Social Media and Brand Week event at Eastern Mediterranean University saw a running start today 3rd April 2019, where the highly anticipated organization between the Faculty of Communications and Media Studies and Social Media Unit at EMU, was busy with many who flocked to listen and learn.
The event which was held at the Mustafa Afsin Ersoy conference hall proved a great success, as students, staff, sponsors, outside guests and guest speakers from around the world seamlessly came together on the common interest of branding.
The event started with a welcome address by Assist. Prof. Dr. Raziye Nevzat, the director of the Social Media Unit at EMU. In her address, Assist. Prof. Dr. Nevzat acknowledged the efforts of the rectors office, dean of the faculty of communications and media studies, sponsors, guest speakers, staff and students of EMU. Touching on some of the hard yet satisfying work the social media team have been busy with, Assist. Prof. Dr. Nevzat explained they have been doing all they can to bring the stakeholders together by taking part in a lot of activities overseas, including world renowned famous events and brand weeks from all over the globe, she advised that training had been provided to a lot of municipalities, both home and abroad and to the United Nations, in order to bring a fresh and new technological infrastructure and information that takes over social media and the digital world, as everyone is now involved in digital and social media platforms. Assist. Prof. Dr. Nevzat also elaborated that since the introduction of social media and brand week in 2010, EMU has been playing a great role in the region to be a leading actor in the digital world.
Following opening speeches from the vice rector Prof. Dr. Haluk Tanju Besler and Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Sonuç Zorlu Oğurlu, a speech was also provided by the acting Dean of the Communications and Media Studies Faculty, Prof. Dr. Agah Gümüş, who all emphasized the hard work that has been undertaken to establish the event, thanking all those involved.
Following the opening addresses, the first presentation of the day titled ‘challenging trust in the digital age’ was brought to the listeners by digital identity consultant Denys Malengreau of REPUTATION365.eu in Belgium. Malengreau spoke about how online presence can have an impact in our real life and the need to have responsibility and accountability of our online/social media profiles and digital identity. He also stated how people are being deceived on social media via the use of fake accounts and how we can stop them by building digital identities that help build and manage identities, ensuring trust and protection of people’s privacy.
The second speaker, Film and Series director Umut Aral talked about the five important things that helped him in life and can be beneficial for the audience; “hard work, being innovative, being prepared and organized, not giving up on your dreams and being at the middle of life.” Most famous for directing the Netflix series ‘The Protector’, Aral encouraged participants to network and connect with people of various backgrounds and never be afraid to fail but learn from their failures.
The event saw discussions from Namik Zafer Yılmaz of Akustikhane, Ali Tüzünkan of Innovia Digital, Umay Yılmaz of Beaz Creative, Bertan Görüş of Slogan Kurumsal and Selma Gurani of Cypdes Factory, before coming to a successful end for the first day, which was celebrated with a small cocktail party, echoed with discussions from throughout the event so far.
