Key Findings:

• The total number of Facebook users in the Arab world stands at 27,711,503 (as of April 5, 2011), up from 21,377,282 (January 5, 2011), having almost doubled since the same time last year (14,791,972 in April 2010).

• Youth (between the ages of 15 and 29) make up around 70% of Facebook users in the Arab region, indicating a slight increase in the number of users over 30 years old since the end of 2010.

• The estimated number of active Twitter users in the Arab region at the end of March 2011 was 1,150,292.
  Multiplying by the ratio of total users to active users above (an average of 200 million/35 million = 5.7), we
  get a total Twitter population of 6,567,280.

• The most popular trending hashtags across the Arab region in the first quarter were #egypt (with 1.4 million
  mentions in the tweets generated during this period) #jan25 (with 1.2. million mentions), #libya (with
  990,000 mentions), #bahrain (640,000 mentions), and protest (620,000)

• Female participation in Facebook usage remains glaringly low. Even though the percentage of female users has risenslightly in the region (to 33.5%), the percentage of female users globally still remains significantly higher (at 61%), andis growing at a faster rate.

“The role of social media in the uprisings sweeping the Arab world has been under assessment during 2011. The level of social media’s contribution to the buildup of the uprisings is still debatable… One thing that is certain is that given the region’s young population and increasing penetration rates, social media will continue to play a growing role in political, societal and economic developments in the Arab region.”

Blacks Gone Geek’s founder Milt Haynes gave some tips to conference attendees on Internet marketing. He uses blogs, podcasts, RSS Feeds, Facebook groups, Groupsite.com, Yahoogroups and his web site to network with an online community of African American IT professionals.

“Not only do you need a blog and a website, but you also need a good Internet strategy to be successful,” he said. “Fish where your buyers swim.”

Personal branding strategist Hajj Flemings shared his knowledge on how to stand out from the cyberspace pack. He argues that one’s online presence can make or break anyone’s career today. Consistency in how a person presents themselves in various social media tools is key to success.

“You personal brand is everything,” Flemings said. “It is about producing quality content that has supporting data is important.”

On a panel discussion on “Bloggerpreneurs,” bloggers who have made significant money off of their social media discussed their secrets to success.

Fredric Mitchell is a Chicago-based web developer who is proof of who you know and networking can help anyone become successful. He also said that complimenting others when they do good can work in your favor in the future. He is a strong advocate of African Americans becoming leaders in the tech world.

“The IT world is predominately white,” he said. Not only should we be using new technologies, we should also be building it.”

One of those hopeful online organizers was Tika Giday, a Ethiopian nonprofit health advocate, who was given admission to the conference by a friend who registered and couldn’t attend last minute. Giday said that she was happy to have the opportunity to attend 09NTC by chance to meet with other nonprofit technies about digital activism, and was looking forward to using her skills when she gets back to Addis Ababa.

“I am so blessed to come to a technology conference in America now because in Africa, everyone is happy to see Barack win the presidency,” Giday said. “We are very impressed with the way he used online media tools, and I am here to learn from other activists and their best practices of political and social activism online.”

Giday went to two workshops that addressed the online “Obama effect;” one of which was called “Online Organizing for Community Organizers.” The workshop was lead by Charles Lenchner of the Working Famiies Party, who has an extensive background using online organizing for many political and environmental organizations, including Democracyinaction.org, Change.org and MoveOn.org. Giday also went to another workshop that featured Michael Silberman of EchoDitto and Anne Marie Ashburn of the New Organizing Institute. Silberman worked on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, while Ashburn was a Obama campaign field organizer in Chicago last year, who switched over to training campaign staff on using new media tools.

Giday wrote down some notable quotes from the panelists in these workshops, which include the following:

“Anyone can start a Facebook cause, but it is another thing to mobilize the people joining the cause.”

“You can’t separate the mission of the organization from the tools used to reach the goal of the mission.”

“You have to be clear about your social mission”

“Email addresses are people too!”

“Be an active listener of what your online constituency wants and what they will give to your cause.”

“Treat people respectfully online, especially if you want them to support your causes.”

“It is important for online organizers to mobilize supporters to do real world actions.”

Before the conference, Giday said she didn’t feel sure she could be a digital activist. However, three days later, she feels more confident about going back to Ethiopia and training others about being onling organizers. In the next few days, she would like to start her own Facebook and Twitter accounts in preparing of a digital activism she wants to do.

“I have even purchased a Flip camera, and I would like to record the many injustices in my community and share them with the world online,” Giday continued. “Maybe Mr Obama will see my videos!”

Mary Frances Berry, historian and former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, was in Boston February 19 to discuss her latest book, as well as her career in Washington.

Highlights:

Berry on Eric Holder’s “nation of cowards” speech: “It was a gutsy thing for him to do.”

Berry on NY Post cartoon depicting Obama/chimpanzee : “I can agree that it’s racist, but they have a right to say that.”

The original conversation is about an hour long, so I cut it into 7 10-minute segments.  It is well worth worth watching the whole conversation if you can.

From Times of London:

It only launched last Friday, but already the papal Youtube channel is losing viewers.

A total of 90,411 hits were registered on Vatican YouTube on its launch day, Jan 24. By Monday, the audience for the English language version of the site, which features videos of Pope Benedict’s addresses had fallen to 31, 558 views, according to the video measuring service TubeMogul.

The channel, which uses existing content broadcast on Vatican tv and radio channels. Users are not permitted to post comments or ratings while the Vatican Channel does not allow for its videos to be embedded on third-party sites, a factor which may prevent the google site from attracting a larger web audience.

The Vatican hopes to broaden Pope Benedict’s outreach through the channel. In his first appearance on Youtube on Friday, the Pope described the internet as a “great family that knows no borders.”

So long as the family doesn’t criticize other family members…

I guess Pope Benedict has at least one thing in common with Barack Obama and Dimitry Medvedev.

Raices de Esperanza is asking Internet users to use their emails to take action. On their website, there is a sample letter (in Spanish), addressing key Cuban officials about Fournier’s plight and seeking his expedient release. Email addresses of these officials are also listed with instructions on how to email them.

In recent years, there has been growing tension between Muslim immigrants from Africa and the Middle East and generally progressive Swedes, who lately have turned their attention to right-wing groups that support anti-immigration policies. From religious intolerance to the increasing number of supermarkets selling Halal foods, Ramadan blog gives viewers an alternative window into what it is like to be Muslim today, with the hope of bring peace and reconciliation in the Scandinavian country.

Tools Being Used: Facebook

What Are They Doing: The Burma Global Action Network has set up a Facebook group to educate Internet users about the events around the 8.8.88 Uprising and what they see are problems that continue to plague Burma today. Many of the grievances include the Chinese government continuing to block a United Nations arms embargo on Burma while it sells weapons to Burma’s regime and the ongoing problem of getting aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Users can learn about locations of demonstrations this weekend worldwide as well as view campaign videos from organizations like the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

Read this article about a group of Senegalese protesters angered by the lack of press freedom in their own country.

I will be attending his workshop, and will report on what he says. He is expected to discuss climate change, but I am hoping the moderator will at least force Wade to answer his critics.

“When money gets tight in the newsroom, diversity hiring and training are the first to go,” said Barbara Ciara, President of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). “We have to continue to argue that diversity shouldn’t be just a line item in the budget.”

While I agree that lacking diversity in the newsroom is a problem, I also noticed another problem at Unity. For all the talk of dying racial and ethnic voices in the mainstream media, there is hardly any representation from another dying voice – ethnic media. I understand that a convention of this magnitude couldn’t happen without the corporate money, but as journalists of color we are obligated to help sustain ethnic media. Buried under all the corporate sponsorships from major media outlets, various black, Latino, Native American and Asian media outlets were sparse. Geez, I was hoping to at least see a booth for the Chicago Defender…