By Shakir Husain
To say that technology has changed the Pakistani society in the last decade would be an understatement. With between 18.5 million and 22 million Internet users, 92 million cellular-phone users, 220 cities and towns with Internet access, and billions of dollars spent on telecom and technology infrastructure, Pakistan will never be the same. If the Internet revolutionised communications, the social media has revolutionised the Internet.
With the advent of social networking sites like Facebook which has over 400 million active users globally (and over 2.5 million in Pakistan) and Twitter, Pakistanis have thronged to these platforms to share and exchange views, information, photographs, and well…just about everything. If the social media revolution in Pakistan has affected advertising, music, social interaction, how we consume media, then politics couldn’t have been far behind.
Politicians and political parties using the Internet is old news — they’ve been doing it for a decade with varying degrees of success (or failure), but social media is the new game. Ex-dictator Pervez Musharraf was one of the first to set up his Facebook fan page which has 179,713 ‘fans’ or people who follow his ‘feeds’. While this is an impressive number it should be put in perspective as B-grade actress Kim Kardashian has 242,009 fans. Mr Musharraf shares his ‘analysis’ on Pakistan on a daily basis sometimes via his posts or videos depending on his mood and how bored he is that particular day. Satire website Maila Times ran an excellent piece about how engaged Musharraf is on Facebook. Needless to say his ‘fans’ keep him entertained by posting comments and giving him feedback on his ‘visions’. Not a bad filler when he isn’t giving $50,000 a pop lectures around the world.
As businesses globally throng to social media platforms for their instant connection to consumers and potential consumers so do politicians and political parties. Nutjob Supreme Zaid Hamid has used social media spectacularly by mainlining straight into the heads of frustrated and naïve young people across Pakistan. His Youtube videos are immensely popular and are a source of ‘history’ for kids these days who just don’t want to read. The major political parties all have a presence on Facebook and post regular updates, news items, talk shows’ clips, and generally keep the fires going. Feed and information is exchanged instantly. If Facebook has truly exploded in Pakistan over the past 12 months (both my parents are on Facebook now), Twitter is the next frontier.
Twitter was founded in 2006 as an interactive social media platform. While it can be accessed from the Internet, most of its 100million users use their smart phones to ‘tweet’ — the act of posting an update. The beauty of Twitter is that you only have 140 characters per tweet which makes it difficult for the verbose Pakistani politician to say anything meaningful.
A quick roundup will show that most Pakistani politicians have some sort of presence on Twitter. Some of them tweet themselves, while others let minions handle their business. The best ones to follow are those who tweet themselves — it can be a bittersweet experience as I have learnt. Marvi Memon, Nisar Memon’s daughter who was parachuted into politics during the general’s day, is what we call an early adaptor of Twitter. She has amassed an impressive 2,256 followers and has tweeted a staggering 6,811 times. The verbose Ms Memon will sit in parliamentary sessions and tweet her heart out. Her last tweet says, “Ful speed atack on govt wth ful blast ipod. Jet plane!”
Pervez Musharraf’s Twitter page shows a lackluster 791 followers and a paltry 46 tweets. His first tweet in March states, “Pervez Musharraf at Boys & Girls Club-Palm Beach County, Inc” in case you were wondering what retired/exiled dictators do with their time. Next up is political nobody and son of dictator Zia, Ijazul Haq (didn’t he change his name to Chaudhry before the election?). The son of the self-proclaimed Mard-e-Momin Terry Thomas has 103 followers and has tweeted 101 times. Each one is a gem unto itself. One of my favorites is “SARC walk another farce. Handshakes mean nothing when your jugular vain is strangled around your neck.” Baby Terry pushes his brand new PML-Z at every opportunity he gets. It’s ironic that Ijazul Haq’s son, Omarul Haq’s profile lists him as, “a Bahraini-born Pakistani, educated in the US, worked in London, and now based in Dubai.” Too bad he has never been able to experience his grandfather’s vision of Pakistan. Grandson Terry’s profound tweets can be gauged by: “Checked out the Polo Club in Dubai today. Great weather, great good, and great club.”
Needless to say the mainstream politicians have largely ignored social media which is a mistake. Asif Zadari is nowhere to be found on Twitter expect for what seem like fake accounts. Ditto for the Sharif brothers. The usually charged Altaf Bhai who is a Youtube darling has also largely ignored Twitter so far. Maybe it’s the 140-character limit or maybe it’s the fact that Twitter is primarily accessed in the English language, but most of the heavyweights of Pakistani politics are ignoring the Twitter phenomenon — largely to their own peril.
Barack Obama owes his ascent largely to how his communications team harnessed social media to start an instant grassroots revolution which transformed American politics. Social media is seen as the enemy of the state in Iran and most repressive regimes across the world with some even attempting to block it. The future of politics in Pakistan lies with harnessing technology to involve our largely disenfranchised young population and for our politicians to engage with their constituencies so that they can deliver vital services. Failure to harness social media also means that the ones who are using these platforms can take potshots at those who aren’t without any response from the other side. Governor Taseer uses Twitter effectively to snipe at the Sharif brothers at will. Like him or hate him he’s pretty hilarious with 140 characters most of the time.
The writer lives in Karachi. Email: [email protected] and www.twitter.com/ shakirhusain
Source: The News
Date:5/10/2010
