Business and Social Media in the Middle East: Strategies, Best Practices and Perspectives

Introduction - Nehme Azoury

Chapter 1: Social Media Vs Traditional Marketing - Lindos Daou

This chapter will begin with a general introduction about the rise and evolution of social media in the region. After that the author will sort out the differences between the social media and the traditional ways in Marketing (in all forms). The content will showcase the advantages and disadvantages of both ways and the author would suggest a method of how to get most out of both ways

Chapter 2: Social Media and CSR - Dima Jamali

This chapter will talk about the impact of social media on CSR activities. The chapter will explore the topic from different perspectives while focusing on the role of social media in raising awareness about the CSR activities conducted by business to increase its brand equity and to appeal to the largest amount of audience.

Chapter 3: Emphasis on social media analytics in corporate decision-making - JAques Digout and Marwan Azoury

Social media analytics is relative a new concept in concretizing the effect of social media utilization while using numerical and accurate figures to measure the impact. This chapter will also explore the extent of using analytics in different levels of managerial decision making.

Chapter 4: Role of social media in the Arab culture -

This chapter will talk about the evolution of social media in the Arab world. We will start first by the first introduction of social media and adoption by the first Arabs and its spread to a wide variety of countries. We will also tackle the effect of using social media platforms on the nature of human relation among Arab individuals and relationship between companies and their publics

This chapter will discuss the relationship between the usage of social media across different platforms and its influence on the economy of different countries segmented per region, mainly; Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia. This chapter will be mostly comparative and exploratory in nature that gives a general and global perspectives on the topic.

Chapter 6: Political leaders and social media in the Arab world - Tina Habib and Georges Najem

This chapter will discuss the role, perspective and usage of social media from a political leader's point of view in the Arab world. The major pillars of this chapter involve using social media during the election period, it's effect of social media on the political message, sustaining a 2-way communication between the leader and the voters/political party. The chapter will also reveal practical examples on the topic and provide directives on how to maintain an effective communication with the audience.

Chapter 7: The role of Social media in the Arab Spring - Oussama Safa

This chapter elaborates the effect and role of Social media in the development and sustainability of the Arab Spring. It has been widely discussed that digital presence in the political sector has changed the rules of politics. Thus, with no solid and pre-planned strategy to integrate and manage digital communication and social media platforms, Arab political parties are now facing big challenges to have a cutting edge in their communication and awareness campaigns and consequently of their success.

Chapter 8: Social Media and the Education, Case of Egypt -

This chapter discusses one of the major impacts of social media on education. The use of social media has become part of the people's life and it's impacting their behavior in every aspect. In this context, student and faculty behavior has dramatically changed. Students are constantly connected via their mobile phones and accessing social media platforms at all times and even during class hours. This chapter explores this aspect listing its challenges and opportunities for the Egyptian students and faculty members simultaneously.

Chapter 9: Integration of Social media in Lebanese news industry, Case of LBCI - Pierre El Daher & Madonna Salameh -Ayanian

Social media has changed the rules of the media and especially the news industry in Lebanon. Information sharing is now entering a new era where all events and news are going viral at a cheaper cost and an exceptional fast pace. Broadcasting stations have no choice now but to grasp and integrate the concept on online news and social media news in their programs to keep up with the advancements in this sector.

Conclusion- Nehme Azoury