.
The past is the Titanic and the iceberg is content creators, says Nas Daily, kickstarting the One Billion Followers Summit bringing global social media influencers to the UAE
When one thinks of the young nation that is the UAE, one also thinks of a land of endless opportunities akin to a melting pot of cultures, drawing expatriates from around the globe to come here in search of bigger dreams and aspirations. It’s only fitting, then, that the biggest expo for Content Creators is happening right here, in Dubai, drawing in popular social media trailblazers from all around the globe.
The summit, taking place at Atlantis The Palm on December 3-4, is open to anyone who is interested in content creation, to figure out how to excel on social media and entrepreneurship and successfully merge the two.
More than 3,000 people, 200 CEOs, over 300 international companies specialising in creating content, in addition to more than 100 international agencies working in the field will be attending the summit.
The event was kick-started with an opening keynote by the UAE Government, introducing the UAE’s New Media Academy, launched in June 2020 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, followed by a session from Nuseir Yassin, popularly known as Nas Daily, CEO and founder of Nas Company.
Global audiences got a chance to deep dive into the fascinating world of content creation, getting a perspective on how rapidly the industry is moving forward.
ALSO READ:
- Watch: Famous Filipino siblings Ranz and Niana make crowd dance at Dubai summit
“This is not about Nas Daily, this is about you,” said the ever-so-energetic Nuseir.
“Years ago, this was social media, with 1 million users only,” he added, pointing towards a screen comprising the number of people that were on YouTube less than a decade ago.
“Today, in just six years, this is social media. So many new platforms, we have TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Meta, and many of them have over 1 billion users,” said Nuseir.
“And these platforms need creators.”
The greatest thing that social media has enabled, according to Nuseir, is giving individuals more autonomy to put their work out there, rather than have several gatekeepers. “There are over millions of creators now creating content for social media. You don’t have to beg people,” said the Arab–Israeli vlogger, who has over 10 million followers on YouTube alone.
“You don’t have to beg newspapers, you just make a TikTok video, you don’t have to beg TV producers, just make a YouTube video. This is the first time in the history of humankind when this is possible. And now the craziest things are happening,” said Nuseir.
“You can be an eight-year-old kid and make millions of dollars. I’m jealous (audience laughs),” said the 30-year-old creator, showing the audience an image of little Nastya, who’s an eight-year-old with over 300 million followers on social media and will also be making an appearance at the summit.
“This was not possible before. But now you can be the world’s biggest university. Look at Khan academy, it started on YouTube. You can become the bestselling author. You can build your own news channel. Opportunities are endless.”
The content creator also applauded the local initiates supporting thousands of creators in the UAE, including the One Billion Followers Summit and urged to audience to start creating, as one big takeaway of this summit. “My friend said this to me once, the past is the Titanic and you know who the iceberg is? The creators,” he signed off.
