IslamCrunch is excited to announce a new service: the Muslim Bloggers Alliance. Read more about the MBA here: Welcome to The Muslim Bloggers Alliance. We will be recruiting bloggers to join this new venture. Non-bloggers and Internet surfers can contribute by interacting with the posts! Support the MBA!
Web 2.0 activity is growing rapidly as consumers no longer visit the web to passively take in content; rather, they are actively creating content themselves, a survey conducted by global strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton shows. The survey shows 50 per cent of individuals who use the Internet report that they use social media sites resulting in more than 420 million Web 2.0 users globally, of which 19 million are in the Middle East. Penetration of Web 2.0 sites in the Middle East is not yet as prevalent, as only 15 per cent of users in Arab countries frequently visit Web 2.0 sites.
Public view
In the Middle East, a whopping 70 per cent of MySpace users allow the messages they send back and forth to their colleagues to be viewed by the public – essentially, carrying on instant messaging conversations that can be read by anyone, anywhere in the world. In the Middle East, 84 per cent reported gathering purchasing recommendations online. About 40 per cent of users worldwide, and 34 per cent of users in the Middle East are willing to use recommendations on purchases from unknown members of consumer platforms. In fact, over 80 per cent of Middle East users take recommendations on purchasing from other users, one-third of which come from unfamiliar individuals. “The survey suggests that companies may need to radically reshape their traditional marketing approaches in response to the transfer of marketing power from corporations to individuals,” Hasbani said.
We are working on a series of posts that involves getting a product halal certified. Sneak previews will be available via Twitter. Each tweet will be preceded with ‘Getting Halal:’ To view and subscribe to these tweets, click here:
Jaiku is a similar service and you can see the ‘Getting Halal’ series on our Presence Stream.
Please join us on Twitter, Jaiku and here on IslamCrunch as we journey towards halal certification. If you have any advice, tips, comments and/or feedback, please contact us or drop us a comment.
Technorati tags: twitter, jaiku, halal, certification, presence stream, tweet, social networking
A headline reading “Muslim Business Club” popped up on our Particls news ticker. Of course, we jumped over to their site to find out what they had to offer. After a quick registration and profile set up, we browsed the features available. Being a social business network, we decided to perform a simple test. We will wait and see how long it will take to make contacts. Well, we didn’t have to wait long. Soon, we were contacted by Farrukh Naeem, an award winning copywriter and journalist, a brother from Kosovo seeking advice and a request to develop a website for new project to help former drug users with rehab, detox, job hunting and housing. Since then, we have also received requests to connect with a project leader for a job search site for Muslims and a business leader in the leather industry. Old friends soon joined and connected with us. For a new networking tool, we have been very impressed. In less than 2 months, they had 1200 members and they plan to re-design their site to prominently feature members’ blogs. During our review process, we contacted Muslim Business Club founders, Rias A. Sherzad and Farid Zazai, to talk about their new project.
Farid and Rias shared with us more details about Muslim Business Club, it’s features and objectives in this exclusive, inaugural interview.
IslamCrunch: What is your web application/service about?
Muslim Business Club: Muslim Business Club is a social business network where people can sign up, create a profile of their skills, and specify what they’re looking for and what they have to offer. They may also upload their picture and find other members with similar skills or business interests and add them to their list of contacts.
Additionally, and that’s probably one of the most interesting, useful and fun features of the Muslim Business Club, they may browse through the list of our members and see how they’re connected to them. Imagine yourself looking at a profile from someone from Malaysia that knows your colleague from Dubai. We’re visualising such connections and showing our members through whom they are connected to a certain person. Having a common acquaintance often makes it easier to get in touch with someone from the other side of the world. All you need to do then is ask your colleague to introduce you to him.
Of course we also have more features such as a marketplace, a weblog for each member, discussion groups etc.
IslamCrunch: Why did you start this project?
Muslim Business Club: Firstly, we think that the knowledge we, the founders of the Muslim Business Club, have gained here in the West enables and obliges us to help create better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. We think that business brings Muslims and non-Muslims together and there’s a lot we can contribute to it as we know both sides. We feel it is time to act in a positive way and show the world, that the Muslim world consists of more than just the images they see on TV. Secondly, today’s business moves fast and finding the right business partner is expensive. We believe that the Muslim Business Club will, insha’Allah, save people millions of dollars around the world when it comes to their business. Thirdly, we’re planning on creating a win-win situation for our members by helping them find business partners around the world through our platform and premium services customised to cater to their business needs.
Muslims have a unique business tradition and there are certain expectations that need to be addressed that no other network addresses, especially in regard to our female members. To give you an example: how do we make sure Muslim sisters find their way into the Muslim Business Club? Many of them are running their own businesses, either from home or from their family office but due to cultural or religious reasons, a high percentage refrains from getting involved in online business activities. We’re working on a couple of ideas to Read the rest of this entry »
Professional Social Bookmarker. How is that for a job title? Pretty nifty, eh? How about Professional Blogger? These are just a couple of titles that Muhammad Saleem can claim. Already he has earned the following title: Social Media Celebrity and has been placed in the elite crowd.
However, Muhammad is not an elitist nor does he expect to be treated as a celebrity. He is a journalist with a story to tell and it was such a pleasure communicating with him. Muhammad offered some gentle advice before the interview began and maintained a “we’ve-known-each-other-for-20-years” disposition with me.
So, how does Islam factor in all this social media coverage? Witha dash of humility and sprinkle of wisdom. Read our interview with Muhammad where he shares some insight about being a Muslim and as a blogger.
Technorati tags: muhammad saleem, interview, celebrity, blogger, bookmarker, journalist
