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Aletihad newspaper, the Arabic-language sister newspaper of The National, publicised the overwhelming success of its ‘comment positively’ campaign (3alek bi ijabiya), which is said to have received over 28 million impressions on social media platforms. The latest statistics exceeded expectations, coming just two months after its launch.

Aletihad launched last May a community campaign, which was designed to raise awareness about the many negative comments made online, as well as encourage constructive criticism.

Mohamed Al Hammadi, Executive Director of Publishing and Editor-in-Chief of Aletihad Newspaper expressed his appreciation for social media users’ participation in the campaign, which proved to be highly effective.

The newspaper pointed out that the campaign has reached more than 1.5 million users in the UAE on social media platforms, exclusively on Facebook and Instagram. The campaign’s videos totaled some 443,000 views, 74% of which came from Instagram. The campaign’s webpage on Aletihad’s website received 32,000 visits, with 70% of traffic arriving via Twitter.

Ten social media influencers participated in the campaign, acting as its ambassadors in order to promote the cause, encourage participation and boost traffic to the Aletihad website. They came from a range of fields, including arts, media and sports.

Emirati footballer Ismail Matar’s video on Facebook gained 6.7 million impressions and 4.6 million views, making it the most viewed video posted for the campaign.

Another post shared on Facebook by Arab sports media icon, Mostafa Al Agha, received the most impressions, totalling 8.7 million and reaching 326,000 users in the UAE.

The ‘comment positively’ Arabic hashtag gained traction with followers on a range of social networking platforms, who praised the campaign’s objectives and its contribution to creating a respectful online environment. Users called for a reduction in online bullying and harmful negative comments, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

While the social media campaign was rolled out across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, the best performance and engagement rates were achieved on Instagram, which gained a total of 3.5 million impressions and reached 620,000 users in the UAE with 351,000 interactions and 20,000 likes. Campaign videos shared on Instagram were viewed 330,000 times — the highest figure across all social media platforms used during the campaign.