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#Patriotism 2.0: Are You A Digital Patriot?
Farhan Masood appears to be just an ordinary Pakistani at first glance. Inquisitive spirit in his eyes with a quest to learn and spread that knowledge. The unsuspecting people around him however were never once aware of what great feats Farhan has been performing and about his best, the one yet to come.
On August 9th, I received a DM on Twitter simply titled, “Show your patriotic colors for Independence Day, Go Green!” and shortly following that, an email with my original Twitter display picture turned “green” with a Pakistani flag superimposed in the background. In the true spirit of patriotism I jumped onto the “green” bandwagon. I began to notice others around me following suit to this flute player’s patriotic tune. Before you knew it, the Pakistani flag was fluttering around my social network and I too was enthused with the rejuvenated spirit of the fast approaching independence celebrations! It was only till I got into a meeting with him did I find out the astonishing facts behind this noble venture of Farhan’s. The entire movement began from the alarming rate of negative news being dowsed around on both social & traditional media about Pakistan. Farhan took upon the role of the crisis communicator unto himself and along with a few digital friends like Rumaisa Mohani, Awab Alvi, Faisal Kapadia amongst a score of others decided that the time was now. Pakiology, it seems was the birthblog of this movement which has now moved to its own domain here.
With Independence Day fast approaching, their rally garnered an astonishing conversion of 7000 Twitter & Facebook profiles. What started off with 37 members is now a movement with a subscriber base of a little over 14000 social profiles (as of 30th August, 2009), with several graphic designers and blogs joining in to volunteer for the cause. Those are the kind of numbers that brands pay good money to acquire in such short spans of time. These numbers include both Pakistani’s and foreigners, those who have titled themselves as “Friends of Pakistan”. “As an added incentive…” Farhan explains “we started turning people’s display pictures green ourselves and sending it to them in the hope of them rallying for our cause”. Farhan and the others started an ingenious method for the lazy social citizen by way of which you would send your picture to a Gmail account only to have it turned “green” and sent back to you. Those supporting the rally hail from all walks of life, many of them social media, some of them newcomers.
The whole experience has left Farhan completely humbled. Local media attention from notable platforms such as Dawn (The “Green” Revolution) and Geo TV has definitely been pouring in but no notable international coverage so far for a cause as noble as this. Farhan, who himself is a motivational leader heads up a local youth forum and is also an avid inventor working in the biometrics industry. He plans on forming a platform for social change by joining hands with other digital natives to spread the word and create better awareness about Pakistan. He also plans on forming a similar platform for different countries to parade their patriotism on the social web and help inspire those who share similar sentiments.
The reason I chose to share this insight with you all was simply because in a global newsroom surrounded by talk of corporate takeovers, mergers and foreclosures, we hardly ever hear of the little guy dreaming of big things. The mere objective of this entire movement was to rejuvenate a national passion, empower its people and show to the world that it isn’t “The Most Dangerous Place in the World” as Newsweek put it. Similar self-activated ventures by companies such as Talking Filmain and their recently unveiled documentary, Made In Pakistan (Trailer – Website) have also managed to sway public opinion both home & abroad while many more like Pakistan Rising are being nursed in their infancy both online & offline. It is the free-will of a group of citizens to take charge and make their homeland a better place to live in and should be the aim of all citizens of the human race. In a seemingly endless digital playground why must we let physical borders define our possibilities?
The story and struggle of a minority can inspire revolutions by a majority. Let it serve as an example that the digital age can inspire the human spirit rather than mechanize it and that the human spirit is alive and more vibrant than ever. If this post has garnered any amount of patriotic fervor (regardless of which country you belong to) I urge you to share this post with others you wish to reach out to.
Author: Tajdar O. Chaudry
The author is a Public Relations practioner who blogs about Social Media, Public Relations, Badvertising & Music from all over the world. He also tweets at @TajdarOC
Thanks for covering the Go Green movement. It is a honor to be part of it.
Thanks for covering the Go Green movement. It is a honor to be part of it.
I was not an active user of twitter but after 1 Aug, I noticed that some of my friends' DPs turned green with same background, I thought this is because of 14th Aug. but on 14th Aug at Lahore TweetUp I came to know about GoGreen Campaign. To be Honest still not impressed with all this, When I start using twitter more frequently I realize that, Woow this can be our Identity on twitter and on More broader sense on Internet as well.
In meanwhile This Man, contacted me about me DP, lemme tell one thing which I liked about Farhan is that after this much success and thousands of DPs already gone green, He was still contacting with people individually. So when someone is determined about something so much, how can World Resist. So here I am, Green and Planned to be remain Green forever.
Thumbs Up Dude !!
Thanks Salma. We brought #Pakistan to 2nd trending topic – ALhamdolilah
Thanks for the mention Tajdar. Its a wonderful post and strives us to do more for Pakistan. As I always say Pakistan is not a piece of land, I am Pakistan, You are Pakistan, We are Pakistan… We will change, so will Pakistan !!! Keep up the good work
Excellent post Tajdar. Thanks for all your support which strives us to do more for our country. Pakistan is not a piece of land… I am Pakistan, You are Pakistan, We are Pakistan… We will change, so will Pakistan !
True that:) 2nd on Trending may seem to be a small step for Westerners, but with our only few hundred twitterers and their consistent efforts made it a day for all of us Pakistanis on Twitter.
Brilliant post Tajdar.
You covered everything but this Go green movement also took #Pakistan to the no 2 trending topic on twitter on Independence day
one small step for us, one giant one for our countries progressive image. We aint about beards and bombs people!!
[...] this page was mentioned by Molly Gordon (@shaboom), Steven P. Matsumoto (@stevenmatsumoto), Rumaisa Mohani (@rumaisamohani), Farhan Masood (@farhanmasood), Haris Nadeem (@harisn) and others. [...]
I was watching reruns of a TV show called the West Wing this week. President Bartlett, played by Martin Sheehan, had just named Will Bailey his deputy communications director. Upon Will's acceptance, the president said to him, “Don't ever forget that a small group of committed, hard working people can change the world, and do you know why? Will responds cautiously, “because that's the only thing that ever has?” And the president nodded with his approval.
We are all capable of doing amazing things that can have global impact if we out our minds to it. Thanks for sharing this story.
Tajdar, I sincerely love reading your posts. This one in particular strikes a cord with me as Stigmare's CIO, Rizwan Quraishi, is Pakistani. Stigmare prides ourself on our multi-culture executive team, and Rizwan has been instrumental in helping us and me individually move forward. I am humbled by Rizwan's long time friendship, gentle nature, and giving spirit.
He is most certainly a shining example of the true character of the Pakistani people. I invite you to connect with him @RizwanQuraishi on Twitter and share this post with him as I'm sure he would be honored by it.
As for the precept of how social media is knocking down geographic borders and allowing the small voice to be heard I completely agree. Locally we have used Twitter to help our local blood bank with donation initiatives through social media. Branding them as Tweet-Up blood drives, SMC Seattle and other social media advocates actively promote these events. I was even filmed Tweeting while donating at the first Tweet-Up blood drive. They threatened and intervention.
I hope this has provided some value to the conversation, and keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Steven Paul Matsumoto
CEO
Stigmare, Inc. Couture Marketing & Product Development
Kudos for your effort on this front Farhan Masood. I remember I got involved when I saw Pakistan was the 4th trending topic and started tweeting positive posts about pak to take it higher. It felt good! Thanks tajdar for highlight this
I have great respect for professionalism in approach and implementation.
Tajdar, thanks for sharing this great story! The green flag concept reminds me of a post by @edwardboches a few weeks ago where he proposed that “the big idea” is no longer more important than the “little idea.” Your post is an awesome example of this concept in action… the power of big little ideas.
Kudos to Farhan Masood for implementing this. I was pleasantly surprised to see Pakistan trending at 4th position when I joined in to contribute positive tweets about pak to make it go higher
Felt good 
Thanks for highlighting this effort Tajdar. I have a high degree of respect for anyone working professionally in my country.
These are signs of a new beginning. Revolutions always have humble origins. And revolutions are always brought about by the minority for the majority. Yes, Pakistan CAN become a better place and together only WE can make that change.
Great post! I completely agree, its nice to see social media helping shed light on Pakistan's proud citizens and its even better to see Pakistani's receive international recognition for something positive rather than negative!
“Let it serve as an example that the digital age can inspire the human spirit rather than mechanize it and that the human spirit is alive and more vibrant than ever.” Indeed Pakistan Go Green has been the most inspirational digital campaign ever heard before. I just wish it goes on forever and keep on increasing interest among netizens, who may spread the message to those not having access to computers.