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Twestival returns to Dubai

Twestival Local to take place in Dubai on Thursday March 24th; part of a global fund raising initiative in support of Dubai Autism Centre

Dubai, UAE - 24 March 2010: Dubai joins more than 150 other cities worldwide this Thursday, when it hosts Dubai Twestival Local, part of a global fund raising campaign to help local charities using the power of Twitter. Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) has been leveraging the social media platform for social good since 2009 and has helped to raise US$1.2 million for non-profit organizations around the world. Dubai Twestival will take place at 7pm on Thursday March 24th at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City Leisure Deck to support the Dubai Autism Centre in association with du , the integrated telecom service provider in the UAE, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

"Dubai has been organising Twestival community events to raise money for worthy causes since 2009 and we're delighted to once again have the support of du and InterContinental for this month's Twestival Local," said PK Gulati (@PKGulati on Twitter), one of the co-organisers of the Dubai Twestival. "Dubai Twestival Local aims to harness the power of Twitter to raise funds for the Dubai Autism Centre and awareness for the needs of children with Autism."

The Dubai Autism Centre (@DubaiAutism on Twitter) was selected by the Twestival volunteer team to be this year's charity because of its practical and well respected approach to helping children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the UAE. As a non-profit organisation, it provides information, support, advice and training to professionals and parents of children with Autism in the UAE, working toward facilitating a better community understanding of autism, including early diagnosis and treatment methodology. All donations to Dubai Autism Centre are being made directly by donors to the Centre or at the Dubai Twestival Local event to the organization's representatives onsite.

Hala Badri, EVP Brand and Communications, du (@dutweets on Twitter), said: "We are an innovative brand and we not only help our customers stay connected, but also believe in giving back to the community by means of our corporate social responsibility initiatives. We use all possible mediums to reach out to customers and communities, and Twitter is an important and fast-growing social media platform. Since our own dutweets account has been a success and this is an extremely worthy cause, we are very pleased to join more than 150 countries around the globe to support Twestival Global Dubai and the work of the Twitter community in bringing people together to raise funds and support the Dubai Autism Centre".

In support of the event, du is running a special online media campaign by providing regular updates on @dutweets, YouTube and Facebook. du will also set up facilities for avid Twitter users to go online at the venue. The highlight of du 's presence will be a giant tweet-screen that will enable visitors to tweet directly into it and share their thoughts, bios, tweet name and Q&A. Eco-friendly flogos - logos that float and disappear will entertain visitors. A du representative will be available to answer queries about products and services.

Twitter is an online service that allows people to share short messages of under 140 characters and has become a global news phenomenon helping ordinary people share news events with each other in real-time. Usage of Twitter has grown enormously during the past two years and Twitter users now send 1 billion tweets (Twitter messages) per week. Every day more than 450,000 people register new accounts on Twiter.com. Estimates for the UAE's Twitter community vary, but users in the Emirates are estimated to exceed 20,000, out of an estimated 50,000+ Twitter users across the Middle East and North Africa.

The last Twestival was held in more than 175 international cities last year to support Concern Worldwide, which focuses on helping the 72 million children in the world, who do not have the opportunity to go to school. On March 25, 2010 volunteer events around the world and raised over US$400,000. Funds were deployed to Malawi, Liberia, Haiti and Burundi.

"Twitter and other social media have provided brands such as our hotel (@InterConDFC), with an exciting new platform to engage with their customers," said Rob Singleton, Online Marketing Executive for the InterContinental Hotels Group properties in Dubai Festival City . "However, social media is all about the community and brands have to remember that if they want to interact with the community, they also have to be a part of it. Dubai Twestival is a great opportunity to bring together the UAE's Twitter community for a good cause and the InterContinental team is looking forward to hosting a great event."

"Information often moves faster across Twitter than any other platform and also tends to bring people closer together in times of crisis, such as recent events in Japan and around the Middle East region," said Gulati. "And this helps to make Twitter an ideal platform for crowdsourcing help and fund-raising for worthy causes."

The local Twitter community has grown fast and now plays a key role in social networking and information sharing. Although Twitter was intended as a purely social application (the idea being to answer the question 'What are you doing?' in 140 characters), it is finding an increasingly strong place in company communications, acting as a marketing platform and a customer service tool. Dubai Twestival sponsor du (@dutweets on Twitter) uses Twitter daily to provide customer services and seek feedback from its customers on Twitter, as does Dubai Twestival venue InterContinental Hotel DFC (@InterconDFC on Twitter).

Dubai Twestival Global will be held on Thursday March 24th, 2010 at the InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City from 7pm to 11pm. For updates regarding the event follow @DubaiTwestival on Twitter.

Dubai Twestival Local

A Twestival is a global series of events organized by volunteers around the world, independently from any not-for-profit; although the organising teams do work closely with charity organisations. Twestival also sets out to identify key skills of volunteers and match these with the needs of the cause; particularly communications strategy, tech integration and social media training. Twestival Local takes place in cities around the world: 24 March 2011. All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all donations go directly to projects.

Dubai Twestival Local takes place on Thursday March 24th, 7.00pm to 11pm at InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For more information on Dubai Twestival Local visit http://dubai.twestival.com and follow @DubaiTwestival on Twitter.

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About the Dubai Autism Centre (DAC)
The Dubai Autism Centre (DAC) is a non-profit organization providing information, support, advice and training to professionals and parents of children with Autism. Founded in November 2001 with the issuance of a decree from H.H. Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the DAC is focused on providing various services for children with Autism and their families. The Centre also works toward facilitating a better community understanding of autism, including early diagnosis and treatment methodology.

The school is functioning at full capacity providing a holistic approach to 43 students of different nationalities. The Program includes academics and therapies - psychological, speech, occupational, music, Computer literacy and prevocational training - as well as medical care with a full time nurse and a part time doctor.

A team of clinical psychologists and therapists provides full assessment and diagnosis for children within the community. The assessment and diagnostic unit is vital because the right and accurate diagnoses provides the first step towards individualized rehabilitation programs.

DAC has initiated many awareness campaigns and launched many fundraising activities to meet its obligations.

DAC mission is to alleviate the suffering of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families through our educational (therapy's) programs and integrate them into the community through our community awareness projects.

Dubai Autism Center is @dubaiautism on Twitter.

About Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurological developmental disorder. ASD usually affects the person's verbal and social communication skills. The incidence of Autism is increasing world wide with a 400% rise in the diagnosis of Autism in the last decade.

Autism is the most common of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders, affecting an estimated 1 in 146 births. The incidence of developing autism is higher in males with the ration of 4 boys to one girl.

About du
du , the integrated telecom service provider in the UAE, launched mobile telecommunication services in February 2007 across the UAE, in addition to internet and pay TV services that du provides in some of the free zones of Dubai. Call Select, du 's nationwide fixed line services for voice telephony, was launched in July 2007. By the end of 2008, over 3 million people in the UAE chose to become du customers.

Among du 's many firsts is its historic Number Booking Campaign for both individuals and business, Pay by the Second billing system, Mobile TV, Mobile Payments, first of its kind 'WoW' recharge card (which offers customers the choice between more credit, more time and now 'more international' recharge option with additional credit on international calls) and Self Care.

For business customers, du business offers include Closed Business User Group and preferred International Destinations. du Broadcast Services division brings scalable media technology platforms and telecommunication solutions to the broadcast community through its world class teleport (Samacom) and Master Control Room (MCR) facilities.

du products and services for consumers and business are available through du 's retail network, currently numbering 33 du shops located in strategic locations across the UAE, more than 3000 authorized dealers Or through du e-shop, accessible at http://www. du .ae/en/where-to-buy/eshop.html. du shops are a one stop shop for mobile service, carrier select and the payment of the service bills.

du is 39.5 percent owned by the UAE Federal Government, 19.75 percent by Mubadala Development Company, 19.5 percent by Emirates Communications & Technology Company LLC and the remaining stake by public shareholders. It is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and trades under the name du .

Awards to date
du presented with an award for Best Middle Eastern Local Currency Deal 2008 by UK's EuroWeek

du won two prestigious awards at UAE Web Awards 2008. du e-shop portal won the best strategic online portal award in the e-commerce category and du media club website won the bronze award in the media and press category.

du corporate brand launch campaign awarded a Cristal MENA award in 2008

du declared 'Best Brand' at Telecoms World Awards Middle East 2007 for innovative branding and outstanding brand success

Second place in the New Brand Launch category at the GMR Effectiveness in Marketing Awards 2007

Silver Award for the best website in the ICT category at the UAE Web Awards 2007

du WoW TV Commercial awarded amongst the best 50 TV commercials in mobile telecom category in the world for 2007

About InterContinental Hotels Group Dubai Festival City
The InterContinental Hotels Group properties in Dubai Festival City include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Residence Suites and Al Badia Golf Club, each being active on Twitter; @InterConDFC, @CrownePlazaDFC, @ICResidencesDFC and @AlBadiaGolfClub.

Since early 2009, the hotels have become prolific with social network activities, featuring exclusive online offers and holding giveaways including one of the world's largest Twitter giveaways with 'Keast Tweets'. The hotels pride themselves on building an online community for followers of their hotels and outlets, encouraging interaction with guests.

© Press Release 2011