The use of Facebook as a customer engagement tool by newspapers in the UAE: an exploratory study

Social media has become very powerful nowadays as an easy way to approach, connect, share or exchange information all around the world. Many of the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are being used as engaging and communication tools by corporations including newspapers. This is done to enhance the quality of services and to attain new customers. Facebook and other social media have also become the primary source of news for readers. Six local UAE Newspapers - Al Bayan, Al Emarat Al youm, Al Itihad, The Khaleej Times, The Gulf News and The National- have been analysed to find out the impacts of their Facebook pages on readers' engagement. The findings confirm the importance of having a newspaper account on Facebook to positively impact customer engagement and increase ROI and brand awareness.