Al Bawaba, the company which owns and operates the highly popular Middle East focused websites, Albawaba.com and Mena Report, today announced it has launched the first Arabic/English ‘blogging’ service on Albawaba.com.
Mark Gatty Saunt, Gulf Director at Al Bawaba comments, “Blogging is becoming a hugely popular global trend for internet users and writers alike. And to keep up with ever changing trends, Al Bawaba is launching its own blogging service, so that anyone, with little or no technical background, can maintain a personal blog for potentially millions to see.”
A blog (short for a web log) is basically an online personal journal, newsletter, or column, which is available on a website for others to see. Since 2003, blogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, or spinning news. The activity of updating a blog is known as ‘blogging’ and someone who keeps a blog is known as a ‘blogger’ (usually an independent writer). Blogs are usually personal journals, but others can resemble newsletters or columns. And often a blog will contain links to other sources of content. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently. After a blogger adds an entry on Al Bawaba’s blogging service, the blogger can allow other people to comment on their entries, thus creating a truly interactive online service.
Unlike other blogging services, Al Bawaba’s blogging service not only allows users to have and maintain their own free blog, but to create photo galleries to share with the world.
Gatty Saunt continues, “We identified language as the biggest barrier to blogging in the Arab world. And by offering the service in Arabic language, as well as English, we have broken that barrier and expect to spark off a huge blogging trend amongst Arabic language speakers from all over the world.”
Ammar Ibrahim, Chief Technology Officer at Al Bawaba comments, "Al Bawaba's technical team has worked extremely hard to ensure that the blogging service complies with the very latest web standards. Al Bawaba’s Bloggers can even chose to have their blogs syndicated, thus allowing the blogs to be automatically published within different web sources.
Ibrahim continues, “We are committed to developing Al Bawaba’s blogging service to the needs of our end-users. And we have set out a road map to add new features and make the service an altogether better user experience"
About Al-Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Albawaba.com is one of the leading Internet destination sites for residents of the Middle East and for all those with specific interests in the Arab world. Albawaba.com provides a rich range of up-to-the-minute news reports and in-depth articles, plus analysis on a variety of Middle Eastern topics, including business, politics, sports, health, beauty, kids, travel, entertainment and a music store. Al-Bawaba's content also includes:
Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
Mena Report (Middle East and North Africa Business Report) is Al Bawaba's business news portal. Coverage is provided for the following popular industries within the region: Economy & Trade, IT and Telecom, Financial Markets, Oil and Energy, Agriculture, Advertising and Marketing, General Industry, Retail and Services, Real Estate, Healthcare, Transport and Tourism. Mena Report also provides a weekly free newsletter, which is distributed to an ever growing number of global subscribers.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
