Like in other countries of the world, the social media has been rapidly growing in Afghanistan too, allowing people to express them more than ever before. According to estimates, there are nearly a million social media users in Afghanistan most of whom use Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Networking with people from different circles is now an important part of many Afghan youths’ lives, and the social networking sites available today, make this interaction even easier.
Keeping in view the importance of the social media, the first week of Saratan (23-29 July) of Afghan calendar is being marked as ‘social media week’ in Afghanistan for the second year. The main objective of this week is to elaborate the importance of and create awareness about the role of social media in Afghanistan. The government is yet to recognize this week.
Social media has transformed the way information is exchanged. Social media sites like blogs and social news sites are a nice way to keep up with topics of our interest. We can also discuss about issues on forums with other people, and thus share their knowledge. Through social networking sites, we can also send updates about our lives to others. News travels much faster on social media than through any other medium. Whether it is an update on a friend’s health, or an important issue in the society, social media lets us catch up with news, which we may have missed on the traditional medium.
The number of Afghans using social media sites is rapidly increasing and hats off to the government for this. The policy of the Afghan government to allow people use this media without any serious limitations is appreciable. The social media will no doubt play a very crucial role in increasing awareness among the masses of society and they can freely object the policies and decision of the government or any other issue to pertaining to Afghanistan or the world. It is also an easy and cost-efficient mean for the public offices and other organizations to send their updates to the people in timely fashion.
ARG_AFG is the twitter account of the presidential palace through which news about and official statements/visits and other activities of President Hamid Karzai are conveyed to Afghanistan and the world. The palace has also accounts on Facebook and Youtube that are used for the same purpose. Meanwhile, a great number of high officials of the government, MPs, artists, authors, journalists and other public figures have created Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to share their activities, knowledge, news and other updates with the people. If these all occur so conveniently, it is because of the important role the social media sites have. Therefore, the government must continue to support the social media users and refrain from restricting their freedom. It must also recognize and create more awareness about the social media week in Afghanistan so that negative thoughts about this useful mean of communication can be eliminated.