Small business via social media !

Last week I was invited to birthday celebration in Al Amerat. One of my friends bring to me a date with chocolate named Meshan  and said “ just taste it” because she know that I am one who doesn’t trust in any product if it is not a familiar brand for personal reasons. I didn’t want to embarrass her and I taste it. I never forgot the taste; I didn’t believe that it was an Omani product because it was amazing. When I came back home, I just searched about it and I found that Meshan Dates is a project established in September 2011 by Wafa, Shatha, Ahed and Waad Al Jabri. This project aims to present Omani Dates mixed with chocolate and high quality of Arabic and European flavors in a modern ways.

The four sisters started working in a room in their house in Al Amerat. Then, they expanded to a workshop with a capital of 500 OMR. Not to mention, Meshan provides Omani Dates as a gift for different occasions such as birthdays, weddings, meetings and official gifts with appropriate and low prices for all buyers.

Meshan distributes its products for both Omanis and foreigners from 6-65 ages.  One Year passed, Meshan expanded to deal with public and private institutions. Meshan had the honour to provide 70 Kilos of Omani Dates for the Diwan Royal Court in a cultural event in Paris. Also, they had participated in the Sultan Qaboos University in the Silver Jubilee of the University.

They continue to promote their products by using enormous approaches of advertisements on social media by having page on instagram and recently they started to work on twitter and facebook.

Basically, the government of Oman supports Meshan to continue its productions. Many offers were provided to improve Meshan either offering new environments for Meshan or sending Meshan's owners abroad to get new experiences or attending courses in producing chocolates. Not to forget, producing dates with a mixture of traditions and modernity helped Meshan to success as dates are symbol of Oman's culture and all Omanis provide dates in every special event.

And I have delivered some dates with different flavors for my family gathering for next weekend. Don’t miss the chance and start to deliver :)

* You can contact with Mishan Dates :

 Mobile: 97792463 -92771977

Instagram: @meshanoman

CEPS Society ♥

Within the last few years, social media has become more integral in the lives of students. I will never forget the day I joined Facebook when I was at age of 13, my mother was always bothering me as I was wasting my time on Facebook instead of studying. Now as I am university student, Facebook to me is more than important. The most important thing in Facebook to me is the CEPS-SQU group that I am joining which is for commerce students. As other educational committees in the world, Oman's universities take place to get social especially in Sultan Qaboos University.

If not daily, in fact every two days I check the page of CEPS-SQU to know what is updated in term of exhibition, conferences, workshops and even in business news. Anyone of commerce student should join the group not just to share knowledge. Students interact actively in the group as they share activities with each other that related to studies and careers, exchange notes, lessons, experiences, ask and get answers.

You can join us in our group #CEPS-SQU :)

Back to BBM :O !

 

I remember in 2009 most of my friends bought a BlackBerry device. They were found of the company super fast messaging and chatting app (BBM) to the extent that I can tell they had bought a BB just to use BBM like people. The device innovative hardware keyboard and the app resulted in a new level of effectiveness and swiftness. Two years later, most of my friends replaced their phones by iPhones and Androids.

I am one of the BBM users who use the WhatsApp at the same time, which has the same concept of BBM. The few things I prefer in BBM over WhatsApp, and the other main messaging Apps. Firstly, in BBM there is no phone number which gives you control over who is connected via the App, so I can say that BBM is safe than other chatting apps because I choose my contacts with adding who I want via PIN . Secondly, BBM Groups – Shared Calendar for up to 30 people, a todo list you can assign functions to people, and a photo sharing with comments section. In addition, the Delivered & Read notifications that give you delivered to Server (grey checkbox) delivered to device (Blue D) Read by user (Green R).

Now BBM is available for iphone and Android and around 20 million people download it. The funniest issue is that all my friends that got rid of BB have get back to BBM in their iphone and android.

 As everyone know that iphone and android have better features than BlackBerry but I still have my BB and love my keyboard and other features on my Q10.

Social Media: a life after death !

Imagine that you are setting in front of your laptop and accessing the internet, suddenly a reminder from Facebook Timeline or Google+ circle, in your twitter feed or MySpace stream or even on your LinkedIn profile shown that someone from your contact is dead!

It's really one of the strange topics that I was reading yesterday talking about a man was reminded in a private message that one of the highly respected politicians receiving birthday greetings from him on Facebook had died last year. A quick update to “Happy Birthday in Heaven”.

Well, the new generation has grown up with social media very much a part of their lives. When someone dies, they are no longer physically here, but their digital self lives on. That’s what the statistics prove that there are more than 5 million accounts on Facebook that are inactive due to death. Actually, it is all about policies regarding the death of its users that many social media let have. For example Facebook, Google+, twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and others.

But the question is, when we die who takes control of our social media network? As the writer of the article said “Perhaps a ‘fan page’ or ‘community page’ would be a good alternative to keeping the love alive,” Yes I agree with him because some people like to go through the photos and videos...etc of those they care about and remember them in their good moments.

*Here is one of the services that help to manage a digital life after death which is My Webwill :)

 

 

الشخصيات الوهمية : مرض أم افتراء !

احتلت مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي في الآونة الأخيرة جزءاً كبيراً من اهتمامات كثير من الناس في حياتهم اليومية والتي يتواصلون من خلالها مع أصدقائهم في شتى أنحاء العالم وقد أحدثت هذه المواقع نوعا من "ثورة في العلاقات الإنسانية" فقد أصبح لدى الشخص أصدقاء وهميين خلال شبكة الانترنت.

يُصنف المستخدمون لمواقع التواصل الاجتماعي إلى فئات كثيرة فمنهم من يظهر شخصيته الواقعية من خلال إظهار أسمائهم وصورهم الحقيقية والبعض الآخر يخترع شخصية وهمية فقط لبث رسائل ترفيهية والاستمتاع بخدمات هذه المواقع حيث اختلفت استخدامات مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي فمنهم من يبث رسائل ترفيهية والبعض الآخر يبث رسائل علمية أو ثقافية أو سياسية ...الخ

ولكن هناك الكثير من الأشخاص الذين يتقمصون شخصيات وهمية والتي كثرت في الفيسبوك بشكل خاص. حيث يستخدمون صوراً مستعارة وأسماء مستعارة وصفات وهمية (مزيفة) لا تتصل بواقع حياتهم ومنهم من يحتفظ بطبيعة العمل الذي يمارسونه حتى يبعدوا الشبهة عن أنفسهم ويمارسون تقمص الشخصيات بإحترافية تامة. الأمر لا يقتصر على الأشخاص بل هناك عدة جوانب باتت تستخدم شخصيات وهمية لأغراض معينة ويمكننا اختصارها كالتالي:

- فنياً واعلامياً : نشهد تسلل العديد من الشخصيات الفنية والاعلامية والصحافية بأسماء وهمية وذلك للحصول على معلومات شخصية لكثير من المشاهير والشخصيات المهمة، كما وأن بعضهم بات يشارك بعمليات تجسسية محاولين إيذاء منافسيهم في الوسط الاعلامي.

- سياسياً : يعمل الكثير من السياسيون والوسائل الاعلامية السياسية على الدخول إلى مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي وتحديداً ( فيس بوك ) بأسماء وهمية أو تشبه أسماء شخصيات سياسية معروفة وذلك للنيل وتأويل بعض أحاديث هذه الشخصيات والتي لم تقلها فعلياً.

- أخلاقياً : البعض يتقمص شخصية وهمية من أجل التسلية والتلاعب بمشاعر الآخرين. ولا يقل عن ذلك خطراً أو ضرراً من يحاول ابتزاز الآخرين أو الحصول على مبالغ أو هدايا، خاصة أولئك الرجال أو الشباب الذين يتقمصون شخصيات نسائية. وهناك قلة يستخدمون هذه الشخصيات الوهمية (المزيفة) من أجل إلحاق الضرر بالآخرين .

 

 

ولا يعنينا هذا الأمر بقدر ما يهمنا معرفة الإجابة عن التساؤلات الكثيرة مثل: لماذا يلجأ كثير من الأشخاص (ذكوراً وإناثاً) إلى تقمص شخصيات وهمية؟ وهل هذه الظاهرة موجودة في الدول الأخرى غير العربية أم هي ظاهرة عربية؟

إن ظاهرة تقمص شخصية وهمية (مزيفة) ليس أمراً جديداً،وأعتقد - كذلك - أن جميع الدول والثقافات لا تخلو من استخدام الشخصيات الوهمية، ولكن هذه الظاهرة تنتشر في الدول العربية أكثر من غيرها لأسباب ثقافية من جهة، ولكثرة النفاق الاجتماعي من جهة أخرى.

أخيراً أقترح دراسة ظاهرة الأسماء الوهمية (المزيفة) على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي من قبل الباحثين والمراكز المتخصصة. ولا أدري لماذا لا تولي أقسام الدراسات الاجتماعية بالجامعات هذه القضية المهمة اهتمامها بالدراسة والبحث وتشجيع طلاب الدراسة العليا على دراستها والوقوف على سلبياتها وإيجابياتها وكذلك أبعادها التربوية والنفسية والاجتماعية والأمنية. وأدعو - في الختام - جميع مستخدمي مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي خصوصاً والإنترنت عموماً إلى مخافة الله والتحلي بالأخلاق الحميدة الراقية وعدم الإضرار بالآخرين واستخدام هذه التقنيات فيما يفيد وينفع.

Instagram (all in the moment)

One of the most recent and exciting additions to the social media and it considered as one of the business marketing is INSTAGRAM.

The reason why marketing should consider instagram is because it's mobile. It' a great way for your business to communicate directly with people where you want to build trust and credibility. There's no better way for people to see what you are up to.

 

To effectively promote your brand on instagram you should:

1. Complete your profile, this is the best place to leave a first impression.

2. Find your customer, find them, follow them and engage them.

3. Be engaging, adding layers to your post gives people a better feel for who you are and spreads a little instagram love.

4. Show off your products, show off a collection of the products you offer.

5. Be unique, be fun and show off your personality! Document your work, show off your quirky moments and tell your filter.