Social media Cafe is a place for people interested in social media for social change to gather, get acquainted, plan, scheme, share and learn from each other.
It’s a confluence of the creative, tech and entrepreneurial people who are currently gathering around social media and online social networking for a greater cause – social change issues. These issues vary from human rights to sustainability issues to social entrepreneurship etc.
The cafe, which takes place in different location in more than 12 Arab countries provides a friendly social space for digital innovators in all fields, helping them connecting, expressing and working for social change in the Arab World.
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Additional Background:
2009 has been an interesting year especially for Web 2.0 users particularly in the Arab world. The past year has seen the recognition of bloggers as an important political and social force, but also an increase in the monitoring, harassment, and arrest or detention of bloggers.
The Arab blogosphere is going through dramatic changes as technologies develop, and social and political situations evolve. It’s notable that more and more people are considering blogs within a social media context that includes microblogging (Twitter), crowd-sourcing tools (wikis) and social networks (Facebook).
Bloggers are increasingly being recognized in the Arab world as important aspect of the political and social agenda. Official comments on blogs (Jordan’s King Abdullah commented on black-iris.com in 2008) and invitations to important political events have marked the growing influence of the blogosphere in the Arab
world.
Bloggers helped monitor elections in Lebanon, and Iran’s summer protests were fueled by bloggers and Twitter; and in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco bloggers provided a constant source of opposition to governments. These were important steps toward recognition on a wider political level.
As more voices join the growing conversation, and more academics pore over the content, it seems an evolution of sorts is taking place.
The young, diversified and fragmented blogosphere is organizing itself and taking on more sophisticated tasks as time pushes on, and as bloggers and their blogs grow.
With the above in mind, the Young Leaders Visitors Program was successfully launched in 2008 as an inter-cultural leadership program supporting the development of young leaders through a combination of personal growth and practical experience, focusing on social media as a tool for positive change.
The main aim of YLVP is to lay a foundation for dialogue, mutual understanding and knowledge-sharing among young opinion-makers from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank-Gaza, Yemen and Sweden. YLVP strives to strengthen participants in their prospects to drive processes for social change in their respective contexts.
