Key word “Dubai” gains dramatic positive populiarity

Dubai’s share in mentions in online forums and social media has grown dramatically over the past few months. In May, the mentions outnumbered Hong Kong, according to the results of a survey released today by Mediastow, the award winning media intelligence agency in the Middle East.

The study which monitored Dubai’s online mentions vis a vis Singapore and Hong Kong showed that while Singapore continued to enjoy the highest number of mentions, Dubai had overtaken Hong Kong in online forums and social networks, and was bridging the gap in news, blogs, comments and reviews.

The Mediastow study also revealed that the media’s negative coverage of Dubai following the property meltdown was being gradually replaced by more favourable comments in cyberspace.

Mo Elzubeir, CEO and Founder, Mediastow added: “Dubai got 60,333 mentions in global online news last month (May, 2011) against 78,806 for Hong Kong and 94,643 for Singapore. Regardless of the favorable share of voice of these mentions, they indicate that the negative sentiment over Dubai in the international media has subsided both in intensity and numbers.”

Elzubeir added that the figures did not include the Chinese word for Dubai or Singapore or Hong Kong. In other words, it did not reflect majorly the Chinese online media. However, a separate study mentioning the Chinese key word for Dubai and the two other countries was conducted alongside.

According to the report, Dubai was mentioned 37,293 times in global blogs, compared to 66,956 in the case of Hong Kong and 79,463 for Singapore in May 2011.

Elzubeir added: “For global bloggers to mention Dubai that many times, it indicates that the Emirate can be counted among cities with a global standing and sphere of influence thus enhancing its competitiveness.”

The study also showed that Singapore got 12,920 mentions in forums, compared to 6,996 times for Hong Kong and 7,939 times for Dubai. This shows that Dubai surpassed Hong Kong in the number of mentions in online forums in May.

Elzubeir said: “In addition to news, blogs and forums, other parameters in the study were Comments, Knowledge Markets, Wiki, Social Network, Classified, Review and Social Photo.”

Elzubeir added: “The results demonstrate that Dubai is still a city that allures the Western world when it comes to shopping, tourism, trade, IT and hospitality. It will continue to get increased mentions in social media as it is the most influential city in the Arab world. With the majority of multinational companies using the city as a springboard to access the MENA region, Dubai will continue to take an impressive share in global media and enjoy the most favourable share of voice compared to the whole region.”

“There were a lot of rumours and distortions about Dubai’s financial position from the global perspective. There were stories that implied that Dubai’s dream of becoming a key global city was over. This counter measures adopted by Dubai’s media machine apparently yielded fruit, and the emirate has succeeded in setting the record straight with least perceptual damage,” he concluded.