Delegates shared insights on the transformative power of social media and how the use of digital technology for social good can build a better future at a summit held in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The first Social Good Summit 2013, themed ‘2030NOW’ was held by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Khalifa University.

The summit challenged participants, including Abu Dhabi’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), to share solutions and ideas with a look at what needs to be done to pave the way for a better world by 2030.

The theme builds on the UN-led process to craft a post-2015 development agenda that will follow and accelerate progress on the Millennium Development Goals.

“The prevalence of social media is common knowledge, yet a closer look at the statistics reveals the sheer size of this modern phenomenon”, said Noor Shamma, acting director, Corporate Communications, TRA.

“In the Arab World, social media is growing exponentially with data from the first quarter of the year indicating that the UAE continues to have the highest Facebook penetration rate among all Arab countries with 41 per cent, ahead of Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Tunisia,” said Shamma.

“In terms of Twitter usage, the UAE has 401,000 active twitter users, the third highest number in the region and LinkedIn usage also remains highest in the UAE with a rate of 16.5 per cent,” he said. - TradeArabia News Service