Eric Schmidt's now infamous quote during a CNBC interview sums up how companies offering social networking services think about privacy, "If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place." Or does it? Facebook has been stumbling with privacy policy changes and now plans to share user data with external sites automatically. That is scary. Very scary.

Is Facebook betting that it has reached such a large size (400 million active users) that users will not retaliate by leaving en masse? Or is it that they are confident that the alternatives are just as bad? Rather, we would like to ask, does this represent an opportunity for someone to compete with Facebook or is this the only way they can achieve the revenue they would like to see?

When I first got my G1 (aka Google Phone) and later N1 (Nexus One) a friend argued that he would never buy such a product as it does not respect his privacy. I paused for a second and wondered, just how much I cared about my own privacy. An American might feel very protective of his/her personal information whereas someone whose constantly searched a little 'extra' and 'randomly' selected for more thorough screening at airports may have a completely different take on it.

I was privileged to be invited to the unveiling of the results of the Second Annual Asda'a Buson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey on March 7, 2010 at The Address Hotel. The survey looked into attitudes to the financial crisis, technology, media consumption, social media networking, travel attitudes, spending habits, brand perceptions, education and future expectations.

I will not go into the details of the survey findings, but would rather focus on some of the surprising elements. It is, however, worth noting that a rather distinguished panel was present to discuss the findings:

• HE Ms Najla Al Awadi (UAE FNC Member, Deputy CEO of DMI)
• Abdul Rahman Al Rashed (General Manager, Al Arabiya Television)
• Mustafa Abdel-Wadood (Managing Director, Abraaj Capital)
• Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi (Chariman of Young Arab Leaders, UAE Chapter and Media Columnist)
• Lubna Qassim (Lawyer and Legal Reform Specialist)
• Ali Mostafa (Independent Film Maker)

Everyone seemed upbeat. Everyone put on a brave face and lauded how great it was to have the Arab Youth so optimistic about the future. There were even those who believed that Arab youths had every right to be optimistic, giving an example of the oil wealth the GCC has.

Facebook Patent: Facebook awarded major patent by US Patent and Trademark Office

Facebook filed a patent claim on August 11, 2006 for what is now called the newsfeed patent, which was awarded on February 23, 2010. Commentators are calling this the single-most significant patent since the Six Degrees patent, which had its fair share of drama. So, what is so significant in this patent? It is vastly broad and open to interpretation. Twitter's future comes to mind and according to Nick O'Neill Facebook are claiming that this does not apply to status updates, instead it is about implicit actions and stories that a user is engaged in. Implicit actions?

I have watched tweets and blogs about Tweetups and then GeekFests and I ignored them. I ignored them because I thought they were cheesy. By the third one (or what is dubbed 3.14 and incorrectly called geek to the power 3.14) I decided that it was time to check what it was all about. Admittedly, part of the turn off was the location. Al Quoz. I'm not particularly fond of driving in areas I'm not familiar as I am notoriously known for my lack of internal GPS :) But.. still. Al QUOZ?!

A few days ago, Socialize and YouGov Siraj issued a press release about the influence social media has on consumer decisions. The headline read: Most UAE residents use social media for purchase decisions. I had to pause for a minute. Really? Are you saying that UAE residents are the most tech savvy?

Oh, wait.. the survey conducted by YouGov Siraj is conducted online. So, we can rephrase this by saying, most residents who are online use social media to make purchasing decisions. Admittedly, this does not make for an attractive, attention grabbing headline. I'm not a journalist, so I'm sure someone can do a better job at that.

The past couple days have been crazy. Coincidental announcements from us and a competitor about the launch of social media monitoring solutions! You can't make this stuff up! What caught my attention however was the whole Arabic-centric theme. Clever. Not entirely honest, but a clever PR twist.

Arabic is a challenging language to support, from a purely technical point of view. Well, at least it used to be. I know this from my experience when I was writing the first Open Source Arabic Spellchecker back in my Arabeyes days. You see, I know a thing or two about Arabic and the linguistic challenge involved.

I have seen many Twitter HOWTO's and Guides, but I have yet to come across one that shows consumers how they can get the attention of brands/products. We have all been busy talking about how we can talk to consumers, how we can engage with them.. which is all great, but we seem to forget that just like marketers, a lot of these social media tools are new to consumers as well. After all, we are all consumers.

Being on the monitoring end of things, I hope that I can give some insights to how brands see the world and how you, the consumer, can make your voice better heard. The most important thing you need to know is this: good brands are really trying to listen.

Give your opinion weight

The Saudi's response to YouTube's indiscretionsNaqaTube. The website is essentially a YouTube filter as the videos are all hosted ON YouTube.

Saudi Jeans questions the viability of business models that focus on such niches, given the recent Yahoo! acquisition of Maktoob. The answer is: Absolutely.

There is beyond any doubt a large audience who are very interested in religious offerings. I think it is perhaps one of the most untapped markets, given how profit and religion mixing puts one in a gray area. Let's face it, religion sells.