The rapid rise of online social communities in Pakistan, such as Orkut and Facebook, have revamped the concept of pen pal’s to fit the modern 21st century. They have created a new paradigm for personal networking and given valuations in hundreds of millions of dollars to these networks.
However, the ‘connection’ provided by these international online services only extends to those people who have personal computers, which in our country is relatively low. Thus smart local technopreneurs are bringing in the next logical progression to the power of these networks and basing their website on the cellular phone instead of the PC. Such mobile communities extend the reach of electronic social interaction to millions of people who dont have regular or easy access to computers. Amongst the leaders is a service by the name of ‘ChOpaal’.
Founded in 2007 by a team of LUMS students, ChOpaal is pursuing the untapped opportunity of bringing social communities, instant messaging and businesses into the mobile market. Currently, with over a million users sending almost 10 million messages a month, it is the leading network in Pakistan. It has also been awarded by Pasha and SOFTEC.
We got a chance to meet the young cofounder, Asim Fayaz, who is currently a student at Lums, curator for TEDx, Head of LUMUN SRP (Lums Model UN Social Responsibility Programme) and a passionate social entrepreneur who has also helped set up a system that helps various NGOs by providing and managing volunteers.
Tell us about ChOpaal and what it does?
ChOpaal is a free group SMS service for cellular phones. We are conceptually similar to the micro-blogging website ‘Twitter’ but in terms of usage, we differ. On Twitter, the conversation is more people-centred, while on ChOpaal it’s more topic-centred, as folks join groups.
What separates ChOpaal’s solution from other competitor’s solutions?
We primarily operate through SMS; more than 80 per cent of our user base has never logged in on our website. We are currently the biggest and the only SMS social network in Pakistan accessible across all telecom operators.
We’re also more accessible since one of the major issues that social networking sites like Facebook face is that you need to develop a specific client application for different handset models. There are always compatibility issues. Then the user is required to download and install a client application which may not be easy for the general population. What really motivates us is that we don’t have any client applications. We control the contact application of the mobile handset and that’s the one function on the mobile handset that everyone is familiar with—the SMS.
Tell us about the technology behind it?
When you send an SMS to groups (tags) through ChOpaal, it will automatically be sent to everyone in those tags for free! You can make your own ones or join existing ones. People use ChOpaal to discuss interests and hobbies, share news, views and gossip, inform and update others, coordinate meetings and events or just chat with friends. We also have extended features like moderated groups, one-way broadcast groups, and commenting.
In social networking, the major challenge right now is figuring out how to make money. How does ‘mobile social networking’ fit into the revenue model?
ChOpaal is a platform that lends itself readily to advertisers who can append contextually or demographically targeted advertisements to the messages sent. Secondly, much like Facebook pages, ChOpaal is calling out to more brands and outlets to get on the SMS bandwagon and establish their groups to interact with their customers and get feedback. Moreover, we are exploring international markets and may start offering our services to international carriers soon.
Would you like to give any advice to hopeful youngsters who plan on following in your footsteps?
Living in a developing country can either be looked upon as a curse with lack of resources and so on, or as a goldmine of opportunities. My advice is that instead of working for companies whose objectives are set 10,000 miles away from home, we should work to start our own initiatives. Given proper time and effort, these local initiatives undoubtedly have the potential to grow into booming businesses.
What’s on the reading list these days?
Im currently reading The consolations of philosophy by Alain De Botton.
Originally published on DAWN.
