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AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics?
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.
Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.
Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

There is no doubt that social media has substantially, perhaps even irreversibly, impacted the way that we connect and communicate with one another. Social media platforms have become a source of news that people consume regularly. But how often is that news factually correct? The proliferation of fake news on social media has created a concerning climate for news outlets and various other organizations as they strive to combat this rapidly increasing phenomenon.

A 2017 study found that consumers today believe that out of all the news, 40% of it is somewhat fake or made up. The amount of misinformation that exists is staggering, there are ways to fight back against fake news.

How to Fight Fake News and Misinformation

Misinformation is defined as "false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead." (Dictionary.com) 

Misinformation is spread on a daily basis, intentionally or not. (Disinformation on the other hand, is fake news that is intentionally spread on social media. We'll go into disinformation a bit later). 

For example, if you receive a meeting invitation for 10AM but you mistakenly misread it as 10PM and tell your colleagues about the the misread time you are, in effect, sharing misinformation. This may seem like a minor example, compared to what happens on social media, but the point is that you shared misinformation by mistake and with no intention to do so.

When it comes to social media misinformation spreads rapidly, largely due to social media users sharing posts and articles without checking to see if they're true. While the onus does fall somewhat on the user to do their own research before sharing a questionable post, the bigger conversation is what responsibility lies with tech companies to prevent the spread of misinformation and fake news on social media. 

Disinformation is "deliberately misleading or biased information." (Dictionary.com) 

If we go back to our above example, if you intentionally tell your colleagues that the meeting is at 10PM because you want to sabotage everyone else, this would be considered disinformation because you are spreading false information on purpose. 

Disinformation is powerful and can be extremely destructive, and is often what causes deep divisions on social media. For journalists in particular, it can be can be difficult to untangle a disinformation campaign — and they must remain vigilant in order to stay ethical. 

So, when distinguishing between misinformation and disinformation, intent is really what separates the two.

Types of Misinformation on Social Media 

Be on the lookout for these common types of fake news and misinformation that can spread quickly on social media.

Clickbait is a "a sensationalized headline that encourages you to click a link to an article, image, or video." From news stories and blog posts to videos and interviews, clickbait is presented in such a way as to attract as many clicks as possible on social media. 

While clickbait is great for increasing page views, driving traffic to your website or generating more social shares for your content, its misleading nature can tarnish the reputation of reputable news sources that share content with a misleading headline. 

When people click on a piece of content on social media, they are expecting to view content that matches the expectations set by the headline. If you don't deliver on this, people may begin to question the credibility of the content which can cause damage to your brand. 

Propaganda is the deliberate spread of information, ideas or rumors that help or harm an individual, a group of people, an institution or a country. 

According to NBC News, more governments are using social media to promote propaganda as this seems to work better than censorship. Research by the Oxford Internet Institute found that more governments and political parties are making use of social media algorithms, automation and big data to influence the vast majority of public opinion.

With the advent and sophistication of AI, images and videos depicting false events are all to easy to produce and share on social media. Some platforms have begun to add certain safeguards, such as a watermark or label that clearly indicates "AI-generated" however these tags are not perfect and won't catch every bit of AI media out there. So once again it falls on the consumer to be vigilant and pursue their own fact-checking if something seems fishy. 

In order to fight fake news and misinformation on social media, you need to be able to recognize it first. You will know that you are dealing with fake news when you can a clear bias is evident or if a piece of content is trying to invoke feelings of anger and mistrust in a particular person, group of people, or cause. Sometimes, this content may come from a news outlet that sounds unfamiliar, is unknown, or has no markers of credibility. 

In these cases, it is best to fact-check before you decide to share with your own followers. Are the author names real? Can you validate the sources mentioned in the article? Do the claims sound suspicious? If these are the questions you can't seem to find an accurate answer to, then chances are, you have a piece of false information in your hands. 

Things to look out for when identifying social media fake news include: 

if there are a number of spelling and grammatical errors

if there are no accurate sources being cited

Fake social media accounts have become increasingly common, and are a fairly standard tactic for those wishing to encourage the spread of fake news. 

Fake accounts, or bots, tend to spam legitimate social media users by posting inappropriate or irrelevant content. You can often spot a bot by: 

a default avatar or low-quality profile picture

a lack of original content on their profile 

a low amount of followers but following a high amount of people

alternatively they may have a lot of followers but extremely low engagement which indicates fake followers

Code for Africa, an NGO, is the continent's largest network of civic technology and data journalism labs. They build digital democracy solutions that give citizens access to factual and actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions. 

This is especially true in moments when fake news is being spread on social media. Using Meltwater, Code for Africa debunked claims and fact checked trending topical conversations to ensure that the general public had accurate information delivered to them in a timely manner to refute any misleading claims. Since using Meltwater, Code for Africa have been able to combat disinformation in Niger, misinformation regarding the Uganda elections, and political trolls in Kenya. 

Uganda In Crisis: The Documented Misinformation

Not all social media platforms have a clear guideline on how you can fight fake news on social media. However, if you do come across misinformation, you can (and should) report it. Each platform has a way of doing this, which is specified below: 

When you spot content with misinformation that is intentionally harmful, click on the 3 dots on the top-right corner of the post.

On the drop-down menu, click on “Find Support or Report Post.”

Select “False Information” when prompted to choose a problem to report, then click “Next” to report the post.

Similarly, if you come across a Facebook page that contains harmful misinformation, you can click on the 3 dots at the top of the page and select “Find Support or Report Page.” Select “Scams and Fake Pages,” then click “Next” to report the Facebook page.

Click on the 3 dots at the top-right corner of the post.

Select “Report...” on a mobile phone or “Report inappropriate” on desktop.

Select "False information" or "Scam or fraud" to report the post.

If you want to report the actual account that is spreading fake news, go to their profile page and click on the 3 dots next to their name.

Click “Report...” From here, you will either have the option to report a post, message or comment that the account shared, or report the entire account.

Click on the 3 dots that appear at the top-right corner of a tweet and select "Report Tweet."

Select “It’s abusive or harmful” to report a post containing harmful misinformation.

Click the dropdown menu at the top-right corner of a LinkedIn post.

Click "Report this post" and select "Suspicious or fake."

Click "Misinformation" from the list of reporting reasons (or "Fake account" if you want to report the actual account).

The battle of social media fake news is ongoing and there is definitely work to be done. The problem that social media fake news presents may not be solved overnight nor completely avoided but with the power that social media has, it's wise to exercise caution and to take what we see on our feeds with a pinch of salt before hitting the retweet button.

If you want to learn more about how Meltwater's Social Listening can help fight fake news on social media, fill in the form below and we'll get in touch with you.

Fighting Fake News on Social Media

It’s November 2020 - eleven months into dealing with the shocks and disruptions brought about by the pandemic. Consumer behavior has undoubtedly been altered and people are settling into a “new normal” way of consumption, and we believe many of these changes will remain permanent even as economies and markets reopen. 

But one thing we know for sure — consumers are becoming more “social”. As physical interactions are restricted by lockdowns and social distancing, consumers are spending significantly more time on social media platforms to consume content, engage, and communicate with each other. 

Before the pandemic hit, brands like Panasonic and Google have already been tapping into social media data to understand the voice of the consumers. Consumers have been engaging in billions of social media conversations sharing what they ate, what they bought, their emotions and opinions, and are now doing so on a much wider scale because of the pandemic. With vast increase in social media data points available, developing the voice of consumers has never been more refined, accurate and actionable. 

Not only are consumers engaging in more conversations on social media, the power of social media to influence real-world behaviors has heightened as well. The recent Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” paints a grim picture of this very phenomenon. The Black Lives Matter Movement and #cancelculture are prime examples of how social media conversations have the ability to change our daily realities on a drastic scale - for the better or worse. 

The perception that social media has little impact on the realities of your consumers is a dangerous one. Without a firm understanding of the latest social media movements and conversations, brands risk launching tone-deaf campaigns that rub their consumers the wrong way. Take the Virus Vanguard campaign, a COVID-19 campaign by Gov.sg earlier this year that was taken down a day after its launch. At a time where fear and uncertainty about the pandemic was at an all-time high in Singapore, using humor to convey a public message while well-meaning, was a mismatch to the psyche of the Singaporean public. This is why it is crucial for marketing communications teams to pay attention to even the smallest murmurs on social media.

How brands can leverage social media data:

There has never been a more important time to think about how your brand can tap into social media data points to guide your marketing campaigns and strategy. For a start, here are the three most common use cases practiced by our clients: 

For those unfamiliar with social media listening tools, it begins with identifying a certain hypothesis that you would like to prove or disprove. Maybe you want to find out if people were relieved or angry about certain government initiatives or announcements regarding COVID-19, what people are saying about your brand or competitors, or how people are feeling about a certain event. This hypothesis will then shape your boolean search which is a structure of keywords and filters that enables users to pull out the most accurate and relevant information to their search. 

In this example, we took a look at conversations surrounding Christmas in the Philippines. Our hypothesis was “COVID-19 has had an impact on Christmas plans in the Philippines” and we wanted to see if it was true and the reasons behind the outcome. The Boolean search shown above will capture all social media mentions talking about Christmas made by Filipinos and compare data between August 2020 vs August 2019. Meltwater’s Social Listening platform pulled out a total of 478K mentions on Christmas by Filipinos this year. 

Once this boolean search has been set up, users would be able to know how many conversations there were and pick up even the smallest upticks in the volume of social media conversations around the topic they are interested to monitor — in real-time. In the case of Christmas in the Philippines in 2020 (blue line) we notice two large spikes on the 1st of September, which is the start of the Ber Months (Countdown to Christmas Day) and on the 5th of September.

But the analysis doesn’t stop at identifying peaks in conversations. Naturally, the next question any marketers would ask is: What is causing the spikes? 

On Meltwater’s social listening tool, clicking on points on the time graph would filter for conversations on that single day. Even better, our analytics dashboard provides vital information like “Trending Themes” and “Top Hashtags” (among many others)

Marketers can then draw relevant insights about what their consumers are most concerned or excited about. These insights represent the voice of your consumers and can be used to empower both marketing and non-marketing actions - from content marketing to product development.

Use Case 2: Social Analytics for Campaign Measurement

2020 is the year the world officially went digital. Going digital and relying on online marketing channels has become a critical necessity for many brands. As such, another social listening use case our clients find particularly helpful is campaign measurement. Companies that do not have the right measurement tools and processes set up are now forced to look for one. 

As the first step for many brands, Google Analytics is a useful platform to understand the impact of your campaigns on website traffic. Meltwater’s Social Listening tool complements this data set by adding another important layer to your campaign measurement framework. 

These are some widgets available on Meltwater’s platform. Having these choices gives our users the flexibility to define their social media campaign goals and metrics 

1. Track volume of conversations across different social channels 

Let’s look at this example of the recent reality show “The Asian Dream”. The main sponsor of the program, Subaru, wanted to track awareness and reactions to the show on social media. With Meltwater's Social Listening Tool, not only are they able to track how many social media conversations the show created, which is a great indicator of its popularity, they are also able to see how the conversation breaks down on individual social media channels. Understanding which platform is generating the most buzz and conversations about your brand can help you strategize your next steps. For example, if they had the most conversations on Twitter, it would make sense to engage with the show’s fans and viewers on that platform. 

Tracking website traffic is a great indicator of the impact of your campaigns. Overlaying this data with the number of articles and social media conversations generated about your brand or product better demonstrates the impact of your PR and marketing efforts. If there is a visual correlation between social media buzz generated by your campaigns and total number of web visits, marketers can convince and present the value of their work to stakeholders. 

The PESO model is a measurement framework widely known amongst modern PR and Marcomms professionals. It looks at media efforts through these four lenses - paid, earned, shared, and owned. Data from owned and paid channels are relatively simple to track, these data would often be visible to you on your platforms. The struggle that many marketers face is to track earned media - content around your brand that was organically generated by the public. 

Meltwater Social Media Listening tool allows users to track your earned media and understand its contribution to social media chatter about your brand. In this case of “The Asian Dream”, Subaru would be happy to know that the majority of their conversations are actually fan-driven. This means they are reaching new audiences that aren’t currently following their owned pages. 

The consumer-brand relationship has evolved to become more personal and emotional over the years. Consumers perceive brands as active forces within society with huge influences and hence, hold brands to a much higher standard than before, This means that consumers are more critical of brands and quick to react to any inappropriate or tone-deaf brand messaging, especially if it conflicts with their own values. Social media compounds this effect by inviting more people to contribute to the discussion. Just look at all the brands who have been #cancelled this year.

This is a challenge that all brands have to be ready for, even if you have been closely listening to your consumers' voice, carefully crafting your brand messaging, and training your employees on dos and don’ts. With social media, the risk is always there as a single social media post can blow up into a full crisis in a matter of hours.

Meltwater’s real-time alerting tool is a great way to prepare for and mitigate these effects. Similar to trend jacking, it involves setting up a Boolean search that would capture all information about your brand, products, or industry. If it detects something out of the norm, for example, a higher volume of conversation that usually (these filters are typically pre-set by you), users will receive an alert on their mobile. This instant notification often gives marketing communications managers ample time to respond if needed. Furthermore, our analytic features such as sentiment analysis and trending themes would paint a clearer picture of what is happening on the ground. 

Everything you know about your consumers has changed. And the way to keep up is to be where your audience is at - and our research tells us that they are on social media. At its core, Meltwater’s social listening tool gives you the flexibility to define your search parameters, collect real-time social media data, and structure them into strategic insights. The possibilities of what marketing teams can do - beyond the three use cases of trend analysis, campaign measurement and crisis management - are endless.  

Learn more about Meltwater's Social Listening Platform by filling out the form below.

3 Social Listening Use Cases for Pandemic Marketing

The Middle East has seen some significant growth in internet and social media usage in the last few years, and with this growth comes some interesting stats and figures that only highlight the potential that the region has for brands and businesses looking to penetrate this emerging market: 

In January 2020, there were 2.83 Million social media users in Qatar

Social media penetration in the United Arab Emirates stood at 99% in January 2020

The number of internet users in Saudi Arabia increased by 4.3 million between 2019 and 2020

Since the Arab Spring in 2011, social media has taken the Middle East by storm, changing the digital and online communication landscape with it, with research showing that 88% of the Middle Eastern population are online and using social networking platforms on a daily basis. 

What are the Top 3 Social Media Trends for the Middle East that we need to know about going into 2021? Read this blog post to find out. 

On 4 August 2020, the world was rocked when video footage shared online showed the port of Beirut exploding as 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonated. As reported by CNN, the explosion left 180 people reported dead and 300 000 men, women and children displaced.

Over 1 000 Middle Eastern news articles wrote about the ‘Lebanon explosion’ while more than 600 000 global social media mentions were recorded since 1 August to date regarding the ‘Lebanon explosion’. During the week since the explosion occurred, the hashtag ‘#Lebanon’ was mentioned 369 000 times on social media globally, garnering a social media reach of just over 8 Billion people. The hashtag was heard and seen by many across the world and in the Middle East, it showed the importance of using social media to raise awareness on local social issues that the media may not give as much news coverage. 

With over 27 000 global social media mentions, and 9 700 mentions in the Middle East, '#InThisTogetherDubai' brought people together digitally in the education community as the COVID-19 had caused schools and universities to close as a means of practicing social and physical distancing. Trending themes such as 'online tutoring' and 'community' emerged, with the '#InThisTogetherDubai' hashtag was positively received within the region despite the physical challenges that both teachers and students were experiencing at the time. However, despite the challenges, it was a time for the region to come together and stand in unity during a time of need.

The use of hashtags on social media, particularly on platforms like Twitter and Facebook (where there are over 187 million monthly active users on these platforms in the region), indicates how the use of hashtags are important for getting certain topics in front of a bigger audience while raising awareness at the same time. With their ability to be instrumental in the transition of movements and conversations from online to the real world and vice versa.

The year of video content among the youth

In a recent report, 9 out of 10 young Arabs use at least one social media platform on a daily basis., and Instagram, with more than 5 million active users, is a popular platform for the youth in the Middle East. On Facebook, 90% of internet users in the UAE are active on the platform, with young male users accounting for the majority of the country's Facebook audience demographic, while on Twitter, only 41% of online users in the UAE have a Twitter account. 

Despite an overall increase of social media consumption among the youth this year, video content was a standout among the youth, and key trend to look out for in the near future.

Thanks to a one-year agreement that saw MBC Group sign an exclusive entertainment content partnership with Facebook MENA, this provided viewers access more than 20 000 videos from popular shows across the region on Facebook Watch.  While the recent announcement has received a predominately neutral response from social media users within the region, the announcement did receive positive responses from social media users, with the data indicating that this is a good sign and step in the right direction in terms of how the youth have moved to consuming more video content this year. 

On the other hand, global streaming service, Netflix, may have also received neutral reactions from its audience on social media but it also received slightly more positive feelings than negative. With reports revealing that Netflix saw an increase in subscriptions in the UAE by 26%, this increase in viewers played a role in the positive feelings that young online audiences had towards the streaming platform, along with popular TV shows such as Modern Family being made available to viewers in the region. However, what viewers want from Netflix is more variety of shows, including anime, and better supervision of the video content already available but not culturally sensitive to the region. 

Along with video content becoming prominent among the youth in the Middle East, one video content platform that has expanded its influence within the region is YouTube.  Mobile watch time in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has is one of the fastest growing in the world, according to Google, and while it's millennials who are consuming more online video content, half of all mothers in the Middle East now watch children's content on YouTube. 

With COVID-19 restricting social and physical movement for most of the year, parents found themselves having to adjust to a digital form of educating their children at home.  However, YouTube is playing a more prominent role in the lives of Middle Eastern parents as they look to the platform to act as a third parent or advisor who offers support. 

One of the top YouTube channels within the region is 'Super Somaa', featuring a Middle Eastern child, and his family, who helps solve problems. The channel already has 2.56 Million subscribers, over 9 Million views and a Middle Eastern social reach of over 100 000. Social reach of the channel peaked in March of this year, as COVID-19 restrictions were put in place around the world, and self isolation practices were implemented.  It was during this month that the channel shared a video on how to make pizza at home as a family, which resulted in more than 300 000 views, indicating how Middle Eastern families want quality time with their children and are using YouTube as a way to connect. 

What these trends have shown is that social media usage in the Middle East is on the rise yet continually changes as the popularity of each social networking platform changes. However, what does remain is that the power of hashtags have shown to create great awareness and a sense of global unity in times of need. 

Video content will continue to grow in the region, particularly among the young Arab youth, and as we enter a new digital decade while redefining the 'new normal' , parents in the Middle East are also taking to what is online for guidance and support. As 2020 comes to a close, it will be interesting to see which of these trends continue into 2021 and what trends will shift the social media landscape in the future.

The Top 3 Social Media Trends for the Middle East

The world we live in is driven by technology and innovation, especially in the marketing, PR and sales arenas. In the past, traditional media, such as print advertising and public broadcasting, mostly lived offline - and consumers interacted with brands, in stores or at home. 

If buyers had a problem with your product or service, they would have to go through the arduous process of physically submitting complaints and waiting for them to be aired on various channels. Even in the early stages of technology in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), broadcast media was the main driving force of news and advertising, which is not the case today. 

Today, the media is largely driven by consumers and commentators on social platforms. Influence comes from “real” people online, as opposed to being solely dictated by big corporates and media conglomerates. And while censorship abounds, consumer sentiment is still a key factor when it comes to brand recommendations and growth. 

“A 2016 survey conducted by Northwestern University in Qatar shows that Emirati nationals are highly active on social media. The country has the highest per-capita mobile phone penetration in the Arab world, estimated at 80.6%, meaning that social media is readily available”. -  ICFUAE

In order to fully get to grips with the new UAE media landscape, it’s important to understand the history of media here and the context this offers marketers today.

Here you can find more information about our Media Monitoring Solution in Arabic.

Did you know? Meltwater's interface is now available in Arabic!

Pre-UAE, the media landscape in the Trucial States was heavily impacted by British infrastructure. It lacked the literacy and development needed to spur on mass media as quickly as it emerged in other parts of the world. In fact, modern mass media outlets weren’t around until the late sixties, when Abu Dhabi Radio and Television came into fruition. At the same time, a few weekly newspapers started circulating. 

The first daily newspaper, only came about a year before the UAE was officially formed. From here, the UAE media landscape grew and a lot of effort was made to appeal to the diverse population of the Emirates. The launch of Dubai 33 in 1977 meant a new world of television, geared towards expats, was now available. New daily newspapers did emerge, some of them in English - although a number of them had private ownership - showing a vested interest in diversifying media in the area. The Ministry of Culture began to put the infrastructure in place that would support new media coming to the fore. 

Of course, this expansion meant that laws would be put in place to regulate what was shown, starting with the Press and Publications Law in 1980. This law effectively gave government the legal right to censor content, regardless of whether it was locally produced or from international sources. Censorship brought a lot of criticism to these leaders, the ruling family and allied states, especially as any information that could “damage” the Emirati economy was banned under defamation. 

The 1990s saw an incredible shift in UAE broadcasting...

The 1990s were an exciting and challenging time for media, given the growth of satellite television, which allowed broadcasters in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to start sharing their content with global audiences. At the same time, local media continued to expand. 

But perhaps the most important and significant event of the time was the advent of the first media free zone in 2002, which allowed foreign media to create content for international audiences - and they weren’t required to pay tax on the content they shared. 

Today, there are still media laws that affect these designated areas but there are now 4 of them, in Dubai, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi and Ras al-Khaimah. This is significant because these zones have helped create a media center which international broadcasters, such as the BBC and CNN and Al-Arabiya, make frequent use of. 

In the mid-90s, the internet became available to the public and infrastructure was put in place, across the country. In fact, today, the UAE is competitively networked and benchmarked among the most connected regions in the world, coming in at number 26 (World Economic Forum Ranking). It’s the front front runner in terms of connectivity in Qatar and the highest ranked state in the Arab nation. But, using the internet in the UAE is a strictly regulated exercise due to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), which can affect censorship or repercussions for sites that are considered amoral. 

Number of social media users per 100 people, in the MENA region (Greater Middle East)

Today, a conflict exists between vast media consumption and regulations in the UAE and the MENA regions, characterised by self and governmental censorship.

Tip: Learn how to do social media branding.

The UAE has one of the highest television viewership rates in the world (86% daily)*

Most of us choose to watch international channels via satellite.**

Radio is a popular communications channel (78% daily).***

International music radio like  Virgin Radio Dubai (Western contemporary), City 101.6 (Bollywood), and Al-Arabiya 99.0 (Arabic music) are by far the most listened to stations.

In terms of talk and news, Dubai Eye 103.8  leads in popularity. 

We love to read newspapers (56% daily) despite censorship. 

We Are very active on social media with the highest per-capita mobile phone penetration in the Arab world (80.6%). 

Social media usage is currently at 95% for Whatsapp, 82% on Facebook, 81% on YouTube, 60% on Instagram and 55% on Twitter. ****

[*] https://www.thenational.ae/business/technology/uae-is-a-nation-of-television-addicts-survey-finds-1.310172

[**] https://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/television-and-radio/2014/02/05/MBC-channels-top-UAE-television-rankings.html

[****] Most Used Social Media Platforms in UAE 2016. Source: Northwestern University in Qatar, 2016 Media Use in Middle East Survey.

Tip: Take a look at more UAE social media statistics.

Influencers: [March 6 of 2018] Social media influencers can’t just post as they’d like in the UAE. A regulatory body exists to ensure this. The National Media Council, announced new guidelines for UAE social media influencers:


The UAE logo: [November 2019], the UAE recently chose 49 artists, (seven from each emirate) to create a new logo for the UAE in keeping with a national branding campaign. 


Following Covid-19: [March 2020] after Covid-19, social media and video streaming platforms grew rapidly. YouTube saw a 16% month-on-month increase in users during March, whereas Facebook and Twitter experienced 17 % and 22% monthly increases. 

The challenges we face today as marketers

In many ways, the influx of visitors and the temporary population has presented a number of challenges for us as marketers. With this sudden fast-paced change in the buyer landscape, the UAE has been somewhat forced into embracing technology and marketing as a necessity, drawing attention with the high disposable income of our population. 

Brands have capitalised on this burst in new buying opportunities, and the use of marketing tools such as media monitoring software has never been more meaningful. But this “newer” version of our market comes with its own pitfalls of consumer trends and culture, as well as a Shariah state law shaping the kinds of advertising you can show to audiences. We look at what media monitoring is like in the UAE, the challenges and how international brands tailor themselves to fit this framework. 

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Social Listening

Fighting Fake News on Social Media

3 Social Listening Use Cases for Pandemic Marketing

The Top 3 Social Media Trends for the Middle East

Media Monitoring in Dubai and the UAE

Social Listening in Dubai and the UAE: A Wealth of Opportunity for Marketing, PR & Comms

Media Monitoring Software for Wales

Why Now Is the Time to Practice Social Listening

5 Ways to Turbocharge Your PR With Media Monitoring

Why Social Listening is Important at All Levels of Business

5 Ways Small Business Can Use Social Listening Tools

14 Reasons Why Companies Choose Meltwater for Media Monitoring

The Ins and Outs of PR for Product Launches

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