We have got an exhaustive list of the high and lows from the business and economics end of Pakistani social media this week. There was more needless posing for pictures, and we give you some more running commentary on why we think LinkedIn is a cesspool of degeneracy. Ariba Shahid brings you all this, mango season, thrift shopping and more in this week’s social media round up.
Enough with the pictures
The Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Mr. Justice (R) Javed Iqbal presenting “NAB Annual Report 2020” pic.twitter.com/yCHcKyXnGs
— Asad Qaiser (@AsadQaiserPTI) July 7, 2021
What is up with photo ops by government servants and politicians? Why must they strike a pose for every mundane task they do? Doesn’t it kind of remind you of lifestyle bloggers that document their entire lives? Picture your eggs in the morning, coffee in the afternoon, and whatever friend you go out with at night. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll have someone pay you a little bit to do a post for them? Whatever is going on in their minds, government officials do need to think to what end they are doing these photo shoots towards. Because at this point it is getting a little tacky, especially if it is a picture of two people congratulating each other for doing their job. Or, well, telling each other they did a good job. The reality is up for debate.
Among us
Accidentally invested in a founder that posts on linkedin hourly
— Will Manidis (@WillManidis) July 7, 2021
LinkedIn is not your personal diary, and neither is twitter for that matter. No one wants to see you post every hour. Do what the rest of us do: Think 20 times before posting actual milestones that deserve to be posted, and then once you’ve done that, feel the imposter syndrome buzz through your system as you think a hundred times about deleting the post. That’s it. That’s the only way to use LinkedIn. That’s how normal people use it.
{Editor’s note: Claiming that we have ‘actual milestones’ worth posting in this piece may or may not later contribute to the imposter syndrome mentioned above}
Something worse than a manel
Think tanks & universities (including my own) think it is normal to organise talks with outsider experts about various places in Pakistan, particularly the peripheries, & never think to include even one person from the region itself (but white panelists are always a plus!).
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) July 8, 2021
You know how much we hate manels. Turns out there’s something even worse. A panel of white people talking about areas that they are not from. Ofcourse foreign experts exist on Pakistani matters but isn’t it better to stick to and amplify local voices and let them speak on issues or topics surrounding them? The only thing worse we can think is a white manel about an area with no local representation.
If you truly love something set it free
A bu ha ha ha ….. Funniest thing. The unnecessary obsession with @PayPal in Pakistan continues….. pic.twitter.com/j88Mfm92Zj
— Grandpafintech (@grandpafintech) July 8, 2021
You love what you can’t have. Looks like the government is in love with Paypal. However, it’s weird they’re investigating why PayPal isn’t coming to Pakistan and not investigating why Pakistanis lack the innovative capacity to come up with something better than PayPal. I’m sure we’ve got the capacity, just not the right incubation and environment.
Not a white elephant
so, subsidising mass transit is horrible, but subsidising private cars is okay?https://t.co/iZRccYaeEL
— Shahrukh Wani (@ShahrukhWani) July 8, 2021
It’s a rich man’s world. Money spent on the poor involves massive outcries. Money spent on the rich is shrugged off. The number of people that benefit from this subsidy are basically the number of cars multiplied by four or five passengers. However, mass transit is for everyone and better for the environment. Not to mention it changes the lives of millions and allows them transport that they need to get out of economic hardship.
Nothing like a free mango
No one:
Desi uncles in your DM: pic.twitter.com/fzMy8Cwaab
— Nadia Shah (@nadia8398) July 7, 2021
The mango business this year has been booming with delivery services improved and better online presence for mango sellers. Maybe this uncle just wanted you to sample his mangoes so you can order more in the future?
US quality
Preloved businesses about to drop in Peshawar. https://t.co/6shcgxmsn9
— Dawar (@theLahorewala) July 9, 2021
Thrift stores or preloved retailers – whatever you want to call them, we have all seen Instagram pages selling pre-loved foreign goods being sold to the rich. Mostly, these are the lots that are sold at the landa which rich kids have decided are worth visiting to make a quick buck. They model the clothes, take pictures in pretty lighting, pretend they’re doing it to be environmentally conscious or some silliness like that and then they make money out of it – no matter that the landa shopkeepers are not particularly happy about others making a profit off their products. We really hope they can capitalize on the powers of Instagram. Now, with all of these left behind goods, we wonder who will make the most of it. Who knows, you might see this keyboard at your nearest Sunday bazaar soon.
Twitter lessons
Someone please teach Tabish how to thread tweets
— DMKM (@2paisay) July 9, 2021
Remember when Imran Khan didn’t know how to tweet threads and used to quote-tweet himself? Tabish Gauhar is the new kid on the block on twitter and might we say he badly needs a lesson on the ‘how-tos, the dos and the donts. At this juncture I would like to offer my services to make him a twitterati like myself, but I will not be responsible if he turns into an addict.
{Editor’s note: The offer for twitter lessons are in no way or shape affiliated with Profit.}
Low hanging fruit
This is the same as Trump insisting on calling Covid the Chinese virus. If youre calling it the Indian variant I hope you’re also calling corona the Chinese virus. If you must be negative then might as well be consistent. Im sure our Chinese friends would appreciate your approach https://t.co/yKwnMaIoBR
— Fifi Haroon (@fifiharoon) July 9, 2021
If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us, it is that racism is bad. If you’re against the west not accepting Chinese vaccines, you shouldn’t be out there lobbying to associate a virus or a variant with a country – any country. I mean, that variant could have incubated anywhere. Just count your lucky stars that it didn’t happen in your country, and pray for the health and safety of everyone. Stop stooping low.
Math and food don’t go together
do restaurants in Islamabad think I’m going to pay 457+tax for TRUCK DRIVER DAAL
— bis (@itsokaybis) July 9, 2021
I don’t know what’s worse. Islamabad’s food, the expensive daal, or the fact that restaurants don’t have tax inclusive prices. I want a meal not a mental math test where I have to calculate the amount with tax. This is not fair.
amazing sarcasm