By A Bisht at 6:50 AM
Why is it that the default picture for a girl in social networking sites looks like a sultry actress from the Hollywood?
Why is it that the default picture for a guy in there looks like a rock star?
Why everyone in these sites writes scraps, when they definitely don’t do so with their friends in the countries they live?
The answer to all the three questions is –Generalization via copy cat marketing.
It goes like this -- The first of the social networking sites originated in the US, and whatever they introduced in these first ventures, were copied by the entrepreneurs from the rest of the world.
That’s why in these virtual worlds people all across the globe look more Americans than of their respective nationalities.
But to be honest, this copy cat approach is not mindless altogether.
As no matter how stupid it may appear majority of the globe doesn’t mind socializing in some American social environment – so this copy cat approach works quite well: Unless one wishes to include the Global minority.
This Global minority are the Muslim countries --the countries which find earning money from speculation, exhibitionism and public display of women and debating one’s religious God head and beliefs totally unacceptable.
If political reasons are set aside, in short, this global minority not only mind but fume at anything Western or US. As the latter seem to be indulging in all the aforementioned vices.
The result -- nearly all the social networking sites of Western origin are blocked by countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates etc. i.e. the major Muslims countries.
The message from these countries is simple – unless you adapt yourself to our society and beliefs, keep out of here.
But this global minority even if a bit choosy is a big market to ignore. The blocking countries are the ones having the highest spending power (read oil related money) among the Muslim world.
And going by the history these nations are quite strict about maintaining their social and religious beliefs. So unless a product is fully adapted to their beliefs, its entry to these markets is next to impossible (the case in point is the Islamic banking).
The social entrepreneurs have already got the lesson.
Muslim social network Muxlim.com, live since late 2006, but blocked by the above mentioned countries is going to launch a Muslim-oriented virtual world in 4-6 weeks. Although the Muxlim.com has standard social network offerings like community features, blogs and video sharing, the social environment will be primarily Islamic.
Like women will not have a default picture that resembles some sultry actress, instead it’ll be some girl in a veil (hizab).
No matter how different it may look to find every girl wearing a veil in their profile pics, the offering can be expected to be a big hit not only in rigid countries, but among those countries as well which have highly religious people with big spending power, take for instance Britain.
Why is it that the default picture for a girl in social networking sites looks like a sultry actress from the Hollywood?
Why is it that the default picture for a guy in there looks like a rock star?
Why everyone in these sites writes scraps, when they definitely don’t do so with their friends in the countries they live?
The answer to all the three questions is –Generalization via copy cat marketing.
It goes like this -- The first of the social networking sites originated in the US, and whatever they introduced in these first ventures, were copied by the entrepreneurs from the rest of the world.
That’s why in these virtual worlds people all across the globe look more Americans than of their respective nationalities.
But to be honest, this copy cat approach is not mindless altogether.
As no matter how stupid it may appear majority of the globe doesn’t mind socializing in some American social environment – so this copy cat approach works quite well: Unless one wishes to include the Global minority.
This Global minority are the Muslim countries --the countries which find earning money from speculation, exhibitionism and public display of women and debating one’s religious God head and beliefs totally unacceptable.
If political reasons are set aside, in short, this global minority not only mind but fume at anything Western or US. As the latter seem to be indulging in all the aforementioned vices.
The result -- nearly all the social networking sites of Western origin are blocked by countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates etc. i.e. the major Muslims countries.
The message from these countries is simple – unless you adapt yourself to our society and beliefs, keep out of here.
But this global minority even if a bit choosy is a big market to ignore. The blocking countries are the ones having the highest spending power (read oil related money) among the Muslim world.
And going by the history these nations are quite strict about maintaining their social and religious beliefs. So unless a product is fully adapted to their beliefs, its entry to these markets is next to impossible (the case in point is the Islamic banking).
The social entrepreneurs have already got the lesson.
Muslim social network Muxlim.com, live since late 2006, but blocked by the above mentioned countries is going to launch a Muslim-oriented virtual world in 4-6 weeks. Although the Muxlim.com has standard social network offerings like community features, blogs and video sharing, the social environment will be primarily Islamic.
Like women will not have a default picture that resembles some sultry actress, instead it’ll be some girl in a veil (hizab).
No matter how different it may look to find every girl wearing a veil in their profile pics, the offering can be expected to be a big hit not only in rigid countries, but among those countries as well which have highly religious people with big spending power, take for instance Britain.
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