Checking the checker.

I was going through the stats on today's visitors to this blog and came upon a new and interesting one.

Here's a copy & paste of it:


Referrer http://dubai.dubizzle.com/blog/community-blog/pr-office-for-brand-dubai/

IP Address 91.75.44.196 [Label IP Address]
Country United Arab Emirates
Region Dubai
City Dubai
ISP The Executive Council - Government Of Dubai

So someone at Dubai's Executive Council is reading the UAE Community Blog at Dubizzle and coming from there to individual posts which obviously interest them.

Here's where they went on this blog:

Navigation Path

21st June 2009
14:39:06
Page View
dubai.dubizzle.com/blog/community-blog/pr-office-for-brand-dubai/www.dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
21st June 2009
14:39:47
Page View
www.dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/sallys-out.html
21st June 2009
14:40:03
Page View
dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/sallys-out.htmldubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/two-months-for-sally-mark.html
21st June 2009
14:40:36
Exit Link
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6516504.ece
21st June 2009
14:42:33
Page View
dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/sallys-out.htmldubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/two-months-for-sally-mark.html
21st June 2009
14:43:19
Exit Link
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2461336/Husband-who-got-wife-jailed-in-Dubai-says-they-are-friends.html
21st June 2009
14:44:10
Exit Link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1190249/British-mother-Sally-Antia-lover-Mark-Hawkins-jailed-months-adultery-Dubai.html
21st June 2009
14:44:23
Page View
dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/sallys-out.htmldubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/two-months-for-sally-mark.html
21st June 2009
14:46:26
Page View
dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/sallys-out.htmldubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/story-of-ebony-ivory.html
21st June 2009
14:47:44
Page View
dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/story-of-ebony-ivory.htmldubaithoughts.blogspot.com/search/label/Dubai%20expensive%3F

To summarise, they spent nearly nine minutes reading the posts about the new Brand Dubai Media Affairs Office, the Sally Antia story (that's the British mother jailed after her husband dobbed her in to the police for having an affair, including going to the links I gave to UK newspaper stories), the Ebony & Ivory Towers story, in which investors claimed they were mislead by phony photos.

And then they clicked on my label 'Dubai expensive?'


I don't know about you but I think that's encouraging.

It doesn't seem to be someone idling away time at the office by surfing the net because they selected particular posts. From their choice of reading matter it seems to be someone looking for information, for feedback, in areas they're involved with.

Since blogging started, surprisingly not all that long ago, I've thought that blogs which are mainly about news, and are of the op-ed type, give a good idea of the view from the street. An indication of what people are thinking about and what their thoughts are. That includes not only the posts themselves but also the comments left on them.

The UAE Community Blog has quite a few in that category with a range of views on most subjects, so reading them isn't a bad way for an organisation to do some simple desk research.

One of the many advantages of the internet is that it's made it much easier to check on public opinion.

There was an interesting article in the 'Financial Times' the other day on the subject. It was mainly about commercial organisations and how they can use the internet, and especially social networking sites, to their advantage - although most don't.

But the same applies to government departments, particularly as we hear more and more about governments being out of touch with the people. They can, and should, use the net to find out what people are talking about, what concerns we have, what our opinions are.

I think that's what this person from the Dubai Executive Council was doing and I'm all for it.

I'd be interested to know from other UAE bloggers who've had visits from them which stories they were reading. In the to-and-fro flow of information it gives us an indication of what they're particularly concerned about.

The 'Financial Times' article is well worth reading and you can find it here.