THE CHARISMATIC FACEBOOK

They say charisma is something you are born with, which is true in some cases but I believe charisma is something you can cultivate, and that’s what Mark Zuckerberg has done! He invested time and infused meaning into the results of his employees; that’s how he cultivated charisma. And this charisma has resulted in more than 8 million active Pakistani users. Have you noticed that now Facebook has literally changed the way we communicate and apparently Facebook itself does nothing at all; it’s us who create content, like, share and interact. We get to see each other’s photos, share our thoughts and opinions, Like and criticize things we don’t like, make communities, play games and make friends.

Admit it; whether you are young or old, Facebook is a part of your life! As per August 2011, Pakistan had 5,135,220 users on Facebook and the figured jumped to 8,042,940 within 17 months ONLY! Pakistan currently ranks 28^th among the countries using Facebook with a 4.36% penetration of population. It won’t be wrong to say that Facebook has quickly spread like a virus and nobody has been able to escape so far.

I was amazed to see the statistical data which shows how rapidly the number of Facebook users has increased. Karachi being the largest city of Pakistan had the largest number of Facebook users in August 2011 i.e. 1,376,620 and this number has increased to 2,126,220 as of January 2013. And not only this, number of Facebook users in Lahore have increased to 2,086,260 which previously was 1,542,600. Similarly Islamabad ranks third in the number of Facebook users in Pakistan with a total of 905,720 which was 632,540 just 17 months ago. But if we look at the info graphics of Rawalpindi, the number seems to decline, because previously it was 463,280 and now it is 432,120. On contrary to this, cities like Peshawar and Quetta have had a remarkable increase in the population using Facebook, Quetta with 56,980 users in 2011 has shown the most rapid increase and the figure had jumped to 143,880 which is a tremendous increase. Peshawar had 170,420 users in August ’11, and the number has risen to 353,120 users.

These are the figures of major cities of Pakistan; almost every city in Pakistan where internet service providers are present, majority of people use Facebook and it’s not just the teenagers or youth who are active on Facebook; people belonging to age bracket of 30-60 are also utilizing this platform and they account for 40% of the total population present on Facebook. Number of users in Faisalabad being 235, 580, in Hyderabad being 254,440 and in Chitral and Gilgit being 2140 and 10,440 shows the strong captivation of Facebook in Pakistan.

Facebook is not just a hub of entertainment; it is an opportunity for brands to advertise, communicate and grow, a chance for young people with bright ideas and aims to become entrepreneurs of tomorrow, a platform for everyone to meet, greet and share and people are literally enthralled and spellbound by Facebook.