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Category: Digital
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Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank, has recently signed an agreement with Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), the largest combined gas company in North Central Pakistan, to enable digitalization of consumer bill collection via the bank’s state-of-the-art transaction banking solution (eBiz+), a statement said on Tuesday.
Irfan Siddiqui, founding president and CEO of Meezan Bank, and Ali J Hamdani, managing director and CEO of SNGPL, signed the agreement in the presence of other key management members, including Ariful Islam, deputy chief executive officer; Abdullah Ahmed, group head corporate and official banking; M Saqib Ashraf, head transaction banking; and M Munir, head payments and cash management from Meezan Bank; and Faisal Iqbal, the chief financial officer of SNGPL.
As per the pact, Meezan Bank will provide transaction banking services (eBiz+) to SNGPL, enabling the payment of gas bills by the residents of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) via e-channels and branch banking avenues offered by the bank.
On the instance, Hamdani shared SNGPL’s ambition to become a leader in sourcing energy across Pakistan, while providing ease of access to its consumers via eBiz+ collection services. Siddiqui said: “The agreement between Meezan Bank and SNGPL will not only strengthen the bank’s transaction banking portfolio but will also improve the bill collection process by making it more accessible to millions. SNGPL is already a trusted corporate client for the bank and this agreement further fortifies our relationship.”
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Meta is expanding its digital literacy program, ‘WeThinkDigital’, to Gilgit-Baltistan in collaboration with Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) and the Gilgit-Baltistan Department of Education.
The program aims to equip the people who live in one of the most marginalized regions in the country with the necessary skills to become responsible digital citizens.
With the expansion of the WeThinkDigital program to the Gilgit-Baltistan subregion in Pakistan, Meta expects to train over 30,000 students and more than 10,000 women to help them think critically and share online thoughtfully.
Lt.Col. (R) Abaidullah Baig Senior Minister Industries, Labour & Commerce, Gilgit-Baltistan attended as the Chief Guest and said, “Really appreciate Meta for supporting people of Gilgit-Baltistan with a major program of this calibre and scale.”
The WeThinkDigital program was initiated in 2021 in Pakistan and it is one of Meta’s multifaceted approaches to building a safe and informed community in the country.
The program has reached 130,000 students and 3,094 teachers across 28 districts of the country providing them with a collection of accessible learning modules that help people think critically and share online thoughtfully, as well as empowering them with the skills needed to be informed and safe online.
Commenting on the development, Raja Azam Khan, Minister of Education, Gilgit-Baltistan said, “Over the last few years, our region has witnessed rapid and significant progress across diverse digital fronts.”
“As we continue to explore broader horizons for learning and development of our community, it is a pleasure to have key players like Meta assisting in our objectives to bring sustainable change across Gilgit-Baltistan,” he added.
Through its expansion in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, the program focuses on building awareness regarding cyberbullying, potential abuse over the internet, safe internet practices, safeguarding personal interests, and assisting vulnerable segments like women and children on how to navigate digital spaces.
Speaking at the launch event Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama, Policy Programs Manager, South Asia at Meta said, “We care deeply about the safety of our community – and providing resources that can help people have meaningful interactions online is an important part of the work we do to help keep our community safe.”
We are grateful for the collaboration with the Gilgit-Baltistan Department of Education and hope this program will empower people in Gilgit-Baltistan with the necessary skills to become responsible digital citizens,” he added.
The initiative will see Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi as a key partner in implementing the objective.
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On November 4th, META APAC celebrated community day. Recognizing communities from all walks of life for their work and impact. Out of thousands of groups 31 communities from the entire Asiatic region were invited to Singapore for an exclusive and focused conference revolving around community building in the APAC region. Umbreen Mahar (Umm e Azaan), admin of Babies & Bumps represented Pakistan during the event.
The event was centered on community leaders and their committed work and passionate community-building skills and teams from META Singapore and Product team from the META HQ, USA were also a part of the event.
It is certainly a moment of pride for us and for Pakistan to be represented amidst emerging nations and their role in the digital world.
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YouTube service was disrupted in parts of Pakistan on Tuesday evening ahead of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s address at a party power show in Peshawar, according to NetBlocks — an organization that tracks internet outages.
NetBlocks noted that the disruption came despite the Islamabad High Court lifting the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s ban on Imran’s speeches.
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Instagram will pause features that users have campaigned against and complained make the social network too much like TikTok, according to a report in the Platformer tech newsletter.
Celebrity sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were some of the most vocal users to have posted messages on social media this week calling for the company to “make Instagram Instagram again” and stop trying to be like TikTok.
The slogan sprang from a Change.org petition that had received more than 229,000 signatures as of late Thursday. “Let’s go back to our roots with Instagram and remember that the intention behind Instagram was to share photos, for Pete’s sake,” the petition read.
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A survey revealed that TikTok has become the fastest-growing news source for adults in the United Kingdom (UK), reported The Guardian.
The UK’s communication watchdog reported that 7% of adults use the short video platform for news, while in 2020, the figure was 1%.
Ofcom’s annual report on the consumption of news in the country showed that teenagers aged 12-15 replaced BBC One and BBC Two with TikTok and YouTube.
Ofcom’s director for strategy and research Yih-Choung Teh said that teenagers were highly unlikely to pick up a newspaper. They keep up-to-date by scrolling through social media platforms.
The most popular official news sources on the platform include the BBC, Sky News, and ITV.
With one billion users globally, TikTok is a huge platform owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance.
In the US as well, a quarter of adults say they always use TikTok for news. Almost half the millennial and Gen Z public do the same, an analysis by Forrester Research showed.
However, a senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study Journalism said that people looking for news seriously did not use TikTok. He said that it was used to get news related to celebrities and other non-serious issues.
Even in the Ofcom survey, only three out of 10 people considered TikTok a trustworthy source of news.
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Lahore: Zameen.com – Pakistan’s largest real estate enterprise recently signed a Digital Marketing Agreement with House Building Finance Company Limited, Pakistan’s oldest housing finance institution.
This partnership will enable HBFC and Zameen.com customers in getting housing finance for purchase and construction of their properties across Pakistan.
The partnership between Zameen.com and HBFC was celebrated during a recent ceremony in Lahore at Zameen.com’s Head Office.
Zameen.com’s senior leadership including Senior Director Sales Central Mr. ShujaUllah Khan, Director Sales Mr. Muhammad Hasan, Manager Corporate Business and Banking Mr. Muhammad Umar Farooq, and Assistant Manager Corporate Business and Banking Ms. Zaira Javed along with HBFC Group Head – Business & Operations, Mr. Faisal Murad and Unit Head – Corporate Communication & Media Relations, Syeda Zauwia Riaz were also present.
Speaking on the occasion, Zameen.com’s Senior Director Sales ShujaUllah Khan said, “Zameen.com is committed to the development of Pakistan’s real estate sector. Millions of customers visit our platform for their home buying and renovation needs. Addition of HBFC to our list of partners would enable our customers to benefit from the schemes of HBFC and realize their dream of home ownership”
Commenting on the occasion, Zameen.com’s Director Sales Muhammad Hasan said, “The agreement would make it convenient for people to avail HBFC’s housing finance facility. Using housing finance facility, customers can build or purchase their dream home anywhere in Pakistan and become homeowners.”
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Faisal Murad, GH- Business & Operations said, “This strategic alliance between HBFC and Zameen.com shows our commitment towards facilitating Pakistanis in constructing and purchasing their dream homes at affordable rates and at their convenience.”
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The CEO of Instagram Adam Mosseri revealed that the application will shift towards video content over time, however, it will continue to support photos as well.
Mosseri’s statement came following the negative feedback from celebrities Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, saying “make Instagram, Instagram again” and that it was becoming more like the famous video-sharing application TikTok.
“Now, I want to be clear, we’re going to continue to support photos. It’s a part of our heritage,” Mosseri said in the video message on Twitter.
“That said, I need to be honest, I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time. We see this even if we change nothing,” he added.
Giving a clarification over concerns from the users, Mosseri said that the “Full-Screen Feed” is a test for a few percentages of people and it is not just for videos, but for photos too.
However, he said that this feature is “not yet good”.
“We have to take it to a good place if we’re going to ship it to the rest of the Instagram community,” added the CEO.
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Talent is highly prized around the world, and youthful talent is even more so. It’s incredible to be young and achieve significantly more than folks twice your age. Not everyone is meant to reach a certain level of fulfilment in their lives, but if you are ambitious and determined, you can attain your goals with hard work and devotion. Success is never easy, but it appears significantly more difficult and dangerous when you are young. When it comes to young people making a difference in society or introducing new ideas, the name of Subtain Zahid, a young man from Islamabad, Pakistan, must be mentioned. Being ambitious and beginning to work for your objectives at an early age might be a blessing in disguise,Despite this, many people only realise the worth of time after it has passed. Because they are afraid of the problems they will confront, most young people choose to daydream rather than move out of their comfort zone and work on their goals. Subtain Zahid, on the other hand, holds a different viewpoint. Once you’ve started down the road to success, he believes there’s no turning back. Falling and rising are natural parts of the process, and those who maintain their momentum are lucky. Subtain Zahid is a good example of this.
Who is Subtain Zahid?
Subtain Zahid is a 19-year-old young man. His born in 16th march,2003 in Sheikhupura Punjab. He currently resides in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. He is now pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Economics at Bahria University Islamabad. His father works for the government. Since he was in fifth grade, he has wanted to become famous on social media. It was a significant risk, but it provided him the motivation he needed to work hard and try new things. He began blogging in 2019 and has over 200k Instagram followers (Subtain blogs). He also works as an influencer and content provider in addition to writing. He collaborated with a lot of Pakistani companies. He has also worked with global brands and campaigns. Finally, he got his big break when he became renowned on Instagram, Tiktok, and other social media platforms.
What does Subtain Zahid have to say about his success?
It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Subtain experienced his first taste of disappointment at a young age, owing to his early achievement. He tells us of a period when he was on the verge of losing a year. He was 33 percent burned by high voltage current in 2016, spent a month in the ICU, and had to redo grade 9 because he wasn’t prepared for the tests. He understands the value of time and believes that if he didn’t waste it, he would be more senior in the class in which he is currently enrolled. However, everything happens for a reason. If he does not lose his one year, he would never see his helpful and loving friends again. He stated that he had received backing from family and friends is a blessing.
Advice to young Creators.
Subtain learned by trial and error when he first started working in social media and had no one to look up to in Pakistan. But now that he’s settled into his niche, he’s ready to offer some advise to those who are just getting started with social media.
- If you want to do something in life, you must be determined. There will be many challenges ahead, and you must be bold enough to tackle them all. Just keep in mind that the path to your dream is not easy. So, even if there are no immediate benefits, staying on task and working hard is crucial.
- Creating a strong team while creating content. Trusting the proper people will take you a long way, and in order to do so, you must carefully select your team. That does not include everyone you know, but only those who are qualified, hardworking, and skilled in their respective industries.
- Time management, time management is very important. If you say, “I can’t give time to this social media for content creation,” then you are a very lazy person in my opinion, because it is impossible to be busy 24/7. If you look around the world, you will notice that people who are always on top manage their time and work hard.
You can follow him on his official Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/subtain_blogs/
Adan Fatima 