Shaikh Fawaz was speaking during his patronage of the award ceremony for Social Media 2012 held at Sofitel.
The ceremony was attended by senior officials, well known personalities and social media enthusiasts.
During the meeting the IAA President affirmed in his speech that the award ceremony comes as part of the IAA’s care on encouraging outstanding work in the media field which includes social media.
He said that this award that is considered the first of its kind comes with the IAA’s knowledge on the important role played by the social media channels the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Whatsup in the broadcasting of news and information reinforcing with that social networking.
Within the same context Shaikh Fawaz indicated that the IAA was keen towards utilizing such new technologies in order to further elevate media in how news is transmitted along with presenting the truth and news related to Bahraini affairs.
He also stressed that the number of followers on social networks had surpassed 90 thousand with a very short period. Shaikh Fawaz said that social media was not just for recreational purposes and must not be used to spread rumors or instigate hatred but should be utilized responsibly.
He also stressed that he was keen on placing a standard and basis for selecting the best three personalities that were active on social media networks.
These standards included credibility, professionalism and objectivity along with the national unity in addition to public interest.
Shaikh Fawaz revealed the IAA’s intent towards expanding this award to include creativity in the field of media and journalism.
Meanwhile, he extended thanks for all those who had contributed in utilizing social media in the appropriate manner emphasizing on the contribution of social media users towards reinforcing responsible freedom of expression.
He also extended his thanks for the winners of the award on all their endeavours and expressed his hope that all citizens and government and civic establishments make use of social media to inform the local and international public the developments of the Kingdom in the era of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Sohail Al Gosaibi extended his thanks and appreciation to all those who had contributed in making this award a success and for the support of the IAA.
At the conclusion of the ceremony Shaikh Fawaz presented the winners with their awards.
Batelco received the best commercial awareness award, the best application award in the media field went to Al Ayam, the most interactive governmental social media accounts was presented to the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the most interactive personality that went to “Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa”, the best documentation went to “Labour Market Regulatory Authority”, best media director “Al Ayam” and Al Watan” and the most interactive media personality was presented to “Nabeel Al Hamer” the most tweets went to “Bahrain News Agency and the best coverage for programmes on Twitter went to “Hella Bahrain.”