Dubai: Tens of thousands of followers adore them. They can’t step out of the house without being recognised and asked for a selfie. They’re invited to every party in town. They sometimes charge thousands of dollars — just to show up to an single event.
And no, they’re not Hollywood celebs or singers. Many live in Dubai, and most have never been in a movie, or recorded a song.
Marketers and public relations agencies call them ‘social media influencers’. But to their adoring fans, they’re usually best known for their glamorous lifestyles.
Think of Instagram and Twitter pages loaded with pictures of luxury cars, spa treatments, and trips to fancy cafés — most of it paid for by brands eager to reach younger audiences who ignore more traditional advertising.
But does it work? Apparently so. In Dubai, more than seven in ten residents aged 18 to 40 are happy to take advice online before going out to buy.
The research, commissioned last year by local PR firm BPG Cohn & Wolf, showed that beauty, fashion and food were where social media stars had the most influence.
Now, three popular Dubai-based social media stars talk about life and fame — and how to keep thousands of followers happy:
Moe Jabry, aka ‘Moe Money’
There’s an old saying that goes ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’. When it came to social media fame, the adage seemed to sum up well about Moe Jabry.
The 27-year-old Syrian-Lebanese expat in Dubai used to be a sort of digital-age impresario, advising and managing the careers of other well-known social media stars.
He used to help get endorsement deals for Mo Vlogs, a Dubai social media star with 3.2 million YouTube followers.
A few months ago, he decided to stop managing others and started becoming a full-time social media star.
Calling himself ‘Moe Money’, he currently has 61,000 followers on his Instagram page, and 23,000 subscribers on YouTube. Pictures and videos on both accounts show his glamorous lifestyle in Dubai: dining with models, driving supercars and even braving Arctic temperatures in a cryotherapy chamber.
The hard business of social media stardom seems fairly simple — find out what people like to see, and get companies to sponsor you to go and do it.
Social media stars like Jabry get paid by companies to promote different products and events. Clothing and food are two things that seem to pop up constantly.
Jabry says he often gets approached by hat brands, who only require that he is seen wearing the hat on his pictures or videos.
But, he says, “I don’t ever endorse anything I don’t believe in, something I don’t like myself.” This principle has sometimes seen him turn down money. He recently rejected a well-known watch brand who approached him because it just wasn’t his style.
“I wouldn’t want to buy that watch. So it would be false advertising — I just find it unethical,” he says. “I’m not really in it for the money. I’m in it for the influence.”
While Jabry’s videos seem to show him enjoying a life of luxury and leisure, he says that being a social media influencer is a lot more work than it looks. For starters, he has to arrange countless meetings with companies, explaining how his presence will help boost their brand.
“I’m not paying for every single restaurant I’m going to, or every single event I’m going to, else I’d go broke,” he laughs.
Then, after going to the event or trying out the product and shooting footage, he’s got to go home and edit the footage. Right now, a simple 10-minute video takes about four hours of editing.
As a slight variation on the daily grind, Jabry’s latest project involves an supercar-studded event at a theme park that will raise awareness and money for cancer.
“Obviously this is a non-profit event,” he says. “I’m not getting anything out of it. I’m just using my reach in order to be able to make a change.”
The rundown:
Name: Moe Jabry, aka ‘Moe Money’
Nationality: Syrian-Lebanese
Age: 27
Most known for: Glamorous cars, luxurious lifestyle
Followers: 61,000 on Instagram, 23,000 on YouTube
Alia Al Awadhi
Despite having more than 76,000 followers on Instagram, Alia Al Awadhi, a soft-spoken, 26-year-old Emirati, never set out to be well-known.
She also uses Snapchat, a video and image messaging app, but doesn’t know how many people see her posts. And she also doesn’t seem to care.
Her story begins with abayas, the loosefitting flowing cloak worn by many women in the region.
“I like stylish and nice things to wear,” she says. “I was buying some abaya brand that was very famous in Dubai. I wanted to do a design that was half the design of another abaya, and to compile them both.
“Then they told me that ‘No, our designer cannot do that’. Then it was like a click for me: Why can’t I do that design?”
So she set up Black Swan Atlier, a Dubai boutique that sells stylish, glitzy abayas.
At the same time, her hobby of posting photos of restaurants and cafés with photogenic food and eye-catching interiors was attracting plenty of attention.
“Initially, all my family didn’t want me to put my face [in photos]. Originally, I was just going out and taking photographs of food, or whatever I see that looks nice.”
But eventually, her parents seemed to be won over and, now, her Instagram page is full of snaps showing her bright, colourful fashion sense. Pictures of coffees expertly topped with frothy, artistic patterns and pictures as well as well-iced desserts from cafés are also common.
“Sometimes my mum and dad take my pictures — I can ask them to do that,” she says. “So they have become very supportive.”
Her social media following has also drawn the attention of different companies keen for promotion. But unlike some other social media stars, Awadhi seems to have little interest in cashing in.
“I don’t do any of this for the money,” she says. “It’s just a hobby. What I do for money is [design and sell] my abayas.”
Not that she turns down free products that brands so often send to social media stars like her.
“As a blogger, you get a lot of deliveries of free things, you know — things like watches, clothes, free food, perfumes ... many many things,” she says.
During most days, she shows up at promotional events — chocolate tasting, the unveiling of a new line of sunglasses, and a salon opening was on a recent day’s schedule, for example.
Then, in the evenings, she goes for her MBA classes at the American University in Dubai.
“Maybe at some point of time, I might start asking for money [to show up],” she says.
“I heard that other [bloggers] are charging, but you never know if it’s true what they are getting paid.”
Does she ever get recognised in public? All the time, she says. “It happens everyday, if I go out.”
And what about the days where she just wants to relax and not bother dressing up? “I am a woman also, it’s my responsibility,” Awadhi laughs. ”Before becoming a blogger, I always see attention from the people. They always stare at me for how I look, what I wear.”
The rundown
Name: Alia Al Awadhi
Nationality: Emirati
Age: 26
Most known for: Glittering abayas, colourful fashion sense
Followers: 75,000 on Instagram
Tala Samman
“I don’t like the words ‘social media star’. I honestly hate it,” says Tala Samman, a 26-year-old Syrian-American fashionista who lives in Dubai.
Her journey towards 112,000 followers on Instagram has been nine years in the making — and she wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Instagram’s blown up, and you’ve got a lot of girls who are on there and are trying [to be stars],” she says.
“I hate it when a girl tells me that that’s what her goal is, because that was never mine, I just kind of found myself doing it.”
Back as a first-year university student at the London College of Fashion, Samman set up myfashdiary.com. There, she shared her thoughts and inspirations on fashion for women.
Now, nine years later, she frequently comes across legions of fans who ask her how to start a career in social media stardom.
And she readily hands out advice — but it may not be exactly what the person asking for it wants to hear.
“Make sure it’s something you’re passionate about, whether it’s cooking or fitness or what not, because at the end of the day, you’re passionate about it, people kind of get excited about reading it.
“But a lot of young girls that I meet, they say, ‘but yeah, I want to grow my following by the end of the month.’
“I think that’s the worse reason to start [blogging or posting on social media], because you’re just going to end up buying your following.”
She’s also seen the downsides that come to those who seek fame online.
“I know girls who are as young as 18 who are getting plastic surgery done because of little comments that upset them on social media, and just think that whole thing is unhealthy,” Samman says.
“I’m not too fond of Instagrammers, or whatever they’re called.”
For her, running a well-established, trusted website is far more important than being followed on a social media network.
She also likes the flexibility and variety that comes with being a fashion blogger — along with a side gig as a DJ, and working in her father’s firm.
“I guess that’s the best thing about not having a full-time job, and getting to do this as full time as I can,” Samman says.
On her site, one recent story is an interview she conducted with British model and socialite Tamara Ecclestone. Another discusses her favourite beauty products.
“Every day is really different. I’m a person that gets bored very easily. Everything I actually write about are things I’ve personally experienced or discovered,” she adds.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than meeting women that say that they’ve kind of grown up with the site, or they have discovered amazing places or restaurants, for their anniversaries, or beauty therapists that they swear by and see regularly because they’ve found them on the site.”
The rundown
Name: Tala Samman
Nationality: Syrian-American
Age: 26
Most known for: Her long-running fashion website, myfashdiary.com
Followers: 112,000 on Instagram, 19,000 on Twitter
