One recent afternoon in Dubai, Anthony Permal received notification that a social media influencer he follows on Instagram was broadcasting on the company’s new Live Stories platform.
Permal, the head of digital marketing at an international pharmaceutical company, opened his smartphone and tuned in. The influencer has a six-figure following and attracts an average of 3,000-4,000 likes per static image, yet their live stream was being viewed by no more than 10 people.
“It made me think,” Permal told Arab News. “Where is the audience? Just how much influence does this person have?”
With influencers demanding anything from $130 up to $50,000 per post, there is a growing cynicism from companies regarding return on investment. Yet the recent roll-out of Instagram’s new Live platform across the Middle East has inadvertently handed local PR companies a key tool for better understanding the level of clout that influencers’ accounts have.
As Tony Lewis, founder of Dubai-based PR agency Total Communications argues: “It requires a far greater level of commitment to tune into a live video and intelligently engage than it does to double-tap a photo.”
“We are living in this age of digital hypnotism,” added Lewis. “Everyone has a smartphone and they are connected to it 24 hours a day, but how much attention do they actually give to what they are liking on Instagram or Facebook? Is it genuine? Does seeing someone’s product post really impact your own decisions?”
A study by BPG Cohn & Wolfe would suggest it does. A survey of 1,008 United Arab Emirates (UAE) residents found that 63 percent of people feel their purchasing decisions are directly impacted by influencers, while 71 percent will be more interested in buying a brand if it is endorsed by someone they follow on social media.
According to influencers.ae, there are approximately 1,385 influencers across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) who are followed by a combined 549 million users. The majority operate in niche markets, such as food, fashion, travel and automotive. The most-followed account in the region is Huda Kattan, a Dubai-based beauty blogger who posts from @HudaBeauty to 17.3 million followers and has launched her own make-up range internationally. Harrods, among others, stocks her supplies.
Yet for every Kattan there are a variety of impersonators and imposters, resulting in a sea of skepticism regarding whether the five- and six-figure follower bases of some influencer accounts are real users or paid-for bots.
“We know that a lot of influencers do buy followers and are fake,” said Taghreed Oraibi, who led the BPG Cohn & Wolfe study. “But we are finding Instagram Live very useful for separating the real from the fake. If you have a few hundred-thousand followers and only a handful of people watch your live broadcast, then that is a very big sign.”
Without regulation, the fees demanded from brands for endorsement deals vary wildly across the region, some industry executives say. Influencers in the UAE and Kuwait command far greater sums than their Omani or Jordanian counterparts, who often ask only to be invited to the next event.
Permal, who will speak about social media transparency at next week’s inaugural Influencer Marketing Summit in Dubai, said most brands pay between $130-$250 for a post or two, but has heard stories of influencers charging upward of $27,000.
One of Lewis’ clients paid an influencer $31,000 to promote an event, but with no evidence that any of her million-plus followers attended, the client was left feeling it was a waste of money.
“Proper measurement is needed to justify the spend,” Lewis said. “Ultimately, it is all about return on investment and we as an industry need to do a lot more research and thinking before pouring money over people just because they have a lot of ‘followers’.”
Since the launch of Instagram Stories last year, there are more than 150 million people using the platform every day, with the Live function operating as an extension. The Twitter equivalent, Periscope, has been available in the region since 2015, while Snapchat opened its first Middle East office in Dubai earlier this month. The prolificacy of smartphones should bode well for such developments, but whether live-video applications can help uncover hyped-up influencers remains a challenge.
“People will always find a way,” said Permal, adding it is the responsibility of brands and PR companies to utilize tools such as Followerwonk or BuzzSumo.com to carry out audit checks on influencers before engaging.
Meanwhile, the dark side of the industry is already adapting. Fake Instagram Live viewers are now available for purchase online, with the top result in a Google search, coolsouk.com, promising 20,000 live video views for $120. Registered to a UAE mobile phone, the company said all six of its packages were currently out of stock.
Why Instagram Live spells the death of phony Gulf ‘influencers’
Why Instagram Live spells the death of phony Gulf ‘influencers’
Like Digital & Partners opens new office in Saudi Arabia
- Digital transformation agency expands with Riyadh premises
DUBAI: Like Digital & Partners, an independent digital transformation agency with offices in Dubai and London, has announced the opening of premises in Riyadh to mark its expansion into the Kingdom.
The move comes a month after the agency partnered with business expansion platform AstroLabs to extend its footprint in the region.
The new office in Riyadh will underscore its commitment to the region, it said in a statement.
Like Digital & Partners aims to create new jobs primarily in the fields of project management and user interface design. It plans to employ 10 to 15 staff members at its Riyadh office by the end of 2025.
Specializing in the hospitality industry, the agency has worked with resorts such as Atlantis and One&Only One Za’abeel. It aims to leverage this expertise and experience in the Kingdom, which is seeing an influx of new hotels and resorts, the agency said.
Karl Escritt, CEO of Like Digital & Partners, said: “As we continue our rapid expansion into the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) market and beyond, we are delighted to lay down roots in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Having dedicated years to nurturing our business in the Kingdom and developing our knowledge and expertise of the market, we are looking forward to further strengthening our ties and servicing new clients.”
Publicis Sapient appoints new managing director for Saudi Arabia
- Ashwaq Al-Shathri will be based in Riyadh, oversee company’s business growth in the Kingdom
DUBAI: Publicis Sapient, a digital business transformation company, has announced the appointment of Ashwaq Al-Shathri as country managing director for Saudi Arabia.
The appointment reflects the importance of the Kingdom and the Middle East for Publicis Sapient, the company said.
Based in the company’s Riyadh office, Al-Shathri will be responsible for accelerating business growth in Saudi Arabia and building the operational business and community.
She will lead the teams responsible for digital business transformation in the region, leveraging the company’s strategy, product, experience, engineering and data, and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, said: “We’re committed to supporting KSA’s technology-driven transformation and realization of Vision 2030, while also, ultimately, helping position KSA as a leader in digital innovation on the global stage.”
Al-Shathri’s appointment “will directly contribute to our continued business growth as we scale our expertise in the Middle East to better serve our clients and their customers and help them transform digitally,” said Srinivas Devulapalli, managing director of Publicis Sapient MENA (Middle East and North Africa).
Publicis Sapient is the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe with 20,000 people and over 53 offices worldwide. Its global clients include Marriott, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, and Walmart, while regional clients include Omantel, Diriyah Gate, and Miral.
London mayoral candidate under scrutiny for joining Islamophobic Facebook group
- Conservative candidate Susan Hall has refused to leave groups containing Islamophobic content, instead joining a new one
- Campaigner criticizes move as ‘last-ditch attempt’ to win votes as London prepares to choose new mayor
LONDON: The London mayoral candidate for the Conservative Party has come under scrutiny for her involvement in Facebook groups known for hosting Islamophobic content.
A joint investigation by Greenpeace-funded outlet Unearthed and The Guardian revealed that Susan Hall was a member of at least six private Facebook groups containing Islamophobic hate speech and abusive remarks directed at her opponent, Sadiq Khan.
The exposé revealed that the groups, presented as local grassroots campaigns against London’s clean air policies, are run by Conservative Party operatives including staff and activists.
Despite public exposure, Hall has declined to exit any of these Facebook groups and instead joined another one on Tuesday, according to Unearthed.
Khan told The Guardian these revelations could have an impact on the safety of his family and staff and has urged police to take action.
Reporters who infiltrated the 36-group network uncovered numerous Islamophobic and racist posts, including derogatory remarks about Khan, labeling him a “terrorist sympathizer” and a “khaki punt.” Some commenters even expressed willingness to pay for harm to be inflicted on him.
Alongside posts inciting vandalism, the investigation identified at least one YouTube video alleging that “Islamists” were “taking over Britain.”
While Conservative staff or politicians did not appear to directly engage with these racist posts, a party spokesperson unequivocally condemned posts in the groups.
However, Ami McCarthy, a political campaigner at Greenpeace UK, criticized Hall’s decision to join another group as a “last-ditch attempt to boost her ratings,” arguing that a “respectable politician would have issued an apology and left the Facebook groups” after the exposure of racism, Islamophobia, and posts inciting criminal damage.
Londoners will cast their votes for the new mayor on Thursday, with current mayor Khan leading in the polls, according to YouGov.
Hall has previously faced similar controversies related to Islamophobia. In February, she was called upon to apologize by Khan’s Labour party after suggesting that Jewish Londoners were “frightened” of Khan and retweeting a post from a far-right figure calling Khan the “mayor of Londonistan.”
Last November, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain Zara Mohammed denounced Hall’s candidacy as “unacceptable,” highlighting the persistent nature of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party and its divisive impact on communities.
Iran files charges over BBC report on teen girl allegedly killed by security forces in 2022 protests
Iran files charges over BBC report on teen girl allegedly killed by security forces in 2022 protests
- Nika Shakarami’s death also sparked widespread outrage at the time
- Amini died after being detained by police over allegedly not wearing her mandatory hijab, or headscarf, to their liking
JERUSALEM: Iranian prosecutors filed criminal charges on Wednesday targeting activists and journalists following a BBC report that alleged security forces had “sexually assaulted and killed” a 16-year-old girl during protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
Nika Shakarami’s death also sparked widespread outrage at the time.
Amini died after being detained by police over allegedly not wearing her mandatory hijab, or headscarf, to their liking. UN investigators have said Iran is responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.
In Shakarami’s case, authorities said she died after falling from a tall building, something immediately disputed by her mother, who said her daughter had been beaten.
The BBC report published on Monday — relying on what it described as a report written for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard — said Shakarami was detained by undercover security forces who molested her, then killed her with batons and electronic stun guns after she struggled against the assault.
Iran’s Mizan news agency, run by the country’s judiciary, said on Wednesday that the BBC story was “a fake, incorrect and full-of-mistakes report,” without addressing any of the alleged errors it contained.
It was the government’s first acknowledgment of the BBC report and it said “journalists and activists” have been summoned over the issue.
“The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office filed a criminal case against these people,” Mizan said, with charges including “spreading lies” and “propaganda against the system.” The first charge can carry up at a year and a half in prison and dozens of lashes, while the second can involve up to a year’s imprisonment.
Mizan did not identify those charges and it was unclear whether prosecutors had charged three BBC journalists who bylined the report. Those associated with the BBC’s Persian service have been targeted for years by Tehran and barred from working in the country since its disputed 2009 presidential election and Green Movement protests.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The broadcaster noted that in recent years, there have been faked documents floating around during widespread protests, purporting to be from the Iranian government.
However, it said it had “confidence that it is genuine,” despite an inconsistency in the report using an old acronym for the police.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday tried to dismiss the BBC report as an effort to “divert attention” from ongoing protests at American universities over the Israel-Hamas war — despite the events dominating US television networks.
“The enemy and their media have resorted to false and far-fetched reports to conduct psychological operations,” Vahidi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Company on track ‘to build future of social media’: Million CEO
- Julien Hawari says app allows more pay, engagement, control
- App was launched in Mideast, North Africa region in February
LONDON: Julien Hawari, CEO of the emerging social media platform Million, is promising to build “the future” of the sector.
Interviewed recently during the World Economic Forum’s special meeting in Riyadh, Hawari said: “Today, if you look at legacy social media (Instagram, TikTok, X), content creators are not really making money on social media. To make money, they need a third-party relation, which is the sponsor, the advertiser.
“The problem with this model is that the moment you open the door to someone to pay you, you allow this person to impose their narrative. So you’re not doing your narrative, you’re doing the narrative of the brand.”
Hawari, who promises to build “the future of social media,” said Million’s subscription model enables creators to monetize various forms of content, including pay-per-view, live streaming and e-commerce, all within the platform itself.
Million, a UAE-based startup launched in February across the Middle East and North Africa region, aims to empower content creators by giving them greater control and facilitate direct engagement with their audiences.
Hawari said he is developing a platform where users do not “lose their authenticity with their fans and audience base” and where creators can earn a larger portion of the revenue generated.
“We have an engagement-to-earn model. The more time they (creators) spend on the platform, the more money they will get. Seventy percent of advertisement revenue that comes to the platform is redistributed to the users,” Hawari said.
He added that creators can also charge their audiences a monthly subscription fee, similar to existing exclusive content platforms like Patreon.
Million is currently open to all types of content creators, including those in food, fashion and sports. However, creators must apply and undergo a review process before being invited onto the platform.
Platform regulation, including creator vetting and content monitoring, is a significant aspect of Million.
“We’re extremely sensitive to our culture, our situation in this part of the world. So we use technology … to ensure that content is within the norm of the region,” Hawari explained.
He said Million seeks to capitalize on an industry projected to grow significantly over the next few years, with the content-creator economy estimated to surge from $100 billion in 2023 to $480 billion by 2027.
“(Million) is really the first (app) of its kind. And the growth and the potential that this app has is way beyond only this part of the world,” Hawari said.
“Every day we get more and more creators that are more and more starting to learn and understand how they’re going to use this platform to make a living because at the end of the day, it’s their image, it’s their business, it’s their rules. So they decide what they want to sell (and) at what price they want to sell it.”
