The Social Media Masters Forum, set to take place next month in Bahrain, will start accepting nominations for awards in government, corporate entities and individual accounts from November 17.

The second Social Media Awards are being held on the sidelines of the forum, running on December 10 and 11 at the Moevenpick Hotel.

The Ministry of State for Communications (MoSC) in collaboration with the Social Media Club (SMC) has announced that the awards be held on December 11 at the Ritz Carlton.

The forum will feature discussions and presentations by a panel of experts including speakers from the Social Media Club (USA), Crowdbabble (Canada), Mindshare and TEDx speaker Patrick Schwerdtfeger.

Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Minister of State for Communications, said: “With over 260,000 Twitter users, 514,000 users on Facebook, 120,000 Instagram users and 160,000 LinkedIn users in Bahrain, this reflects an increase in users of over 14 per cent, 20 per cent and 50 per cent respectively since last year.”

“Government entities and the private sector cannot overlook the significance of social media in the communications sector and we aim for the Awards to encourage and promote responsible social media use.”

Ali Sabkar, president of the Social Media Club, noted that a panel of experts will act as judges in the competition as part of the forum, and will include members of Bahrain’s Social Media Club, as well as regional and international experts in the field. The categories for awards will focus on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Nominees for this year’s awards will be selected from corporate, government and individual accounts. The criteria for nomination reflect the following Social Media Awards values: Responsible, Ethical, Innovative, Non-derogatory, and Credible. – TradeArabia News Service