YOU ARE PUBLIC SOCIAL MEDIA IN QATAR AND THE BANE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OUT IN THE OPEN

QatarToday ponders whether the active social media users

in Qatar are being smart in the virtual world?

Qatari entrepreneur and founder of Social Media Solutions, a company whose clients include the Ministry of Interior (MOI), Al Jazeera Network and Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC) amongst many others, Ammar Mohammed says that “The Arab revolution is led by social media which encourages people towards freedom of thought and speech. It will take time for people to change their mentality and the cost involved to educate people on how to advertise while safeguarding their privacy is high. But this is an important issue that needs to be addressed now. Qataris have the notion that social media is a waste of time.”

In the GCC region alone, 40% of people use the internet for more than 20 hours a week. Recent studies by ictQatar show that more than a quarter of MENA internet users were very concerned about their online content being monitored. The recent accident at one of the five-star hotels in Doha explains another concern. A person driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV, after circling around the parking space, rammed into a parked Rolls-Royce. For reasons unknown, the two people who recorded the incident using their phones and later shared it on social media were arrested along with the driver of the Benz. The video footage had gone viral. Qatar's cybercrime