A social media platform specifically geared for governments in the region to stay at the forefront of the social revolution is set to take place in Dubai, starting on September 2.

The two-day GCC Government Social Media Summit will be preceded by an introductory masterclass on September 1, at the Ritz-Carlton.

The summit aims to empower governments in the region with cutting edge ideas, success stories, the latest innovations and research, said a statement.

GCC government delegates will gain insights on the latest social media trends and best practices from experts in the industry including Facebook, leading academics, media organisations, international government entities, it said.

Governments are particularly eager to build online bridges considering that in just two years, the region’s Facebook users have tripled and Twitter users are contributing a staggering 5.8 million tweets per day, a rate of 4,000 tweets a minute, it said.

The most popular hashtags have been those featuring ‘Syria’ and the influence of the region’s Twitter users has seen Arabic surge in popularity, it added.

The conference speakers at the summit will include Adam Fetcher, who steered the ‘Obama for America’ campaign as the deputy national press-secretary and Elizabeth Linder, Facebook’s politics and government specialist, who will give a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at how the company interacts with governments. – TradeArabia News Service