BY YUSUF AL-MUHAIMEED
Al-Jazirah
WHAT does it mean when a simple and illiterate woman has 250,000 followers on a social media platform? What does it mean when such women become the ones that actually shape public opinion regarding women issues?
Meanwhile, those female intellectuals who have been vocal in the mass media about women’s empowerment are pushed to the sidelines despite their deep wisdom and foresight.
These women have been calling for greater freedom and restoration of rights, but they do not have more than a few dozen followers.
This is because despite being highly educated, these women are dull in their approach even when their hearts burn with the desire to liberate their peers from the fetters in society.
What is strange and astounding is that the maximum readership of a daily newspaper these days cannot exceed 100,000. This is much small compared to the huge number of followers some simple women, who may be ignorant and do not have any managerial, planning and marketing skills, can reach out to on social media.
This is apart from the many messages these women might be transmitting to their friends and followers every day.
Their messages might be naïve initially. However, eventually they would be used as a platform for advertisement in return for a payment. These advertisements could be even to promote bad quality, unlicensed or counterfeit products. Restaurants and other businesses that do not comply with public health regulations have been exploiting the popularity of social media accounts to lure customers.
But there are times when these women contribute to promoting important activities being carried out by government agencies, like the festivals organized by the Entertainment Authority. These women are given due credit for such positive steps.
The success of the activities of the Entertainment Authority and similar government agencies is linked to public participation in those events.
It is such simple women who pull large crowds, so the authorities sign contracts with them. Such women might contribute to promoting these activities more than the campaigns on official websites and social media accounts.
However, they need to attend short-term courses to learn good photography techniques using smart phones. Such courses focus on choosing suitable angles for pictures so that their work becomes more professional and effective.
I believe that the revolution of smart devices has not ended yet. Every now and then they take us by surprise with something new about their amazing capabilities. Their direct and indirect impact on societies plays a big role in reshaping media work.
The simple citizen no longer cares about the repetitive statements issued by officials. He no longer cares about well-known figures in art, sports and recreation fields. He now looks for simple men or women whose messages come from their hearts.
Many advertisement and publicity firms have lately come to realize this fact. Hence, they look for social media accounts with large number of followers to reach out to targeted segments in society without any intermediaries to advertise their products.
