oa Communities in the 21st century: Effectiveness of new media channels in shaping public awareness and participation in development and charity campaigns

Background & Rationale: The national vision of Qatar 2030 seeks to advance human development, social development, economic development and environmental development in the region, allowing it to modernize and stay relevant to 21st century global interactions while maintaining its morals, traditions, and culture. The Qatari government has already devoted significant resources toward providing services that strengthen families in Qatar. As in many countries, various social campaigns are promoted through public service announcements in print media, billboards, and via radio and TV. However, technology and society are changing and these traditional approaches may not be the only way (or the best way) to reach all intended audiences especially in the field of developmental and charity work. Purpose: The study tested and evaluated the effectiveness of public service announcement campaigns and determineed if utilization of newer communication technologies (SMS, social media, etc.) can positively supplement more traditional methods of distributing public service announcements (e.g. billboard, radio, TV) and how this would be reflected on shaping public awareness and response to these campaigns in developmental and charity work. The project enlisted the support of local organizations (such as Qatar Foundation, Supreme Council of Education, Supreme Council of Family Affairs, Supreme Council of Communication) and non-governmental organizations, regional and international agencies to assess the effectiveness of various public service announcement campaigns. In particular we were interested in how well messages reach target audiences via traditional means and what is the impact of these messages on public awareness and response. The project also investigated the effectiveness of new alternative messaging strategies to see if alternative messaging techniques such as SMS and social networking pages could enhance and improve the effectiveness of these campaigns. Methodology: The study depended on comparative methodology using content analysis, focus group discussions and surveying target audience. The study will compare and assess different campaigns locally, regionally and internationally so as to set a new model of designing and better use new media tools and techniques. The results of this research provided useful data to help agencies determine the best ways to reach communities for which they can provide services.