Swissinfo.ch: Many fans for the Arabic-language Facebook page
Swissinfo.ch's Arabic-language Facebook page, launched in response to the anti-minaret initiative, has reached the 100,000-fan mark. By comparison, the BBC's Arabic-language page has 150,000 fans.
The communication channel to the Arab world was put into operation in 2009 as part of the debate about the construction of minarets on Swiss soil. An event that made headlines beyond the country's borders and therefore needed to be explained. At the time, Swissinfo reported on the complexity of the democratic process in Switzerland and shed light on the consequences of the decision. According to Swissinfo.ch, the articles were widely read by traditional media and blogs in the Middle East and Maghreb. The Facebook page was a key element in the dissemination of this content.
At the beginning of 2011, the revolutions of the "Arab Spring" brought a new audience to the Swissinfo.ch site: people who were interested in how the events were being followed in the West and wanted to know more about the issue and the problem of blocked potentate funds in Switzerland. In this case too, Swissinfo.ch used its presence on Facebook to guarantee the presentation, discussion and analysis of the complex issues. The editorial team, headed by Kamel Dhif, aims to promote understanding between cultures in an important period for Europe.
The total number of fans who follow Swissinfo.ch on social networks is currently more than 250,000. The multilingual main page has around 113,000 fans. A new page aimed at a Japanese-speaking audience has around 4,000 fans. Swissinfo.ch is also represented on Kaixin, the Chinese equivalent of Facebook, where it already has 34,000 fans.
