Is Social Media Changing our Lives?

The Online Collaborative at the American University of Beirut announced a conference “Social Media Changing Lives”. This conference was handled yesterday Friday, Dec.16 at ISSAM FARES HALL at AUB. The conference gathered over 30 influencers from the Arab community and special performance by some of Lebanon’s most talented musicians. The aim of this conference was to discuss how social media is changing fields such as education, culture, business, media and journalism, music and art, NGOs, politics, religion, human rights, science, the environment and the personal lives of everyone who is using them.

The conference started 12 pm and finished 9 pm. I arrived 4:45 pm, I entered quickly and sat on the left side of the Hall. Maan Barazi, editor at e Business Lebanon, was talking about blogs, facebook, twitter and other social media networks. “I don’t know if social media is changing our lives or we are changing social media,” Barazi said, “really I don’t know what is real and fake on social media,” Barazi added. Maan Barazi explained that the media content is non-credible. The best thing in this conference is that every speaker has a 10 minutes speech and this makes the conference more active. Kamal Chelhot, marketing director at L’Orient le Jour, asked the government about the 4G network connection that would let the users download a movie in 6 seconds. A comedian show was performed by Malek Teffaha, or the owner of the apple as he said. He was so funny. The audience t laughed loudly when he was performing about the social media. Indeed, Esraa Haidar, owner and manager Consult-E Marketing, informed how she used social media to tell how she is discriminated and rejected because she is veiled. They all had a story to share. And you also can share yours, speak loudly with no borders and say what you want with no fear. Did the social media influence the “Arab Spring” or the political decisions? A question I want to share.