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Celebrities Should Not Trust their Social Media Accounts
with Agencies or Employees.
Paula Yacoubian is an established Lebanese journalist who
currently hosts a prime-time political and social talk show on Future
Television, Inter-Views. She previously hosted another show on Al Hurra TV and
was part of the morning talk show Nharkom Said on LBC. Additionally, Paula is a
media trainer and a political strategist. She has interviewed high-profile
figures throughout her career, including George W. Bush when he was in office
back in 2005.
I sat down with Paula to discuss her social media presence.
Personally, I believe that she is doing a great job on her social media
accounts and is among the best Lebanese journalists online. Very few use social
media effectively, consistently and continuously.
You can follow Paula on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on PaulaYacoubian.
What motivated you to start using social media as a media
professional?
I think that I started very very very late. At the
beginning, I didn't know how the direct interaction with the people will be. I
might have even had a low self-confidence, especially when it came to a direct
confrontation with the public. Being in the media, I had to question if I am
doing right thing when it came to politics or my views about Lebanon or the
sectarian state that it is in. I was afraid that I will have to deal with
things that will annoy or upset me. In addition, I was worried that it will
take a lot of my time on the expense of reading. That was what worried me, and
it actually happened, especially since I became this active on Twitter and
Facebook. I found that my time on social media is taking time from the serious
work that I am supposed to do, but I am enjoying it!
So how were you able to balance between using social
media effectively without wasting a lot of your time?
I am trying hard to manage my time between reading and being
active online and interact with my followers. Sometimes, beyond my control, I
feel that I am not being active as I want to be because I have to catch up on
important readings that are necessary for me to keep up to date on the situation
for my work.
How do you deal with nonconstructive and hate messages on
social media?
I have no problem with hate messages; I don’t mind a person
with an opposing opinion, even if his opinion is hateful. However, what annoys
me is when they start creating groups that spread lies. Recently, there was a
campaign against me on social media that was based on statements that I did not
say and I am actually completely opposed to. I would never say anything that
can remotely be classified as sectarian. I grew up in a family with different
religious backgrounds. I firmly believe that for Lebanon to become a civilized
country, we should campaign for interreligious marriages between the Lebanese
families. That way, the new generation will respect other people and their
opinions more and be more open-minded. The campaign that was launched against
me contrasts all my beliefs, and anyone can verify this by going back to old
tweets of mine, especially those relating to my opposition to the Orthodox law.
How do you fight these campaigns then? And how do you
raise awareness that what is being said about you is based on lies?
Once this campaign was launched, I had to check who was
behind it. I realized that the people involved have a dirty background on
social media, in a way that instead of communicating with you, they swear at
you and harass you, they slander everyone who has an opposing opinion from the
president, political or religious parties or even civilians, but they glorify
and godify their political/religious leaders. I did not feel there is a need to
respond to such a campaign because I did not want to bring more attention to
them or advertise them.
But many people on social media are not aware that you
did not say those things. How do you make sure they know that you are a victim
in these situations?
90% of the information that you are bombarded with every
second on social media is either wrong or inaccurate, but it is very easy to
verify the information online by researching. People who believe things they
read on the internet blindly, I let them be. At the end, I cannot reach out to
everyone individually and explain to them what is happening.
On my behalf, I try my best to
expose people to the truth through social media and television. Ultimately, I
cannot force-feed people the information and whoever doesn’t want to know the
truth, then I cannot change his/her opinion. Of course, I have announced before
on my show that people should be careful about what they read on social media,
but I cannot do anything more than that.
Do you think there should be a limit on freedom of speech
on social media, especially when it comes to unconstructive criticism or
hurtful behavior?
I am highly against limiting people’s freedom on social
media. When you are on TV and expressing your opinion, you have to have thick
skin and accept criticism. There are some people who curse and use
inappropriate words online. These people only represent themselves and do not
represent their community, and I usually ignore them. I do get a lot of polite
criticism and I do converse and discuss their opinions online. This is how I
make friends online, even if they have opposing opinions that will never
change. I respect everyone’s right to express his/her opinion in a respectable
manner, and I encourage them.
I don’t even block people. Out of all the incidents that I
encountered, I only have a couple of people blocked because, over time, I got
disgusted by the things that they are saying. I don’t block people who
criticize me or have an opposing opinion, because I believe it’s their right to
express themselves.
What is your favorite social network and why?It is definitely Twitter. It is by far the most powerful social network. It is
getting users accustomed to being concise and precise, and that is what I love
the most about Twitter. In the end, a stitch in time saves nine. (خير الكلام ما قل ودل.)
Tell me about your social media team, because I notice
that you tweet while live on television, so there must be someone who is
helping you.
You’re correct. The people who help me include Rana Zantout,
she is one of the people that I trust the most. She is my close friend before
anything else. If I couldn’t trust her, I cannot rely on her with something
this personal. Additionally, Sahar Agha helps me by live-posting and
live-tweeting when I am on television, but the main admin is definitely Rana.
Other than your personal relationship with Rana, did you
choose her because she has experience in social media?
Actually, neither Rana nor I have social media experience,
but I can rely on here because I have complete trust in her. Even if you tell
me that you are going to hire the most experienced social media consultant for
me, I would tell you that it can only be someone that I can trust, knows the
way I think and knows my audience very well.
Is it Future TV’s policy for its anchors to be on active
on social media or is it a personal choice?
It is a totally personal choice. When I decided to embark on
the social media journey, I was well aware that I was going to investing a lot
of my own time, regardless of the work that I do for Future.
What was Future TV’s reaction about social media
presence?
They were very supportive. But I wish that the people who
are handling the social media channels of Future TV to be better and more
active. Additionally, I wish that they would care about the whole team equally
and not favor some over others. Nevertheless, I always try to support the
channel’s social media presence as much as I can.
There is a prevailing opinion that traditional media is
dying slowly in favor of social media, because the public’s participation in
these media (TV stations, radio stations and newspapers) is very limited. On
the other hand, social media gives everyone the chance to say what they want to
the world. What are your thoughts about this?
I don’t agree that traditional media is dying. On the
contrary, traditional media and social media complement each other. For
example, when I see on social media that people are highly interested in a
certain topic, I would try to discuss this topic on my show. Additionally,
through social media, we are able to connect to people that we might not be
able to reach otherwise. Social many has opened my doors for the conventional
media to know what people like and dislike. This helps journalists improve the
way they approach topics. Sometimes you notice that people are tired of heated
political discussions and are more interested in humanitarian or societal
topics, so we try to shift our discussions to suit their tastes. The
conventional media can now follow what the audience want through social media.
I’m not only receive valuable feedback from social media, I am also able to
brainstorm and research topics.
A great example is martyr Mohammad Al Chaar. If it weren’t
for social media, people wouldn’t have known so much about him and his
personality. If it weren’t for his selfie before the explosion, the media
wouldn’t have noticed him as much as it did.
As a journalist, who do you follow on social media from
the journalists, bloggers and online community members in Lebanon?
I try to follow many people from diverse backgrounds on
social media. From the journalists, I like to follow Shada Omar, Ibrahim Daoud,
Maryam Al Bassam, etc… There are a lot of people that I enjoy following and
that is why I don’t like naming some, so that I don’t forget any.
I think bloggers are also an important resource because they
provide a different perspective on the media. There are a lot of people who are
not journalists but are very talented in this field, and sometimes more
talented than actual journalists. In Lebanon, there are a lot of respectable
blogs, one of them is Beirut Spring, which I enjoy reading. I try as much as
possible to follow Lebanese blogs and search for new ones.
Bloggers and the online community are a great resource for
news. It is true that Lebanon is a small country, but there are a lot of events
going on and news worth sharing. Traditional media might not be able to pick up
on all of it. When people on social media decide that a topic is news-worthy,
the conventional media has to succumb to discussing it. When the conventional
media stops following people’s tastes and interests, it will eventually cause
its doom. At the end, you have to cater for people because they have a lot of
choices. In Lebanon, they are not obligated to watch a specific station related
to the governing regime. On the contrary, they have a lot of options and if you
are not interesting enough for them, they will simply change the channel.
How do you control your personal information and personal
life on social media?
I try sometimes to include a little bit about my personal
life in my posts. But I have to be careful about posting things that people
might not be interested in about my life. Every few months, I can post a photo
of my son and me, but if I do that all the time, people will lose interest.
Sometimes, I try to post recommendations about books that I read and movies
that I see in case my followers like to know more about my interests.
I also have my personal Facebook accounts, other than my
page. For now, I have two accounts that are both maxed out at 5,000 friends,
and it upsets me that I cannot add more due to Facebook’s limitations. I like
to add people who which to connect with me on my profile because they generally
prefer being a friend of mine rather than a follower. However, the content on
both, my profile and my page, is almost the same.
What languages do you use on your platforms? And who
communicates with you the most?
Mostly, I like to communicate in Arabic. As for my audience,
it is diverse, from many countries. Yet, the most interactions I receive are
from Lebanese. Therefore I use Arabic especially that I do get requests to post
in Arabic from Arab countries. I do use English sometimes. When someone asks me
a question, I usually reply in the same language that he/she used.
I think Arabic is a beautiful language and it is the
language that I am 100% fluent in, despite that I was French-educated. I like
to encourage the new generation to use it more often on social media. If you
tweet in English, it doesn't make you “cool”, you can still have cool tweets in
Arabic.
What about the tone that you use on social media? Do you
prefer it be formal?
That is not necessary. A lot of times, I use the spoken
language. When an idea come to mind in colloquial Arabic, I like to tweet it
without trying to convert it to Fus’ha because it loses its essence. For
example, when I commented about Maryam Nour’s statement that gum is made from
used condoms, you cannot really use a formal language.
When you publish a post, who do you have in mind? Who do
you think will read it?
Honestly, I post what I feel at the moment. When I wrote a
tweet “بكفي دم لبنان” [enough blood in Lebanon], it was really from my heart,
especially when I saw the victims of the explosions a few days after New Year.
What I usually post
is either expressing my opinion, answering a question that was asked or
mentioning headlines from guests on the show.
Do you recommend for other journalists to take this step
and be active on social media?
I definitely encourage them to take this step. The most
important thing nowadays is to connect to your audience and listen to their
opinion. It is crucial to see their reaction for an episode or any incident
that happens in the country. This is how journalism evolves. Ideally,
journalists represent the general public. They are held responsible for
relaying the news truthfully or provide accurate and undeceiving analysis to
the public. Every public figure has some sort of influence on people and they
should use this influence to make their country better. Social media is the
platform that can help journalists influence their audience and cause a
positive change in their society.
Actually, the future of journalism relies on this
interaction with the people on social media.
Any tips that you can give to your fellow journalists who
want to take this step?
I am not an expert on this topic, so I cannot give technical
tips. Actually, I find that a lot of other journalists are better than me on
social media, so I was surprised when you requested this interview to discuss
my social media presence.
What I can say is that for people to go on social media,
they have to love doing it and love communicating with the public. You cannot
hire a social media agency to run your accounts. As a public figure, you cannot
trust them to say things on your behalf. Even with my social media team, I am
the person who responds to all the questions and messages, and I cannot leave
this task to anyone. I’m sure that the majority of celebrities have a person or
an agency that runs their accounts. It very evident, when you see a celebrity
that is not fluent in other languages tweeting in flawless English for example.
This might be a good thing for their image, but the person or agency might not
represent them very well.
So if you are planning to be on social media, you have to
take full responsibility of your account and post ideas that will reflect
positively on journalism, not negatively.
So you wouldn't hire an agency to get you more followers,
for example?
I am definitely against this idea, even though most
celebrities use their follower count as a matter of prestige, but we all know
that their followers are bought or fake. I am on social media to represent
myself to the audience that chooses to follow me.
A version of this article has appeared as a cover feature of the February issue of Cloud961 magazine. You can read the full issue here.
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