Dubai: Around 200 of the UAE's most social savvy residents convened in the welcoming space of Al Quoz's The Shelter on Wednesday night to celebrate something that infilitrates every waking moment of their lives: social media.
Social Media Day Dubai was one of the 500 global events initiated by popular social networking news site Mashable.com on June 30 that called on people to "acknowledge and celebrate the revolution of media becoming social" .
And celebrate they did, thanks to avid social media user Mita Srinivasan (@mita56 on twitter), who organised the event following a suggestion from fellow twitter user Mohammad Parham Alawadhi (@wildpeeta on twitter)
"I love social media and everything about it and when Mohammad suggested this, I thought 'What a fabulous idea to bring the whole community together'," Srinivasan said.
With the help of the very thing they sought to celebrate, Srinivasan put the event in motion, setting up a website to invite people to register and informing them of the happenings.
"We crowdsourced the whole thing as we didn't want any exchange of money or sponsorship. It is absolutely not-for-profit," she said.
"In fact the only money I spent was the small fee to register the website."
Social Media Day not only gave social media enthusiasts a chance to meet the people they interact with online, but also featured a number of community talks on topics ranging from environmental sustainability to the best user of public transport.
Nissreen Zahlawi and Reem Althawadhi of Emirates Wildlife Society were invited to speak about their new campaign 'Choose Wisely' to educate residents about the dangers of overfishing in the region.
"This is a great medium to raise awareness of this issue and we have generated quite a lot of interest via twitter and facebook," Zahlawi said.
About twelve small startups and volunteer organisations set up shop along The Shelter's open space, where they mingled with the crowd while simultaneously pitching their products or services.
"We wanted to give small businesses a platform they wouldn't normally have access to," said Srinivasan.
One such entrepreneur is Suzanne McDonald, a Dubai resident who markets her very own brand of home made fudge predominantly through social media under the name Toffee Princess (@toffeeprincess on twitter)
"Most of my business and sales are done through social media, particularly twitter and facebook. They're both linked together now, so that makes it easier too," she said.
McDonald, who uses social media for both business and pleasure, believes it is important to mix the two.
"You need to build lasting relationships with customers and social media allows you to do that," she said.
Sabina Giado, a freelance writer and aspiring film-maker from Sri Lanka agrees.
"It's great to be able to connect with other people with similar interests and start conversations and learn from them," the Dubai resident said, adding that the atmosphere in the social media community is very welcoming.
As a live stream broadcast a video feed of the event via ustream, people chatted comfortably with their peers, some having met each other for the first time face-to-face.
"Social media allows you to interact with people you wouldn't normally talk too," Hamna Ahmed, who regularly attends such events, said. "Everyone is a lot more tolerant to other people's values."
Another avid tweeter, Wajiha Said, attributes this warm nature to the fact that the online community in Dubai is quite small, making it easier for people to meet and connect.
"It starts with online, but soon it steps out of the medium and becomes your real life," she says, confessing that, like many others, the internet and technology as a whole has taken over her life.
Social Media Day is not the first event to bring together people through the internet, and it certainly won't be the last.
"It's about building lasting communities" Saadia Zahid who offered up The Shelter, said, "and social media is doing just that."
Follow Gulf News on Twitter www.twitter.com/gulf_news
