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| Athan Stephanopoulos, CEO of GorrillaSpot, at a media round-table at Katara Village |
Led by Athan Stephanopoulos, CEO of the New York based GorrillaSpot digital media service, the session aimed to highlight local achievements within an international context.
“This roundtable is part of NU-Qs commitment to connect the academy with industry to advance our knowledge of the benefits and challenges the digital revolution poses for media,” said Everette E. Dennis, Dean of NU-Q, who chaired the event.
“Athan is a creative spark plug in this new industry that is a growing influence for a knowledge-based economy,” said the NU-Q Dean. “He not only knows and understands the social media map, but he leads an important, new enterprise,” Dennis said. “As such he is excellently positioned to speak on social media and the potential it holds for the private sector and the media industry.”
Under the banner: ‘A Conversation on the Future of Social Media’, the faculty and staff of NU-Q met with Qatar’s digital entrepreneurs, online marketers, social media professionals and key figures from the business and information technology sectors, at the Saffron Lounge in Katara Village to exchange ideas on the future of social media.
Stephanopoulos, who also teaches social media to MBA students and industry leaders at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business, began by sharing his experiences as founder and CEO of GorrillaSpot, an online tool for editing and sharing video content. He said: “Social media will play an increasingly important role in the 21st century, both as a tool for business and as a medium for communication.”
This discussion on social media is the first in a series of talks that NU-Q will be hosting as part of a concerted effort to build ties with Qatar’s digital media and business sectors. Ties that NU-Q hopes will be mutually beneficial.
Dennis remarked: “Social media studies and communication are part of the curriculum at NU-Q. Companies in partnership with NU-Q will gain access to our talented pool of graduates, equipped with the latest tools and processes for creatively engaging the rapidly evolving digital media landscape, while NU-Q graduates can discover employment opportunities with organisations in the private sector working at the cutting edge of the social media revolution.”
