Sharjah 24: During his lecture at Sharjah’s Arab Cultural Club, critic Dr Jamal Maqablah traced the history of reading clubs and their impact on the public.
He elaborated by saying that in the past, these groups would gather in cafes or tiny halls to talk about a certain book. These groups’ membership has grown exponentially thanks to the proliferation of social media platforms; today, thousands of people regularly contribute to online forums.
According to Dr. Muqablah, social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter) have evolved into reading clubs. People now review books on their own channels, which can reach hundreds of thousands of people.
In addition, he gave readers some good models to follow as they worked to improve their technological skills and share what they had learned online.
The lecture came to a close with an audience Q&A session that focused on the positive impact reading groups have had on Arab youth and their rapid expansion.
