Creating a Social Media Army?

[Hiptullha]

The site's staff accomplishment of turning this defense forum into a popular gathering place for the online Pakistani community needs to go one step further. Anyone who keeps up with online news websites and social media will know of the anti-Pakistan sentiments being spread daily through forwards, articles, and comment sections. This website has already mobilized a large number of Pakistani netizens. There are countless Pakistanis registered on this website while Defence.pk's Facebook page has 6 million likes. Why not use such a large following to create a pro-Pakistani media/internet army to combat the demonization of the country going on in the media and on the internet?

 

[VCheng]

This thread should hear out @MastanKhan 's views.

 

[Hiptullha]

This thread should hear out @MastanKhan 's views.

What's so interesting about them?

 

[Post Colonnial]

The site's staff accomplishment of turning this defense forum into a popular gathering place for the online Pakistani community needs to go one step further. Anyone who keeps up with online news websites and social media will know of the anti-Pakistan sentiments being spread daily through forwards, articles, and comment sections. This website has already mobilized a large number of Pakistani netizens. There are countless Pakistanis registered on this website while Defence.pk's Facebook page has 6 million likes. Why not use such a large following to create a pro-Pakistani media/internet army to combat the demonization of the country going on in the media and on the internet?

what anti-Pakistan sentiments are spread ? when Pakistan or any entity does anything good or bad, today's norm is that the news spreads faster and broader on the web; people pro & anti express their opinions.

Some authoritarian countries such as China, Russia etc try to suppress such natural spread of information and opinions by employing 'armies' of social media manipulators. Is that what you want to happen to Pakistan too? Because once you gall for that, your just re-created democracy will be in great danger. For instance, the only reason Musharraf relinquished power was public anger. Now imagine an army such as what you suggest in his hands - he would have turned public sentiment as well!

 

[Hiptullha]

what anti-Pakistan sentiments are spread ? when Pakistan or any entity does anything good or bad, today's norm is that the news spreads faster and broader on the web; people pro & anti express their opinions.

Some authoritarian countries such as China, Russia etc try to suppress such natural spread of information and opinions by employing 'armies' of social media manipulators. Is that what you want to happen to Pakistan too? Because once you gall for that, your just re-created democracy will be in great danger. For instance, the only reason Musharraf relinquished power was public anger. Now imagine an army such as what you suggest in his hands - he would have turned public sentiment as well!

Thanks for the concern and the apologies for the late response. Was hoping for a few incidents to come to ligt so I coukd make my point. When I talk anout news agencies, my concern is not directed to Western news sources, which tend to be objective, but Bharati media. As we have seen from the recent Bangladesh attacks, where NDTV saw it fit to cash on the loss of several innoceny lives by falsely attributing anti-Pakistan remarks to a senior Bangladeshi official, Indian media will shamelessly stoop down into the gutter to malign Pakistan. This isn't an isolated incident - a few weeks ago when both Pakistan and India were hoping to get into the NSG, ndian media came out with the relevation that Pakistan was currently selling nuclear material to North Korea under China's watchful eye. Apparently American officials saw it more fit to go to Indian media than to the New York Times or the Washingon Post with the news. Go back 1 year ago to the tragic Nepali earthquake. Upon sending aid to Pakistan, Indian media reports that Pakistan was sending beef to earthquake victims. Of course, they were quickly shut up by the Nepalis themselves who refuted the claim, welcomed the Pakistanis and lambasted Indian media for its condescending attitude towards Nepal. Cheap and petty manipulation is the standard of Indian media, and the recent Bangladeshi attacks should be enough to tell us about the intentions of our neighbours.

 

[Kaniska]

Thanks for the concern and the apologies for the late response. Was hoping for a few incidents to come to ligt so I coukd make my point. When I talk anout news agencies, my concern is not directed to Western news sources, which tend to be objective, but Bharati media. As we have seen from the recent Bangladesh attacks, where NDTV saw it fit to cash on the loss of several innoceny lives by falsely attributing anti-Pakistan remarks to a senior Bangladeshi official, Indian media will shamelessly stoop down into the gutter to malign Pakistan. This isn't an isolated incident - a few weeks ago when both Pakistan and India were hoping to get into the NSG, ndian media came out with the relevation that Pakistan was currently selling nuclear material to North Korea under China's watchful eye. Apparently American officials saw it more fit to go to Indian media than to the New York Times or the Washingon Post with the news. Go back 1 year ago to the tragic Nepali earthquake. Upon sending aid to Pakistan, Indian media reports that Pakistan was sending beef to earthquake victims. Of course, they were quickly shut up by the Nepalis themselves who refuted the claim, welcomed the Pakistanis and lambasted Indian media for its condescending attitude towards Nepal. Cheap and petty manipulation is the standard of Indian media, and the recent Bangladeshi attacks should be enough to tell us about the intentions of our neighbours.

Do not get tensed man...Apart from some of the Indian public, no one really takes Indian electronic media as a true source when any report comes up relating South Asia...Even we Indian sometime do not trust our media fully, so why would you think any outsider will trust us...

As my other fellow member told, always stick to the truth, so that world will one day listen to you....You can not create a image by just creating some army by yourself..If this would have been the case,China should have been darling among the media because it has enough money to even buy the international media to write in its favour...

In a nutshell, ignore what Indian media is saying about you...Indian media is for domestic consumption...It is better for you to watch and follow less of Indian media...Rather, i find your express tribune and Dawn are more honest newspaper than to some extent some of the Indian newspaper...

 

[Hiptullha]

no one really takes Indian electronic media as a true source when any report comes up relating South Asia...Even we Indian sometime do not trust our media fully, so why would you think any outsider will trust us...

If this was true, explain why Bharat PDFers use Indian news websites as sources on this forum. You can't mistrudt something and then go ahead and cite the same thing to prove a point. As for outsiders, they will know very little of the nature Indian media and are more suspectible to falsehood.

 

[PDF]

We are already fighting propaganda through this forum. On Internet you can never end the enemy propaganda even if it's of Daesh or Etc...

 

[Hiptullha]

We are already fighting propaganda through this forum. On Internet you can never end the enemy propaganda even if it's of Daesh or Etc...

The problem is that apart from Chinese, Iranians and Bharatis, this forum seems to receive very little attention from outsiders.
To respond to your second statement, my hope is not that we completely end Bharati oropaganda, but that we destroy its credibility in the eyes of others.

 

[PDF]

The problem is that apart from Chinese, Iranians and Bharatis, this forum seems to receive very little attention from outsiders.
To respond to your second statement, my hope is not that we completely end Bharati oropaganda, but that we destroy its credibility in the eyes of others.

I guess it cannot be helped... I am all for such initiative.... So what's the plan, Captain?
I do not think we can do this as this is international forum and the B'S Indian etc propaganda do not have importance here. Outside PDF, what can be done?
Facebook is just a propaganda for everyone. Even NK can do its in fb...

Indian media is a joke. I do not think foreigners take them seriously...

The allies of India will always believe Indian propaganda no matter what reality we show them...

 

[Hiptullha]

I guess it cannot be helped... I am all for such initiative.... So what's the plan, Captain?
I do not think we can do this as this is international forum and the B'S Indian etc propaganda do not have importance here. Outside PDF, what can be done?
Facebook is just a propaganda for everyone. Even NK can do its in fb...

Indian media is a joke. I do not think foreigners take them seriously...

The allies of India will always believe Indian propaganda no matter what reality we show them...

The 'army' I'm thinking of would have two focuses:
1) Dissemination information and clearing misconceptions
2) Pushing for change in how the media portrays Pakistan

How would we go about with either?
For the first goal, I was thinking along the lines of having members write short articles or create infographics on issues related to Pakistan, clearing up the clouded view the world has of the country. I've been on this forum for 2 years and in that short time I've found that there're plenty of intelligent and articulate users here. Sadly, their threads and posts are limited to a few thousand PDFers. This is where the 'army' would come in. Spread these articles and infographics throughout the internet. Not just Facebook or Twitter, but websites like Reddit and other major forums.

Now it's not enough to simply try and dominate social media. As mentioned by our Bharati friend, the Chinese attempted the same thing with a very poor result. The problem is they haven't or simply cant influence the media. I think the issue revolves around the fact that most Chinese netizens frequent the Chinese portion of the web. When an article critical of the Chinese is published by the NYT or BBC, you wont get the same uproar you get from from Chinese people as you do from Indians when their own country is criticized. The Chinese don't have consumers who can influence the media. Now this is something we do have, but we haven't ever utilized it. Our own news sites such as Dawn and Tribune regularly publish articles with anti-Pakistan tilts. What we should be doing is organizing and writing to these news sites. Criticize them on social media. PR impacts companies heavily in this day and age. The last thing any news group would want is a decline in viewership. Start with Dawn and Tribune and work our way up to international news agencies.

That's my 50-cents ( ) on what the aims of the social media army would be. I admit it's a little too ambitious, but this is all just plain discussion. As much as I would love to see Pakistanis organized on the web, I know that it woukd be an expensive and time-consuming effort.

 

[PDF]

The 'army' I'm thinking of would have two focuses:
1) Dissemination information and clearing misconceptions
2) Pushing for change in how the media portrays Pakistan

How would we go about with either?
For the first goal, I was thinking along the lines of having members write short articles or create infographics on issues related to Pakistan, clearing up the clouded view the world has of the country. I've been on this forum for 2 years and in that short time I've found that there're plenty of intelligent and articulate users here. Sadly, their threads and posts are limited to a few thousand PDFers. This is where the 'army' would come in. Spread these articles and infographics throughout the internet. Not just Facebook or Twitter, but websites like Reddit and other major forums.

Now it's not enough to simply try and dominate social media. As mentioned by our Bharati friend, the Chinese attempted the same thing with a very poor result. The problem is they haven't or simply cant influence the media. I think the issue revolves around the fact that most Chinese netizens frequent the Chinese portion of the web. When an article critical of the Chinese is published by the NYT or BBC, you wont get the same uproar you get from from Chinese people as you do from Indians when their own country is criticized. The Chinese don't have consumers who can influence the media. Now this is something we do have, but we haven't ever utilized it. Our own news sites such as Dawn and Tribune regularly publish articles with anti-Pakistan tilts. What we should be doing is organizing and writing to these news sites. Criticize them on social media. PR impacts companies heavily in this day and age. The last thing any news group would want is a decline in viewership. Start with Dawn and Tribune and work our way up to international news agencies.

That's my 50-cents ( ) on what the aims of the social media army would be. I admit it's a little too ambitious, but this is all just plain discussion. As much as I would love to see Pakistanis organized on the web, I know that it woukd be an expensive and time-consuming effort.

That is not a bad Idea... Well I would like if we rather than boycotting them reply them with constructive arguments and beat them by a counter article on the criticism. I think that will need less manpower but more intellectual and intelligent people.


Also, If we want to spread our reach, Although my suggestion might be childish or a bit silly, we should make out memes which should both be informative and be designed in a way which is attractive.

Forums such as Reddit, Quora and other famous and good platforms needs representation. It would also be helpful that ISPR represent and interact with people in forums especially in defence forums which is somewhat similar as @CENTCOM Though it can be improved.

 

[Hiptullha]

That is not a bad Idea... Well I would like if we rather than boycotting them reply them with constructive arguments and beat them by a counter article on the criticism. I think that will need less manpower but more intellectual and intelligent people.
@CENTCOM Though it can be improved.

The problem here is, we wouldn't have the platform or the publicity to be able to criticize any articles or editorials published on say ForeignPolicy.com. I've seen plenty of good rebuttals on this website to many articles, but they're only being seen by PDF users.

Also, If we want to spread our reach, Although my suggestion might be childish or a bit silly, we should make out memes which should both be informative and be designed in a way which is attractive.

When I was talking about infographics, I was also including memes. I don't think they're too childish since they've really had an impact in certain areas, especially right now during the US elections.