Social Media is spreading like a virus and Pakistan
is no exception!
Youth is predominantly affected, and there is no
cure – Once you are in, you are isolated from what we otherwise call human
interaction. Your eyes will be on your Smartphone and two thumbs on dial pad. Couple
of years ago, in Pakistan using social media was considered as a sinful thing.
But now even seniors are sort of okay with using facebook and Skyping with
their family abroad.
Though late, but PR companies have also realized the
importance of social media. There is now demand from their clients as they want
to experiment with it. Xenith PR which is run by Zainab Ansari (who I know from
her time at CMC and my job at British Deputy High Commission) has started a
digital media division called XenithDigital.
Looking at the importance of social media, XenithDigital thought of organizing
a three days symposium focusing the subject. I came to know about this event
through a facebook update by Saher
Mangi who used to work at Xenith and now moved to Arif Habib Group. Invitation was also extended by Uroosa who manages XenithDigital.
Me and Mateen
Hamza who writes excellent English humor decided to attend the second day.
On the panel were Sarfaraz A Rehaman, Mohin Sayeed, Norbalm, Jehanzib
Haque, Faisal Qureshi,
and Sabeen.
Discussion was a bit all over, and I do not blame panelists,
it was about social media so focusing was an issue J - I
guess moderator was a bit young to deal with these tall order and some extremely
loud panelists who at times were debating among themselves. Can’t blame them,
Pakistanies generally have distracted focus anyway.
To me the most interesting bit was Jehanzaib Haque who is
Express Tribune’s Online Editor. He was quite buoyant about change that social
media is bringing in Pakistani society. He was of the view that ET has been
able to create awareness inamongst various communities and also in international
media. He said that ET has over 70 journalists who use social media and were
trained to do so. Soon ET will also produce a 50 page manual for online
journalism, which will be available for download.
Faisal Qureshi was of the view that Social Media is an
extension of our real life.( I agree, we cannot live without it!) In his views social media is yet to create meaningful
impact in Pakistan. (Yes, he might be right here, but what do we mean by
meaningful impact? Perhaps social media community needs more time to build its muscles,
or perhaps initiatives such as #SocialmediaBaithak should continue beyond
gatherings of those using social media?)
Sarfaraz A Reham was smiling a lot, that’s what he does
anyway. But his smiles carry a million messages. He was very straight. Told us
that Engro is now using social media extensively and now there is no need for
physical meetings (or perhaps lesser requirement), a lot of consultative work
is done using social media. Sarfaraz sahib uses Social Media for accessing
information.
Mohsin Sayeed was very vocal in expressing the way people get
into personal attacks and silly discussions.
I was unable to get anything from Norbalm ( I did
not get his name – Sorry!) Sabeen was also quite vocal about civil society’s
inability to use social media effectively.
In my view, just engaging those in such events who
know social media won’t help much. Somehow social media community needs to
inspire those who do not use social media - that is the only way to build
critical mass for creating an impact in our society.
Yes social media is for fun, but let us not
undermine the importance of outreach it provides. #SociammediaBaithak generated
463 tweets and had 583,128 impressions, reaching out to an audience of 94,831
followers, a strength that is almost impossible on any other media!
