Pages

Friday, April 12, 2013

Beirut SMAs: Did you vote for Mich Café?



Did you vote yet? What? You don’t know?
Mich Café was nominated in two out of 33 categories at the Beirut Social Media Awards 2013. (See Mich Café up for 2 Social Media awards)
It is a great honor to be recognized by the virtual community and I am so proud to be a finalist in the Blog of the Year and Lifestyle Blog groups:
Blog of the Year (Category #1)
  • Blog Baladi -- www.blogbaladi.com 
  • Gino's Blog -- www.ginosblog.com 
  • Beirut Spring -- www.beirutspring.com 
  • Hummus Nation -- www.hummusnation.net 
  • Separate State of Mind -- www.stateofmind13.com 
  • Mich Café -- michcafe.blogspot.com
  • Beirut Boy -- guymeetsworld.wordpress.com
Best Lifestyle Blog (Category #4)
  • Mich Café | michcafe.blogspot.com
  • Let's tlk abt movies -- www.tlkabtmovies.com 
  • Homos Libnani -- homoslibnani.wordpress.com 
  • Nads Reviews -- www.nadsreviews.com 
  • Architecture Lab -- www.architecturelab.net 
  • If the bag Fits -- www.ifthebagfits.com 
Online voting for the finalists goes on until April 25. You can vote via Facebook or Twitter at www.smabeirut.com.
The awards ceremony takes place at the Phoenicia Hotel on April 29.
With Jen on our road trip to Sidon (11/2010)
Unfortunately, I can’t travel to Beirut for what promises to be an exciting gala. My friend Jennifer Haddad (@Jennhaddad), will represent me in case Mich Café makes it to the finals.
Jen is very much part of Mich Café. Some of my favorite posts about Lebanon were written thanks to her taking me on road trips across Lebanon – to Sidon, Tripoli, Byblos, Oyoun al-Samak and Ain Anoub.
The Social Media Awards allow the online community to nominate, vote for and award bloggers, journalists, content creators, community managers, public personalities, social media users and celebrities for their efforts in communication and online creation.
As I always say, it is mostly thanks to the vibrant, active, friendly and imaginative Lebanese online community that I started Mich Café.
While the competition is stiff in both categories, I would like to believe Mich Café has a strong chance because it is a journey of love and passion for the people, places and topics I care about.
Mich Café is I, and as it says on all my social media bios: “Just happy… the rest is not important!” That is precisely how I feel and exactly how this is reflected in Mich Café.
This blog is also about reflecting on issues outwith the local and regional box and spreading my wings further afield -- for instance: to lobby for education, protest against SOPA/PIPA, back Internet freedom in Jordan, and campaign on behalf of prisoners of conscience in Syria, against female genital mutilation, violence against women, and especially rape, because rape is rape!
Some of my favorite posts were written during my annual trips to Lebanon.
One post in particular, Beirut: Walking in Burj Hammoud,” published in December 2010, has been viewed at least 30 times every single day since.
In Love is blind... I list, as much as I can, the reasons why I love Beirut. I could add one or two every 24 hours.

While visiting, I try to cover as many places and events as I can so as to acquaint my Lebanese, Emirati, American, British, Norwegian, German, French, Turkish, Canadian and other readers with the Lebanon I love.
These posts include:
The places, people and stories in these posts, reflect the beauty of Lebanon, its people, its culture and its food. It is the Lebanon I love and hope to go back to, while most are trying to leave it.
Mich Café is also a place I celebrate my family and friends:
Dubai, my new home is also top of the list:
The Social Media Awards 2013 is the brainchild of the American University of Beirut’s Online Collaborative (AUBOC) in partnership with Beirut popular RAGMAG Magazine.
The awards are meant to honor individuals and organizations that have demonstrated an exceptional presence in social media in Lebanon. (You can view the full list of nominees on RAGMAG's website.)
Do exercise your right to vote in the “Republic of Social Media.”
Thank you in advance to the Social Media Awards and AUBOC team as well as to RAGMAG Magazine and the judges.