‘120,000 social media users interacted with GAM during snowstorm’

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) on Tuesday said that 120,000 social media users benefited from its posts about services during the snowstorm that hit the Kingdom over the weekend. 

Nimeh Qatnani, who heads GAM’s Amman identity and communication department, said the figure was calculated through users’ interactions with the municipality’s social media accounts, including their comments, likes, shares and retweets of its posts. 

“Many people turn to social media when they are cooped up at home during a snowstorm, so GAM took advantage of that by keeping Ammanis posted on the latest services and developments on roads during the weekend,” she told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

Qatnani said GAM, through its Twitter (@GAMtweets) and Facebook (ar-ar.facebook.com/cityofamman) accounts, posted tips on dealing with severe weather before the beginning of the snowstorm.

“We posted photos of what employees were doing at GAM’s emergency rooms to show the nature of their work,” she noted. 

The GAM official said Amman residents also used social media to inform the municipality of the problems and obstacles they encountered during the snowstorm. 

Mohammad Faouri, director of joint management at GAM, said 1,000 vehicles were towed from Amman’s roads during the blizzard.

Some motorists had abandoned their vehicles after facing difficulty in driving through the snow and ice, Faouri said, noting that the abandoned cars made GAM’s works to clear snow more difficult. 

“There was great collaboration between GAM and the Central Traffic Department to get this job done,” he said.