We are kick-starting TWTW with a twist in light of last week’s Facebook special, introducing….. Face-who? Come meet our soon-to-be new social media friend, Salamworld It’s Facebook, with a ‘halal’ twist! The new social networking site, Salamworld, is set to launch during Ramadan this July. Based upon Islamic ideals, the site ‘hopes to bridge cultural, traditional and sectarian barriers and bring Muslims together in one online community’ (source The National).

كشفت الدراسة السنوية الخامسة التي أجرتها شركة إدلمان لإستشارات العلاقات العامة حول الاهتمام بقضايا المجتمع ودعم الأهداف النبيلة، والتي تجرى في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة منذ العام 2010، كيف يساهم الاهتمام بالقضايا النبيلة في تحديد تفضيلات المستهلك وولائه للشركات والعلامات التجارية. على صعيد الفكر والتطبيق، تتفوق أسواقنا على المتوسط ​​العالمي في هذا المجال في 6 طرق رئيسية هي: أكثر من نصف سكان الإمارات يعتقدون أن مسؤولية “الناس من أمثالي” لمعالجة القضايا الاجتماعية زادت خلال العام الماضي

Does everybody know what time it is? For my American friends it is not Home Improvement’s ‘tool time’, but it’s our favorite TWTW time! This week’s TWTW has a particular theme and I am sure has been a popular talking piece – it’s Mark Zuckerberg and everyone’s guilty pleasure Facebook. Facebook CEO rings opening bell on IPO day On Friday May 18thMark Zuckerberg became a billionaire from the Facebook IPO. In the early hours of the IPO day, Mark rang the opening Nasdaq bell from Facebook’s HQ in Menlo Park, California.

Our, conducted in the UAE since 2010, revealed how the Power of Purpose is driving consumer preference and loyalty for corporations and brands. From ideological and intentional standpoints, our market is ahead of the global average in 6 key ways: More than half of UAE residents believe the responsibility of ‘people like me’ to address societal issues has increased over the past year Almost 6 in 10 think that we have more power and influence to make a difference on those issues than compared to five years ago.

MEPRA, The Middle East Public Relations Association held a social media forum at the Westin Hotel in Dubai last week to discuss the state of social media in the public relations industry. The forum featured speakers who were present to deliver introductory sessions into the world of social media and its uses within the communications industry. With a room full of aspiring social media gurus, the audience was in for a treat.

In the wake of Facebook’s stock market flotation on Friday, here is a neat infographic by Khaled El Ahmed detailing the use of Facebook in the Arab world so far this year. Source: Wamda Facebook use in the Arab world has grown exponentially over the last few years, with an approximate total of 43 million Arabic speaking users today. According to the infographic Egypt is leading the forefront, with users in May 2012 totaling 10,643,740; this is followed by KSA with 5,333,360 total users.

Today we’re rounding up TWTW with a mixture of mouldy sandwich bags, a Google Street View photo bomb, Facebook billionaires and “Sabotage” kids, bringing to you some of the most fun and extreme PR and digital stories from the week. Enjoy! Value of Facebook to reach $100bn? Trading in shares for the social networking giant Facebook is expected to commence Friday, and having recently raised the bar to which it hopes to sell its shares from $28-$35 to $34-$38, it is estimated that this could potentially position the value of Facebook at a cool $100bn!

So much great news to condense into one small space this week, but here’s a selection of some of the best! YouTube channels on the rise in Middle East According to a report in The National, the popularity of the online video sharing website YouTube has increased ‘phenomenally’ in Arab countries, with particular growth in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Syria. The Arab Media Forum 2012 which wrapped-up on Wednesday in Dubai discussed the growing presence of YouTube in the region during a session entitled ‘The YouTube Channels…Individual Platforms that Compete with the Satellite Stations’.

After taking a short hiatus, The Week That Was is back in full force, bringing a roundup of the best, most awesome, and on occasion downright shocking PR and digital stories from around the globe! Kick–starting TWTW, we’re going straight to our old friend Facebook, whose weekly news is never too far from the Arabian Bytes radar. This week they bring us not one, but two great pieces. Facebook in organ donation push

Taghreedat, the Arab initiative extending 10 Middle Eastern countries in support of Arabizing digital content, is set to introduce the first Arabic Tech/Web 2.0 Dictionary. According to Gulf News, so far over 2,500 people have volunteered to take part in this new global glossary which will standardise Arabic definitions of online e-terms, such as “spam”, “twittering” and “retweets”. As quoted in Gulf News, Co-founder of Taghreedat Sami Mubarak, says_, “The glossary will break a big barrier because many users resort to combining English terminology with the Arabic text, so we want to change that and introduce the first Arabic technology and social media glossary,”_