After the first day of the GCC Government Social Media Summit 2013 @SocialMedia4Gov : the goal is to keep looking ahead, keep aiming for a bigger, better future.

The annual GCC Government Social Media Summit began today, and featured several thoughtful perspectives on the future of social media in the GCC. With the keynote opening speech, by the Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), His Excellency Mohamed Al Ghanim, launching the social media event of the year, the 48 hour stretch that is the GCC Government Social Media Summit 2013 has a lot more in store for us.

GCC Government Social Media Summit 2013 Chairman, Fadi Salem, Director Governance & Innovation, Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, delivered a keynote address on The Impact of Social Media in the Arab Region. Aside from that, on the subject of the importance of the Summit itself, “it has become imperative for us to direct our policies towards a more mobile-centred approach, to make the essentials of people’s lives more accessible, more convenient.”

Consider the range of subjects: Driving mGovernment and Smart Government via Social Networks to Enhance Government Communications was held by Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, the Deputy Director General for Information and eGovernment Sector at the TRA, pointing the way for the future of government participation very vividly: “we have positioned ourselves to be fully social and mobile by the end of 2015, across all government-related sectors and departments, and we are confident that this would lead to a better understanding of the needs of our people on a real-time basis.”

The first day of the conference was not just about government. It was about people too. Noor Shamma, Acting Director of Corporate Communications Affairs at the TRA, who will be presenting Women in Social Media — Empowering and Assisting Women to Participate More Prominently in Social Media had an interesting perspective to add to the way ahead for women: “not only is a career in social media highly encouraging for women being involved with the development of a nation is particularly essential for the mothers of all our children, who tend to increasingly be working women as well as extremely active parents; giving them the ability to remotely participate in the conversations on the go will make their lives easier by degrees.”

And if all this seems a little bit like it’s targeting a niche audience of smartphone users and mobile communicators, then let’s put it into a slightly different perspective: as of early 2013, the UAE is a world leader in smartphone penetration, at 73.8%. Saudi Arabia comes in third, at 72.8%. While other GCC nations do not make the top 15, that’s still an increasingly large number of people who are ‘connected’: three out of four, in the two most populous countries in the GCC (the UAE and KSA account for 80% of the GCC population).

H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General, was very clear on the role of social media in UAE government: “There has never been a more poignant time to speak about government’s relationship with social media. The concerted focus on how government departments can better incorporate social networks into communications strategies is one that officials right across the world are engaged in. The UAE operates right at the cutting edge of this international trend and events such as these are crucial to continuation of this development. Both citizens and business in the UAE currently enjoy a state of digital preparedness that is the direct result of our Leadership’s foresight. Recognizing the need for social media’s prominent place in government communications is no longer optional, but a necessity.”

Dr. Hassan Dawood, Head of Dubai Office for sponsor Alsayegh Media, added: “the history of media has shown us that, today more than ever, people value content above all else: the channels through which content is shared and transmitted can change, but it is content, which is becoming increasingly branded, that ultimately matters. In the UAE specifically, to be more accurate, we have developed a strong infrastructure for a future of leadership in this area, with the government playing a vital role in encouraging us to think big, to aim high, and to really challenge expectations. This Summit is about, more than anything, working towards a vision for the coming decade that allows us, and our government to become models for other cities and countries.”

Clearly, optimism is high for the potential of the Summit. With prominent international speakers and presentations by the likes of Adam Fetcher, Media Strategist, Former National Deputy Press Secretary for Obama for America, Pippa Norris, Head of Online Engagement for the UK’s Ministry of Defence, Silke von Brockhausen, Social Media Strategist for the United Nations Development Programme, and Elizabeth Linder, Politics and Government Specialist for Facebook, there’s a lot to be excited about.