Benefiting from ban on Facebook: Pakistan’s social networking sites striving to get popular
KARACHI: The Facebook saga has taken another turn as social networking sites of Pakistan have geared up efforts to become popular among Internet users and cash in on the anger against ‘Draw Muhammad Day’.
One of the social networking website – ‘MillatFacebookÂ’ – has recently become popular with the aim to facilitate the worldwide Muslim community as an alternative of Facebook. The MillatFacebook has claimed that nearly 50,000 people have subscribed in just four days of its launch. The website displays the outlook of Facebook and has limited features with slow browsing speed vowed to be upgraded by the administration. The slogan of the website is quite appealing for the users as it states, ‘MillatFacebook helps you connect and share with more than 1.57 billion Muslims and sweet people from other religions’.
Besides, more than a dozen websites have been witnessing increase in their subscription following the blockade of Facebook on the order of Lahore High Court (LHC). Though the restriction has been imposed till May 31, but there are demands from users of a specific circle to ban this website forever as done in China and Vietnam.
An information technology (IT) analyst Aamir Atta said, Pakistan’s Internet users are not happy with the Facebook’s double standard that frames laws for Muslim users and allows users of other religions to infringe the Muslim faith in any way they like.
Citing a pole conducted recently on the Facebook ban, he added that out of 8,000 voters nearly 6,000 are in favour of a complete ban on this renowned global social networking website despite the fact that they used to be avid users of it. He added that many subscribers have deactivated their accounts before the official restriction of the website and availed subscription of other international and Pakistani social networking websites such as Twitter, Orkut, Hi5 and Naseeb.
Facebook was launched in 2004 in America and has been getting popularity in Pakistan since 2006. According to an estimate, it has 2.56 million Pakistani subscribers out of more than 5 million Internet users.
The website, MillatFacebook, reported to be made by Pakistan has targeted the Muslim population across the world. Another IT analyst Mohsin Jaffery said, competing with Facebook is an impossible task as it has done massive investment of $0.3 billion on extensive creative ideas and marketing.
He said the technology is not an issue for administrating a social networking site particularly for Pakistanis who are extraordinary talented in the IT field, but a site should be made friendly and facilitate its users by exploiting different human applications on it.
“Facebook is an internationally renowned global community with nearly 500 million subscribers. Its ideas directly appeal to users’ needs of communication all over the world. Therefore, any other website wishes to compete with it needs creative ideas besides emotions,” he added. The LHC will further decide the fate of Facebook whether to be outside of Pakistan’s cyber border or to be allowed access to Pakistani subscribers after May 31. A section of the users who are habitual of Facebook have expressed their disappointment over the idea of permanent ban on this website as they believe it will disturb their social interaction. However, in case of complete ban there will be an opportunity for Pakistani-based networking sites to attract handsome business along with the competition of other global websites.
Another IT consultant Muhammad Ali Manzer said, Pakistan’s social networking websites have been poorly administrated, planned and marketed, which are the key reasons why subscribers go for websites like Facebook and Twitter He added Pakistan’s websites need to develop creative users’ application and install heavy servers for data maintaining to entertain maximum subscription with the passage of time. The administrators should invest money and time on their website adequately besides surety of subscribers’ privacy and indiscriminate terms of services should be on the time of priority, he said. “Sites like Orkut lost its popularity on the privacy issue.”
Manzer added that Pakistan-based websites could earn profitable business only if they facilitate their subscribers through different meaningful applications involving social, commercial, informative and entertaining activities.
Source: Daily Times
Date:5/30/2010
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