27/03/2013

History of Handwritten Letters

Guest post by Stephanie Garcia, from Sample Letters, with an infographic presenting a brief history about the origin and evolution of handwritten letters, right from the ancient times to the present day.

History of Handwritten Letters
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23/03/2013

Twitter turns 7

A nice video with some of Twitter's milestones...

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12/03/2013

Muscat Where can I find? Social media at its best!

What is social media?
According to Wikipedia social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.
According to me social media is simply…people. People who share, exchange, create or discuss any type of information or content just for fun or helping others. Online forums are usually good examples.
So I’d like to highlight a very popular Facebook Group in Oman called 'Muscat Where can I find', started by ‘Mompreneur’ and ‘Super-Facebook-Admin’ Nicholla Henderson-Hall. 
This group, with the very appropriate slogan ‘Somebody always knows Something!’, has more than 2200 members and the whole point of it is to help others finding pretty much anything and avoiding bad experiences.
Whether you’re looking for non-stick cookware, or a ballet school, or a hypnotist, or a car rental company or the best spots for bird watching there will always be someone out there willing to share their knowledge and experiences with you, for nothing in exchange.
Members of this group are not keen on advertisements, therefore Nicholla, in order to keep it genuine and advertisements free, came up with a few ideas to keep both members and potential advertisers happy, click here and find out more.
Check out Muscat Where can I find, and well done Nicholla!
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07/03/2013

Yanni live in Oman on March 21

Brought to Oman and organised for the second time by the Black & White magazine, this year’s show also has a charity initiative behind it. The B&W has teamed up with Dar Al Atta’a to build a school shelter for children in Yiti Village.
Oman on the musical map
“Besides bringing a world class event to Oman, for the second time that is, we also feel that world famous musicians like Yanni can help put Oman on the musical map of the world. Yanni and his team are known to promote the countries they perform in and this was evidenced in the media blitz that he created during his last visit to Oman,” Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali, Editor in Chief of B&W said. “Also, all our events have a charity initiative. This time, we wanted to support Dar Al Ataa’a to build a school (building) in Yiti Village. We sincerely hope our Yanni event will help us in our humble attempt.”
So once again, the smoky-eyed Greek-American with flowing hair and magical fingers is set to enthrall music lovers in Muscat. Legendary composer and live performer Yanni, who played to rhapsodic listeners in Oman two years back, is all set to unleash his live musical extravaganza at the magnificent 5000-strong capacity City Amphitheatre, Qurum, on March 21, this year.
Tickets priced at OMR25, OMR50 and OMR100 and VVIP can be booked on 24565697 and 98675976. They are on sale at the MacDonald’s, The Sultan Centre and Woodlands.
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05/03/2013

Blogs in Oman (2013)

Nearly two years ago I blogged about the “Top 15 most popular blogs in Oman” so I thought it’d be good to do an update on the local blogosphere, English only, and all those people who entertain us through their blogs.
There are plenty of new blogs in Oman, not only in Muscat but from other cities too, while some of the ‘old bloggers’ have stopped or don't post as regularly as they used to. You’ll find all kind of stuff; from local events to photography, from fashion to tourism, etc. There’s blogs for any and every taste. One interesting stat; there are more female than male bloggers.
I’m not going to call it “The best blogs in Oman” or “The top blogs in Oman” as I believe all blogs, one way or another, are great. We all blog for different reasons and we all put efforts and time in sharing our feelings, experiences, views, findings, etc. and we have different audiences.
So the list below was made, to be fair, according to Alexa. The rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and page views over the past 3 months. Let me know if I've forgotten someone :)
Hold tight to your sits, there will be surprises...here we go!


2.     Oman Law Blog

3.     Andy in Oman

4.     Anubis



7.     suitcaseandumbrella


9.     Live From Muscat








17.  Oman coast


19.  Omanly









28.  Blue Chi’s

30.  De Primo






36.  winie.ariany










CORRECTION: I forgot to include Maya's blog, 'Sew, Chic and Unique' which would actually be in the top 5. Thanks Maya ;)

 If you want to see the full list of blogs please click under the blogroll where it says ‘Show All’.
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03/03/2013

World record - biggest Kumma in the world!

I’m re-blogging this from local blog Mademoiselle Shosho, by Shurooq Al Haremi (check her blog for more photos).
A new world record was established the other day, the biggest Kumma in the world! This extraordinary work was made by Amani Al Raisi and a team consisting of Ojas BH, Rohit Jadhav & Family.
Well done!
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02/03/2013

ooredoo, branding failure or social media success?

You probably heard it by now, as also blogged by Rummy, Nawras is going to be re-branded as ooredoo as part of Qtel Group new global strategy.
Let me start by saying that I’m not a branding guru and I’m not going to judge whether this is a good move since I don’t know the reasons behind it however this has generated some interesting feedback by Nawras’ customers, especially on Twitter, as well as comments from all over the region (there are tons in Arabic too).
Some people think is an old PR trick...


 Someone else pointed out that maybe there should have been an opportunity for internal stakeholders to express their concerns about a re-branding strategy.


 But generally people, whether locals or expats, don't seem to get it.





Some others have just joked about it...






Most people, across all continents, criticized the authenticity of the logo as it recalls several others in particular Beats by Dr. Dre as also mentioned by the Financial Times too on its blog.





Even nawras’ former Brand Manager, sent out some strong tweets:

Also on Facebook, on Merge 104.8 page, the feedback wasn't particularly great.

It does not look encouraging however social media has given lots of useful insights to Nawras about customers’ feelings. So far Nawras, rightly so, sat back and avoided entering potentially dangerous conversations. All it did was to answer to several people with a general reply.


Tough situation to be in; lots of world-wide negative sentiment which could have been avoided. Was ooredoo really poorly created or maybe it's a strategy to initiate online conversations and create a buzz? Or both?
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