egyptian protesters in that country ballooned from sian Girl, a trilingual blog in In Egypt, Facebook helped gather in Cairo’s Tahrir Square 2,300 a day to 230,000 a day” French, and English. mobilize citizens and encour- on 30 September. Twitter and during the week prior to Pres- She began to blog in 2007, aged them to take to the streets other social media helped activ- ident Hosni Mubarak’s resigna- writing about censorship and and demonstrate. In 2010, ists spread the word and share tion on 11 February 2011. the systematic crackdown on , an Egyptian the events in near real time cyber-activists in her country. working as the head of market- with people around the world. An integral part of In January 2011, she traveled ing for Google Middle East and political and social life to the cities of Sidi Bouzid North Africa, set up “We Are In , Lina Ben Mhenni, a and Regueb, where security All Khaled Said,” a Facebook 27-year-old blogger and a teach- forces were massacring citizens. page commemorating Khaled ing assistant at the University of According to AlJazeera.net, Said, a young man who was Tunis, has become the face of “Her accounts and photographs tortured and killed by police the revolution. She was nomi- of the dead and injured ensured in the city of Alexandria. The nated for the 2011 Nobel Peace that other Tunisian activists and page was used as a call to action Prize for her coverage of the international media knew what and helped organize the protests uprising that ousted President was happening in the centre of that led to the resignation of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ben the country during the most President Mubarak. Ghonim Mhenni is the author of Tuni- violent days of the uprising.” was detained for 11 days by

30 Communication World • January–February 2012 www.iabc.com/cw ̇ BACK TO CONTENTS police, and upon his release he microblogging site had been nalism. Camera phones and became a speaker for the revolu- reporting about the revolution. blogs have revolutionized tion. For this role, he was also Tweets from Tahrir clearly reporting. The transformation nominated for the Nobel Peace demonstrates how storytelling journalism is experiencing is Prize, and Time included him is changing. We no longer have bound to have a strong impact The transformation in its list of the 100 most influ- authors collecting testimonials on the way we conduct media ential people of 2011. In an and writing stories according to relations. Communicators will journalism is experienc- interview on 60 Minutes, he their idea of how they should be have to learn to include citizen described what had happened told. In the era of social media, journalists in their strategies as ing is bound to have in Egypt: “Our revolution is the secret is to turn the voices of one of their critical audiences. like Wikipedia, OK? Everyone the main characters into integral The Arab Spring added a new a strong impact on is contributing content, [but] parts of our stories. dimension to open-source jour- you don’t know the names of This is what Bob Pearson, nalism. Idle and Nunns wrote the way we conduct the people contributing con- former vice president of com- in Tweets from Tahrir: “Many tent. This is exactly what hap- munities and conversations at tweeters considered themselves media relations. pened. Revolution 2.0 in Egypt Dell, also believes. In his speech ‘citizen journalists’ and made it was exactly the same. Everyone at the Echo Annual Summit in their mission to get the word out Communicators will contributing small pieces, bits October 2011 in London, he with (usually) accurate bites of and pieces. We drew this whole suggested that in the future cor- information and a flow of videos have to learn to include picture of a revolution.” porations will ask communica- and pictures.” tors to produce content created The same has been happening citizen journalists in Enabling new types half by the company and half in Syria. The Facebook page of communication by the customer. “We Are All Hamza Alkhateeb” their strategies. Co-creation—the act of produc- Imagine that instead of the was set up to commemorate the ing content by sharing voices traditional reports that commu- 13-year-old Syrian boy who was and ideas from a wide audi- nicators often have to publish arrested in April 2011 while ence—is probably the most at the end of projects to docu- demonstrating with his family important lesson that commu- ment the contributions of differ- in the city of Deraa. He was nicators can draw from the ent stakeholders, they consider killed by police; his body was Arab Spring. using the format of Tweets from returned to his parents bearing For the first time, an impor- Tahrir—adding thoughts from signs of brutal torture. tant chapter of the history of a different audiences to make the Given the ban on the inter- country has been written by report more authentic and national press imposed by the collecting the thoughts—put inclusive. regime of President Bashar forth via Twitter—of 60 peo- Co-creation is an important al-Assad and the limited report- ple. Tweets from Tahrir was component of crowdsourcing, ing coming out of Syria, this published last year by OR the practice of sourcing tasks to Facebook page has been playing about the author Books and contains a compila- large groups of people or com- a crucial role in documenting Silvia Cambié is based tion of tweets from the 18 days munities—a phenomenon many what is going on in the country. in London and consults on of uprising in Egypt that saw corporations are experimenting Activists have uploaded videos strategic communication with Tahrir Square in Cairo as the with for their internal communi- taken on mobile phones at such international organizations main stage. At the launch of cations and as a way to increase demonstrations and posted sto- as UniCredit, the European the book in Cairo, Nadia Idle, traffic to their intranets. Some ries of violence experienced by Commission and the United an Egyptian-British activist companies are using crowd- Syrian citizens. This content Nations. She is the co-author who co-edited it with Alex sourcing to collect ideas from has given a face to the revolu- of International Communications Nunns, said that what had employees on how to improve tion in the country, and has Strategy and blogs at happened on Twitter was “so customer service, or on the helped increase the awareness of silviacambie.com. incredible and inspiring” that design of products and services. the international community they were compelled to docu- Co-creation has also found its despite mainstream media’s ment how people using the expression through citizen jour- patchy coverage.

www.iabc.com/cw Communication World • January–February 2012 31 ̇ BACK TO CONTENTS SPECIAL REPORT EUROPE & THE MIDDLE EAST

Lessons for businesses uproar on the Internet. The helped build a school in a small In the case of Egypt, some influential Egyptian blogger district and it will not improve brands got it right, but others Mohamed El-Dahshan told your image whatsoever and mistook a turning point in The Guardian, “Apparently this seem like you are dishonest.” In the case of Egypt, the history of the country for tagline inspired people to take Nasr has a number of recom- a run-of-the-mill marketing the streets. I mean, never mind mendations for brands that find some brands got it right, opportunity. the years of activism, the themselves in similar situations: Henkel, which manufactures protests, the decades of l “Be sincere: What is your but others mistook a household cleaning products [ac]cumulated grievances, the brand’s character? Whatever it including the international terrible economic situation, the is, stick to the script. Don’t try turning point in the his- brands Pril and Persil, success- trampled political freedoms, to be something you are not fully interpreted the spirit of the police brutality, the torture, because of circumstances or tory of the country for a the time and launched a cam- etc. Nah—we just watched a personal inclination. paign that was well received by Vodafone ad, and thought: l “Be respectful: Start commu- run-of-the-mill market- the public in post-revolutionary ‘Hey! We’re powerful! Let’s top- nication with more brand- Cairo. As part of its “El Balad ple the president!’” related messages as opposed ing opportunity. Baladna” (“This Place Is Our Activists still blame Vodafone to product-related ones. Country”) initiative, the com- and its competitors for kow- l “Listen: See what brands pany mobilized 100 volunteers towing to former President around you are saying and who descended on different Mubarak and shutting down how they are being received neighborhoods in the Egyptian mobile phone services during by the public and take note.” capital to clean sidewalks and the most crucial days of the rev- remove graffiti in areas where olution in late January 2011. In The dramatic events in the demonstrations had taken light of the backlash, Vodafone Middle East have given commu- place. Henkel created a TV spot removed the commercial from nicators a unique opportunity to about “El Balad Baladna,” the airwaves and from YouTube, witness the use of social media which was sponsored by Pril and proceeded to distance itself in situations that were all about and Persil, and set up a related from JWT, the marketing firm change and the realization of Facebook page and Twitter that had produced it. people’s expectations. Many of account. The marketing scene in Egypt its inspiring lessons echo the key Vodafone, along with other is trying to learn from these imperatives of Web 2.0: authen- mobile phone companies, blunders. Brand expert Tarek ticity, knowledge sharing, col- proved less able to understand Nasr writes in his blog Mar- laboration and interconnected the psyche of consumers in the keting over Sisha: “[Don’t] act voices. They also reconfirm a “new” Egypt and managed to like nothing happened. Busi- core principle of modern com- alienate them with a rather ness is not ‘back to normal’— munication: the idea of allowing patronizing message in the form people have died, families have your audience to co-create the of a TV commercial. The video been torn and cities have been process. As Idle and Nunns featured extracts of the Vodafone devastated, so at this point no pointed out in their book, “The ad campaign “Our Power,” one cares or wants to hear Arab uprisings would not have launched weeks before the revo- about a mobile operator’s new happened at the speed and in lution began in early January bouquet.” the manner in which they did 2011. It went on to show images He adds another important without social media.” of demonstrations in Tahrir point: “Don’t showcase how One of the main challenges Square with the tagline: “We much you ‘care’ about the coun- for communication strategies is didn’t send people to the streets, try via your unrelated CSR ini- to add speed and momentum we didn’t start the revolution…. tiatives which everyone knows to programs that publics have We only reminded Egyptians are for the most part tax write- been slow to embrace. The how powerful they are.” offs. No one needs to know how Arab Spring has certainly The commercial triggered an awesome you are because you shown us how. l

32 Communication World • January–February 2012 www.iabc.com/cw ̇ BACK TO CONTENTS