Twitter and Sky News Arabia have signed a MoU to launch an interactive panel discussion on Twitter. The initiative between the two is the first-of-its-kind with an Arabic language media entity.
The panel discussion program featuring Twitter influencers from different fields and industries will hold monthly discussions, each dedicated to a certain regionally or globally trending issue.
Nart Bouran, head of Sky News Arabia, revealed the name of the program through Twitter as ‘Niqash Tag’.
He says: “Sky News Arabia is a media organization that has always adopted a multi-channel content delivery workflow, whereby we broadcast live news stories across all platforms simultaneously, and interact with the audience all along. In addition to the well-known TV channel, our platforms also include a website, multiple smartphone and tablet applications, an FM radio channel that airs in the UAE and several other Arab countries in partnership with local radio stations, as well as several active accounts on almost all key social media networks”.
Each panel discussion will run between 60 and 90 minutes. The participants will tweet their input in forms of text or video, while a Sky News Arabia representative will moderate the discussion.
Each session will be represented by a different hashtag for users to chime in the conversation. These sessions will then be curated on Sky News Arabia’s website.
Kinda Ibrahim, director of media partnerships, Twitter MENA, says in a press statement: “Our partnership with Sky News Arabia represents a pioneering initiative to engage our users on important topics currently being discussed across the region. Twitter’s increasing popularity has given users a powerful medium through which they can express themselves, in addition to providing governments and businesses with a platform that allows them to interact with their audiences and the wider public. Our aim with the ‘Niqash Tag’ program is to promote dialogue between users and raise awareness of the Twitter tool as a communication platform between individuals, companies and a variety of other users.”
