Mind Soup

Inspiring People from the Lebanese Online Community A version of this article appeared in the April issue of Cloud 961 Magazine . You can download it here . In an attempt to promote inspiring stories about people from the Lebanese Online Community, we, at Cloud961, have decided to dedicate a monthly column to interview an inspiring figure that has left a mark in the Lebanese online sphere. For your suggestions for this column, feel free to email me on mhijazi@cloud961.com . If you ask anyone in Lebanon about blogging, Gino’s blog is bound to get mentioned eventually. This 4-year-old blog, which is run by Gino Raidy has been read over a million times and won the Best Personal Blog Award at Beirut’s Social Media Awards 2013. It is both the most praised and most criticized blog in Lebanon. In this interview, I will be addressing some of the rumors about this blog as well as some insights from Gino’s experience. Gino is a 23 year old blogger who currently works as a ...

Photo by @AUB_Lebanon on Instagram Have you wondered why very few people find jobs at the AUB job fair? AUB charges each company a minimum of $2,000 to be present at the job fair. Obviously, big companies and agencies can afford this and that is why most of them are there. But most of these companies and agencies are not there to hire, very few of them even have fresh graduate positions. These companies are there for three reasons: prestige and brand awareness, a change of scenery for their HR staff and to get the student's emails and phone numbers for spamming purposes. Many start-ups and small companies that are actually recruiting may not be able to afford (or do not have the budget) to participate in the job fair. Thus, AUB students will not be exposed to these new or small companies and struggle more before or after graduation to find jobs in Lebanon. In comparison to other universities in Hamra, LAU charges $300 per campus and Haigazian promotes the companies for ...

A version of this article was originally published as my editorial for Cloud961 Magazine 's April issue . It seems that everyone is sticking their noses in the bloggers’ business these days, with no regards to their feelings—as if they are not living breathing human beings, but rather products that they can exploit or manipulate as they see fit. (If you cannot pick up on OR do not master the art of sarcasm, I suggest that you do not go through reading). First, there are the agencies who proudly announce to their clients that they are so close to the blogging community in Lebanon that they practically “own” them. They brainwash their clients into believing that they can push any content they want publicized to these bloggers and those  would gladly oblige because they “crave content” and they would “do anything to please the agency” or get the opportunity to test the latest smartphone model or car. Second, there are those washed-up-advertisers-turned-bloggers who tr...

How to piss off the online community in 10 simple steps The online community is an important part of a brand’s public relations strategy. It can make a huge difference for your brand resulting in more profit or loss, and in some cases even bankruptcy. That is why it’s crucial to handle these relationships very delicately. In general, this community is mostly made up of 16-30 year-olds who are extremely tech savvy and connected round the clock. As a brand, you should be extra careful about navigating this demographic, and here are the 10 things you need to avoid. 1. Discrimination We all know that discrimination is something that we want to avoid, but when it comes to social media, it is even worse because it’s public and you will get a lot of heat. This includes the different forms of discrimination including ageism, disability or so forth. 2. False News Fact-checking and research are the key words here. On the internet, news travels fast, even if it is untrue. Eventually,...