Logic is Variable: June 2011

At the sidelines of Social Media Summit
Tuesday, June 14, 2011

I’m back home from Network!: Pakistan’s First International Social Media Summit held in Karachi (June 10-11. 2011). And let me confess, I loved it. It was good to meet with over 200 social media stars and renowned bloggers from all over Pakistan and abroad (Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and via Skype from America) as well as some leading people (Jehan Ara of P@SHA) from IT industry. I was to share my experiences on the subject of Monetizing Your Social Media Space in Local Context but that is not about what I delivered there. This is what I learn from the bloggers summit and on the sidelines. Here are some of my personal reflections.

We in Pakistan have freedom of information and online expression and newly found social media channels are already changing the ways we consume information. Social media enthusiasts (bloggers, Twitters, Facebook crowd) are playing important role in creating awareness and bringing positive change in thoughts and actions – awaze khlaq has is loud and clear online. One thing that I can say with certainty is that it will never be possible to stop this most explosive outbreak in the information era.

Meeting so many social media stars was a pure joy. At the Summit, I got chance to meet Mohamed El Dahshan (Egypt), Hanny Kusumawati and Anandita Puspitasari (Indonesia), Rebecca Chiao (Egypt), Ong Hock Chuan (Malaysia), Claire Diaz Ortiz (Via Skype from US) and Karim Osman (Via Skype from Netherlands). What is more, it was a great pleasure knowing Jehanzeb Aslam, Dr. Awab Alvi, Ali Hafeez Azmat, Muhammad Imran Iqbal. Naveed Siraj, Ammar Hader, Salam ul Haq, Abdul Qadar M Siddiqui, Ali Hadi, Sibtain Javed, Ross Waheed, Danish Mughal, Usman Latif, Shafia Agha a little closely and connect to and so many other folks.

Some people are very prominent in Pakistan social media landscape. The Summit made it possible to connect faces Sana Saleem, Naveen Naqvi, Imtiaz Muhammad, Ali Abbas Zaidi, Shehrbano Taseer and Yasser Latif Hamdani with their online identities.

Two day Summit was sponsored jointly by PC World, Google, Intel, Raffles and media partners, including Newsweek Pakistan, Express Media Group, City 89 FM and the US Consulate. Meeting William Martin and Tristram Perry from US Consulate, Kamal Siddiqi from Express Tribune, Naveed Siraj from Intel Pakistan and Jehan Ara President P@SHA was learning in itself.

Earlier, during network dinner, I had the chance to meet Saad Haroon who also writes blog titled The most dangerous comedy in the world. Saad is the creator, host and writer for Pakistan’s first English language comedy show ‘The Real News’ - a show that uses satire and sketch to break boundaries as the first weekly comedy show in Pakistan to be filmed in front of a live studio audience. I was impressed with his command over the language, wit, and wisdom he has. He made the evening a wonderful memory.