Tuesday 19 June 2012

EIDA Discovers The Internet

Eida
Eida (Photo credit: cgsheldon)
A lovely piece in Khaleej Times today lifted from national news agency WAM  telling us how the Emirates Identity Authority is launching "the Social Media engagement service". 

The brave providers of 'context and analysis' didn't even bother changing WAM's copy,  using the official headline and including the redundant definite article and the unnecessary caps for social media. You can read the EIDA announcement on the authority's website here.

I must confess, they might have made a remarkable four year long hash of their communications, but EIDA has consistently served up quality entertainment.

The "Social Media engagement service" will help customers with queries and "underscored the Emirates ID’s keenness on keeping pace with the development of the modern media and employing the social networking tools for upgrading the ID card-related services and meeting customers’ requirements by responding to their queries and solving their problems most urgently through the channels they prefer in their daily life."

EIDA has already lauded its own success with  the service, replying to over 1,700 customer queries and complaints last month alone. It's followers have grown by 40% over the month-long test period.

If you want to social media engage with the Emirates ID people, you can talk to them on Twitter @EmiratesID_HELP or on Facebook, where you can pick up insightful hints and tips such as 'Important info! Ensure that all personal data entered in the e-form are correct'.

There is also, by the way, a new ID card status service. I've just renewed my visa (itself a somewhat fraught process in the circumstances) and am waiting for my new ID card so I thought I'd try it out. Apparently I'm 15 years old, which is always nice to discover when father time weighs down on one's shoulders. Quite where my ID card is, I couldn't honestly say...
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6 comments:

Gerry said...

I don't think it's really fair to lump in the kt with "traditional media," which I assume is what you're doing with the "context and analysis" jab--itself a little tired.

Alexander said...

Agree on tired, but sometimes a chap can't resist. As for lumping KT in with traditional media, I'd say they're about as traditional as you'd get, no?

They're not even Berliner...

Anonymous said...

Why not just check your passport to confirm your age?

Alexander said...

I didn't think about that, Luke. I'm scared to now, in case it says I'm 47 after all...

Anonymous said...

fyi i have used my ID a few times now. Banks and Du accepted it. It was a pleasant surprise.

My passport may last the 10y duration, now it is not constantly in my sweaty back pocket.

Gerry said...

yeah, I guess what I meant about kt was that you really can't fault them for not providing context and insight, because that has never been what they do--printing WAM releases verbatim is kind of their signature move. (that and giant sheikh photos on the front page)

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