Online readers refining Arab News content

Information mined from the millions of online readers gained by Arab News over the last few months is being used to further refine content, said Editor in Chief Mohammad Fahad Al-Harthi at a major media gathering here Tuesday.
The third annual Mindshare Summit entitled “Real Time Insight: Unlocking the Power of Marketing,” was held at a local hotel.
Al-Harthi said Arab News has developed considerable experience with digital platforms, in particular the integration of website and workflow software. “Our role is to build actual and effective content in the market,” he said.
“We communicate with and engage readers with the help of social networks such as Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and many others.”
Talking about Sayidaty, Al-Harthi said the magazine has had 16 million page views and attracted 1 million Facebook fans over the last six
months.
“We’ve started to see a huge growth in digital content. Our audience and readers are teaching us what stories and programs they like more. It is very useful to know the choices of our readers. Our content is becoming more refined through this digital world.”
Speaking on the occasion, Samir Ayoub, CEO of Mindshare in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), said it was not “enough to accept that digital convergence is a part of our lives, transforming the way that we connect brands and consumers ...”
“We need to embrace real-time insights as a potential tool that will assist us in knowing the customer like never before,” Ayoub said.
Mindshare MENA, a global media network, aims to gain a greater share of consumer patronage, build businesses, grow profits and create a stream of “brilliant ideas” to share around the world.
“We aim to shed light on the transformative role of digital convergence in the marketing world. We aim to simplify these challenges and construct solutions using real-time data streams that are relevant to modern and evolving consumers.”
Jason Bath, head of database and technology at SAP, said social media, mobile networks and individuals are connecting with each other more effectively. He said individuals have the power to influence brands with just one mention on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many others.
Mark Brill, board director at SES Global, said: “The rapid uptake of smartphones is becoming central to users’ digital lives. Mobile phones create a huge impact on readers’ minds because of easy access to the Internet, games and social websites.”
He said the real agenda of the media summit was to make sense of the digital age, leverage data to build relationships, have real conversations with real people about real products, and to use mobile connectivity to drive brands in a hyper digital age.
The other speakers were Tom Standage, digital editor at The Economist; Euan Semple, author and consultant at Euan Semple Ltd.; Pau Garcia-Milà, entrepreneur and founder of EyeOS; Hussein Freijeh, senior director and head of sales at Yahoo! Maktoob; Isam Bayazidi, chief executive officer at Ikoo; Mohamed El Mehairy, managing director at Connect Ads; Mazin Al-Hassan, head of marketing and research at SABB; and Abim Onasanya, head of MB Group’s Research and Insight unit.
Experts in marketing, brand communications, media and technology also participated in the event.
Mindshare is the MENA region’s premier global communications group located in 10 countries across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Levant and North Africa.
The primary values of Mindshare “are to make the client’s brand more powerful and create awareness with a greater connection to consumers. By creating unique solutions for clients’ communications challenges, Mindshare provides them with a competitive edge.”