Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts

May 12, 2013

20 most popular news portals of Nepal

May 12, 2013 Surath Giri— min read

I had compiled a list of 10 most popular blogs of Nepal last February which was well received. This time, I have compiled a list of 20 most popular news portals of Nepal.

As the world is increasingly relying on internet for its dose of news and information, online news sites are slowly but steadily snatching the share of readership from traditional media sources like newspapers and magazines. Nepal already has a abundance of online news sites. But what are the most popular ones and what does the overall scenario tell us?

Here are the top 20 most popular news portals of Nepal (based on Alexa.com's rankings):

1. Online Khabar
Rank among Nepali Websites: 7
Overall Rank in Alexa: 9357

2.Ekantipur
Rank among Nepali Websites: 10
Overall Rank in Alexa: 8338

3. Nagarik News
Rank among Nepali Websites: 13
Overall Rank in Alexa: 12,886

4. Seto Pati
Rank among Nepali Websites: 22
Overall Rank in Alexa: 170,573

5. The Himalayan Times
Rank among Nepali Websites: 25
Overall Rank in Alexa: 39,546

6. Ujyaalo Online
Rank among Nepali Websites: 35
Overall Rank in Alexa: 67,500

7. MyRepublica
Rank among Nepali Websites: 36
Overall Rank in Alexa: 58,551

8. Hamra Kura
Rank among Nepali Websites: 42
Overall Rank in Alexa: 113, 545

9. Nepalnews
Rank among Nepali Websites: 76
Overall Rank in Alexa: 68,230

10. Nepali Headlines
Rank among Nepali Websites: 81
Overall Rank in Alexa:101,430

11. Weekly Nepal
Rank among Nepali Websites: 112
Overall Rank in Alexa: 300,913

12. Khabar Chautari
Rank among Nepali Websites: 114
Overall Rank in Alexa: 113,473

13. Top Nepal News
Rank among Nepali Websites: 162
Overall Rank in Alexa: 314,978

14. Karobar National Economic Daily
Rank among Nepali Websites: 165
Overall Rank in Alexa: 193,739

15. Real Khabar
Rank among Nepali Websites: 167
Overall Rank in Alexa: 224,625

16. Sourya Daily
Rank among Nepali Websites: 168
Overall Rank in Alexa: 243,117

17. Rajdhani Daily
Rank among Nepali Websites: 182
Overall Rank in Alexa: 531,724

18. Tokyo Nepal
Rank among Nepali Websites:191
Overall Rank in Alexa:151,515

19. Nepal Samachar
Rank among Nepali Websites: 205
Overall Rank in Alexa:105,460

20. Gorkhapatra
Rank among Nepali Websites: 213
Overall Rank in Alexa:350,903

Some Key findings:

News sites make up around 10 percent of the 100 most popular websites of Nepal.
Ekantipur.com is the most popular Nepali website in the world whereas Onlinekhabar.com is the most popular Nepali website within Nepal.
11 out of the top 20 news portals have only online versions which suggests a growing popularity and importance of online based news mediums. It also suggests that traditional media houses of Nepal have areas to improve their online presence.
Among the diaspora community of Nepalese, communities in South Korea are the most active community with regards to their presence in online media followed by that in Japan.
Setopati.com is the most rapidly growing news portal of Nepal currently.

Do you think online media will replace traditional media in Nepal? Do share your views in the comments below!

Top 10 Most Popular Nepali Blogs

February 18, 2013 Surath Giri— min read

I recently wrote a news article about the rise of social media in Nepal. While writing the news I had tried to find out the total number of active blogs in Nepal but to no avail. Even finding out the estimate was a tough job. Then, I wondered, so what are the most popular blogs of Nepal. There wasn't any definite list but Alexa.com provided a list of most popular websites of Nepal which included a few blogs.

So, from the data provided by alexa.com, I have compiled the top 10 most popular Nepali blogs.

1. Mysansar

Rank among Nepali Websites: 28

Overall Rank in Alexa: 43,258

Started by Salokya in April 2005, it is one of the first blogs in Nepali Unicode and currently the most popular Nepali blog. Mainly focused on current issues, it covers the major political, economic and social happenings of Nepal. The site has received more than 48 million visitors till date.

2. xNepali

Rank among Nepali Websites: 86

Overall Rank in Alexa: 75,645

Contains news, views and reviews of Nepali movies and artists. The site claims to have more than 20,000 unique visitors everyday.

3. Ashesh's Blog

Rank among Nepali Websites:193

Overall Rank in Alexa: 333,316

Run by Web developer Ashesh Shrestha, the blog is very popular Nepalese for its utilities like Nepali Calendar, Nepali Unicode and date converter. Blogposts are mainly related to information technology and social media.

4. Nepal Football League

Rank among Nepali Websites:276

Overall Rank in Alexa: 703,260

The blog for football enthusiasts of Nepal. Posts are about league matches, football clubs as well as football players of Nepal.

5. Aakar Post

Rank among Nepali Websites:332

Overall Rank in Alexa: 350,989

It is one of the most ubiquitous blogs in the Nepalese blogging scenario. Started by Anil Ghimire, a Computer Software Engineer in 2007, the blog currently has several contributors posting mainly about current happenings as well as socio-political issues of Nepal. Recordings of literary radio programs are one of the most popular postings in the blog.

6. Mukesh Chapagain's Blog

Rank among Nepali Websites:422

Overall Rank in Alexa: 58,906

Personal blog of Mukesh Chapagain, a PHP Magento Programmer and computer Engineer from Nepal. Posts are mainly about php programming and open source software like Ubuntu.

7. Nepali Blogger

Rank among Nepali Websites:625

Overall Rank in Alexa: 653,119

Run by Pradeep Kumar Singh, a Nepalese student in United Kingdom, the blog "wants to be developed as a community blogging, a community blog that wants a peaceful and democratic Nepal." Posts are mainly about current happenings about Nepal.

8. Lex Limbu's Blog

Rank among Nepali Websites:1316

Overall Rank in Alexa: 860,467

Personal blog of Lex Limbu, a non-resident Nepali student blogger based in the United Kingdom. Blog posts are mainly about entertainment industry of Nepal, i.e. movies, music, fashion.

9. Nirmal Gyanwali's Blog

Rank among Nepali Websites:1364

Overall Rank in Alexa:150,748

The blog of Nirmal Gyanwali, a front-end web developer based in Sydney, Australia. Started as a personal blog, the blog currently has several contributors. Posts are mainly about information technology.

10. Barefoot

Rank among Nepali Websites:2409

Overall Rank in Alexa:1,576, 750

Personal blog of Janak Raj Bhatta, Assistant IT Administrator of National Human Rights Commission of Nepal. As mentioned in the site, the author blogs for "sharing thoughts, raising voice for voiceless and some some stories for fun causes."

Did I miss a more popular blog? Please share in the comments below!

Institutions versus Collaborations: How the media landscape is changing

January 19, 2013 Surath Giri— min read

I am a big admirer of Clay Shirky and his works on social and economic effects of internet technologies, especially social media. I have read both of his books "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations" and "Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age" and written a few words about them. Today, I stumbled across this TED Talk by him in which he talks about how the rise of information communication technology, especially the social media is transforming the landscape of media itself.

He argues that as more and more people are becoming both producers and consumers of information unlike in the past where majority of people were supposed to be just consumers consuming the information produced and disseminated by a smaller group of professionals; closed groups and companies will slowly disappear giving way for smaller, independent and more dynamic groups and individuals. The rigid and somewhat central planning is becoming inept to compete with the flexible and responsive coordination between individuals.

This talk so reminded me of another video called I,Pencil which describes how millions of people from different parts of the world, belonging to different culture, race and religion coordinate and collaborate with each other in the free market and produce value for each other. The coordination present in the market is impossible to be replicated by central planning.

What do you think? Do share your views and opinions in the comments below!

Pirates and Proletariats

June 12, 2012 Surath Giri— min read

I still remember the graduation ceremony of political economy course I had taken in Hong Kong in July 2010. As a keynote speaker we had a North Korean party official who had fled to South Korea and had been raising voices against human rights abuse in North Korea. In his speech, he described how the life had been like in the 'hermit kingdom' and why he , despite being a well-to-do party official had fled the country risking his and his family's life. "The day I arrived in South Korea I realized my whole life had been lived in a lie. Seeing South Korea's roads packed with cars of different colors and models, I thought maybe today's some special day here.In North Korea we were told South Koreans were extremely poor and they didn't have enough to eat. So, I thought maybe it's some special day to have so many cars on the road like we used to in North Korea. To my utter disbelief, I came to know that almost everyone has a car in South Korea and I had been living in an illusion", he said.

Hearing this from a well-to-do party official from North Korea had given me an inkling of how brainwashed the North Korean society is. Fed with an alternative version of reality in order for it to be manipulated and controlled, one can only feel sorry for these 30 million unfortunate people.

However, reading this news recently has made me more hopeful for these people and increased my respect to some extent for the file sharing pirates. According this news developments in technology are giving citizens of North Korea new access to information and insights into life beyond their borders.

The report, titled A Quiet Opening surveyed North Korean refugees and those who managed to travel outside the country. What it shows is that increasing numbers are gaining access to pirated media from outside the hermit nation, with potentially life-changing consequences.

While devices such as standard radios and televisions are manufactured so that citizens (at least those who can afford them) can only listen to state-run radio stations, imported devices are able to pick up signals from South Korea, China and beyond, although receiving these broadcasts is a crime.

With Internet unavailable to all but a tiny percentage of the elite, citizens of North Korea are obtaining their information through other means, notably file-sharing devices such as DVDs, MP3 and MP4 players, and USB drives.

Through these means they are being increasingly exposed to pirated TV shows and pop music leaking from neighboring South Korea. What they gain from these files is an alternative take on the world which challenges the propaganda of their leaders.

My best wishes and salute to these people. These people are indeed courageous given the fact that:

In North Korea possession of unauthorized TV shows or music is a very dangerous affair. Depending on how the offense is viewed, punishments can range from 3 months unpaid labor to 5 years in a prison camp if the media originates from South Korea.

Note: The full report of A Quiet Opening can be downloaded from this link.

The Role of Social Media and Citizen Journalism in Nepal

October 31, 2011 Surath Giri— min read

(Following essay I wrote, was awarded Third Prize in the Fundamentals of Freedom: 2011 Asia Essay Contest.)

On 1st May of 2010, Maoist, the largest political party of Nepal , initiated an indefinite strike intending to topple the then government and take over the country. Thousands of Maoist cadres and supporters entered Kathmandu valley armed with weapons ranging from bamboo sticks to swords and took over the streets. Every shop, business, factory, school, college and transportation was forced to close down. As the strike got violent and continued for days, the whole nation came to a standstill. People were scared to go out of their houses. Even media persons and journalists were attacked by the protesters. As the longevity of the strikes increased , so did the possibility of huge confrontation initiating a wave of terror among the general citizens and media.

Despite this, the residents of the valley weren't passive though. Having seen countless protests and strikes before, they didn't react at first hoping the issues would be resolved in a day or two. However, as the strike exceeded 3 days, people got concerned and started getting involved in the discourse regarding the ongoing strike. What facilitated the conversations?? Of course, the ubiquitous Facebook and its counterparts such as twitter and blogs.

On the 7th day of the strike, general people who had come together with the help of the social media tools, organized a peace rally opposing the strike. More than 20,000 people joined the rally and swarmed in the major streets of the valley-unarmed and carrying national flags. Although there were some incidents of protesters attacking the peace rally participants, the rally was largely peaceful and later that day, Maoist announced that they were postponing their strike for an indefinite time. Hence, Nepal averted a huge political crisis that could have turned the country into a state of civil war.

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."1 Nepal's social media revolution started at a time when main stream media was at its knees due to excessive censorship and oppression by the then royal regime. King Gyanendra took power after the royal coup of 2001 in which he sacked the then prime minister and dissolved the parliament. Fearing protests he imposed harsh censorship on both print and electronic media curtailing press freedom of the nation severely. Since he failed to curb the web media, blogs and Internet medias emerged as the sources of unbiased and uncurtailed information for the citizens with access to the internet and knowledge of new media.

But it wasn't until 2006 when the media censorship reached its height that social media tools such as blogs emerged as a serious alternatives to the mainstream media. During the people's movement of 2006, main stream media (both private and state-owned) were turned into mere puppets and propaganda machines of the King. Citizen journalism and social media such as blogs became the preferred source of true information and news. Citizen journalists became the source of the news of actual happenings in the streets. After the April 2006 revolution, which saw the King lose most of his powers leading to be dethroned later on, Nepal's web focused citizen journalism has seen a rapid growth and is increasingly becoming the most favored source of news and information.

As of June 30, 2011 , there are 1,072,900 Facebook users from Nepal2 which amounts to 3.7% of the total population. For a country like Nepal whose only less than one-tenth of the total population has access to the internet, the numbers of Facebook users is pretty high. More than 1200 blogs have been listed by a prominent Nepalese blog aggregator 3 and some blogs such as Mysansar receive more traffic than the news sites run by media houses. Mysansar, the most popular blog of Nepal is among the top 50 thousand most visited websites in the world. 4

Besides acting as alternative sources of news and information, social media tools like Facebook contribute in allowing a the citizens a greater voice in media and issues that concern them in the society. For eg. , Facebook has been a seedbed for initiating campaigns and gathering solidarity for a certain cause or issue in Nepal. Some of the most popular citizen campaigns of Nepal of the recent times were initiated in Facebook. Gari Khana Deu , a campaign initiated demanding rule of law, end to impunity and right to earn a living has gained a nationwide momentum and now has been picked up by the mainstream media as well as civil society. Jyaala Pura Liyau, Aba Sambidhan Deu (Now that you have taken the full wages, give us our Constitution), is another pressure campaign initiated in Facebook to pressurize the Constituent Assembly to formulate a constitution in time that has now become a nation wide movement after being picked up by the mainstream media and civil society. As Constituent Assembly has been postponing the deadline for formulating a new constitution time and again and mainstream media has failed to provide enough platform for general citizens to vent their frustrations over the process and the ongoing instability and impunity , citizens are turning more and more towards social media to get together and have their voices heard be it through organized protests or be it through expression of solidarity or be it through participation in intense discourses. Nepal Unites , a campaign initiated to “bring the 'accountability' back in Nepali politics and the larger society, and contribute to this actively from where ever we (Nepalese) live” has attracted considerable mainstream media's attention and has generated huge public discourse on the issues of accountability and good governance.

The notable aspects of campaigns initiated through social media is they provide young people with platform to voice their opinions, garner solidarity and act on the issues. As evidenced by the success of Nepal Unites campaign in garnering a strong support base of young people and the success of Aavaz.org to mobilize people, especially the young people around the world to act on the issues that concern them and have a greater involvement in such issues demonstrates the important role social media plays in increasing the access of people to media. With the advent of social media, the world is seeing more and more young people involved in the issues within and outside their society as well.

The advent of social media is truly a major milestone in the history of media. Not only has it changed the way we communicate, opine or get our information but it has also challenged the hegemony of huge

media houses and other traditional media by bringing more competition in the sector and increased involvement of the general citizens in the process of information dissemination. The role of social media in the recent Arab uprisings demonstrate the pivotal role social media can play to empower citizens and act as an alternative to main stream media. Social media plays an even greater role in Nepal, especially at the time of political transitions like now, to inform and educate the citizens.

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1 Kaplan, Andreas M.; Michael Haenlein (2010)."Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media” Business Horizons 53 (1): 59–68.

2 http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm

3 http://www.bloggers.com.np

4 According to Alexa.com

-Surath Giri