Al Jazeera English’s Social Media Excellence:
Engaging Global Audiences with Timely and Impactful Coverage
Al Jazeera English Twitter focused on producing social media-native content and maximizing the platform’s features. Our dedicated social media team remained vigilant round the clock, ready to spring into action at any moment as breaking news unfolded. We ensured that Al Jazeera’s live field reporting was brought to our platform, capturing crucial events as they unfolded. We transformed standout moments from correspondent-led dispatches or exclusive interviews into social videos, enabling people to conveniently access the key highlights. We broke down complex stories with compelling storytelling and strategy, catering to our diverse global audience in a timely manner.
Our daily LIVE threads played a vital role in providing up-to-the-second updates, maintaining momentum, and actively engaging with our audience. This strategy not only kept us at the forefront of breaking news but also earned us a featured spot on Twitter’s news pages. In these live threads, we curated a diverse range of content, including breaking TV news broadcasts, in-depth articles, simplified infographics, native explainer videos, and live updates as events unfolded. By threading these elements together, we were able to sustain momentum and establish a global connection with our audiences. Our user-friendly approach ensured easy access to significant news, enabling users to stay well-informed.
Through Twitter Spaces, we brought experts in various fields and facilitated insightful discussions that were exclusive to Al Jazeera in real-time. We provided our audience with a deeper understanding of the issues that matter, whether it was political analysis, social justice issues, or environmental concerns. By making the best use of the platform’s offerings, we were able to stay ahead of the curve and differentiate our news coverage from competitors.
Our team promptly analyzed the flow of information and contributed to the creation of original social videos for Al Jazeera English. We covered a wide range of topics, from news explainers to evergreen content that put people at the center of our reporting, ensuring their voices were heard.
Turkey-Syria Earthquakes
Al Jazeera English Twitter has always been dedicated to going beyond mere facts and delving deeper into stories that have global significance. On February 6, 2023, a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks ravaged southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, resulting in widespread devastation and the tragic loss of over 50,000 lives. With our team’s round-clock coverage, we ensured that this tragic event was brought to the forefront of our platform. Our primary focus was on delivering real-time breaking news through a daily thread; supplemented by a live blog from our news desk.
Our initial tweet received 907k views with a total of 3.8k interactions. We kept our audience informed of the latest developments as the aftermath of the earthquakes and aftershocks rapidly intensified. Within our daily threads, we curated a diverse range of content, including live on-field reporting through our broadcasting feature, in-depth articles, simplified infographics tailored for Twitter, and native explainer videos.
Our original social video shared on the same day received 1.2M views and a total of 6.7k interactions. We also incorporated user-generated videos from affected areas in a timely manner to raise awareness, outperforming our competitors. The focus was on providing real-time updates as the events unfolded, ensuring a diverse and comprehensive coverage of the situation to engage the audience. We spanned beyond the immediate event and captured its extended consequences consistently through our thread.
Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan
Since Imran Khan’s removal from power in Pakistan last year, he has consistently been the centerpiece of our engaging content. We extensively covered his numerous rallies, where he demanded immediate national elections. Prior to Imran Khan’s arrest, our exclusive interview with him garnered an impressive total of 32.5k interactions and 1.4M views, making it the highest social video engagement of 2023.
On the day of his arrest, protests erupted across major cities in Pakistan. Our coverage focused on a live thread supplemented by a regularly updated blog, allowing us to establish a substantial online voice compared to our competitors. We showcased impactful social videos and galleries capturing the essence of the protests, accompanied by a multitude of news stories, resulting in a significant increase in our audience reach and engagement.
Furthermore, we made a deliberate effort to incorporate expert opinions on the matter through engaging social videos. By providing easily digestible information and fostering a space for discussion, we successfully cultivated a platform for people to gain insights and exchange perspectives. The impact was remarkable, with an impressive interaction of 30.1k and over 1 million views, showcasing the high level of engagement and interest in these expert-driven discussions.
Sudan Conflict
Fighting erupted in Khartoum and other cities in Sudan on April 15, 2023, after weeks of tension between the army and the powerful paramilitary group, RSP. By leveraging Twitter, we engaged with our users in an interactive way. We focused on producing native content for Sudan’s conflict, giving power to those experiencing the violent unrest firsthand.
Our original digital show featured correspondent Hiba Morgan on the ground, sharing how the conflict-affected her family and millions of others. Hosting Twitterspace discussions, we brought activists to tell how civilians are empowering Sudanese communities. Over 3.6k people tuned in, and our Twitterspace reached over 10k individuals, highlighting the role of social media in supporting Sudan. Our aim was to ensure their voices were heard directly, fostering understanding and support.
Gaza under attack
In response to Israel’s air strikes on the occupied territories in the Gaza Strip on August 5, 2022, we took immediate action by providing real-time updates on Twitter. Recognising the gravity of the situation, we were committed to delivering in-depth coverage of the incident.
Our initial breaking news card alone exceeded 1.4k interactions. We curated insightful guides on the Israeli occupation and shared live updates on the Israeli attacks as tension was escalating. We incorporated the international response to Israel’s assault on Gaza, which garnered global condemnation. To ensure greater accessibility, we transformed key moments from our on-field reporting and exclusive interviews into compelling social videos under the thread.
We used daily threads to keep our audience up to date with the latest developments. Showcasing impactful images in a gallery to depict the affected Palestinian civilians. Optimising our original video content has been key to our strategy. Through short-form videos, we were able to effectively capture the severity of the situation, featuring compelling content such as a 9-year-old’s heartfelt plea, a heartbreaking account of a girl losing three limbs in Israeli attacks, and the story of a girl losing an eye. These compelling visuals were presented to create a profound impact, resulting in a total interaction of 7.2k.
Al Jazeera’s Major Wins
Our success in achieving impressive results year after year is a testament to our commitment to delivering innovative content. Our strategy focused on leveraging Twitter threads and hosting Twitter Spaces while investing in original video content and finding innovative ways to distribute our most important written journalism.
Our Twitter account has seen significant growth, with a 12.6% increase in followers through organic publishing in 2022. In addition to our growing follower base, we’ve also seen a remarkable increase in engagement, surpassing last year’s total with a total of 8.6 million engagements.
We achieved a total of 101 million video views, a 22% increase compared to the previous year. We outperformed several of our competitors, including CNN International and BBC News. We also saw a 24% increase in overall video engagement. We continue to win each year, pushing ourselves to new heights and outperforming our competitors. As Al Jazeera continues to expand its impact in the world of news media, Twitter remains a crucial part of our strategy to connect and engage with our audience.
