Digital Citizenship in Pakistan

Abstract

A report on the potential to develop digital citizenship in Pakistan.

Full text

www.britishcouncil.pk

Professor Roger Jeffery
Professor Jon Oberlander
Stuart MacDonald
Dr Feyza Bhatti

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2
FOREWORD 3
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 4
KEY FINDINGS: DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP IN PAKISTAN 5
ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6
INTRODUCTION 9
Chapter 1 Access to digital citizenship in Pakistan 12
Chapter 2 Uses of social media 22
Chapter 3 Political parties’ use of social media 26
Chapter 4 Social media and traditional media 30
Chapter 5 Twitter analysis 34
Chapter 6 Opportunities and threats 36
Chapter 7 How Pakistan compares to other countries 37
APPENDICES
Denitions 38
Methodology 39
Literature Review 40
Tables 42
Bibliography 66
CONTENTS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan1

This report was commissioned by the British Council in Pakistan from the Centre
for Cultural Relations, University of Edinburgh.
The research team comprised Professor Roger Jeffery, Professor Jon
Oberlander, Mr Stuart MacDonald and Dr Feyza Bhatti for the University of
Edinburgh and Dr Maryam Rab, Olivia Swindale, Hasnain Khalil and Daniel
Walsh for the British Council in Pakistan. Nielsen Pakistan was engaged in the
quantitativeeldwork
The research team is grateful for the assistance of Robin Hill, Clare Grover, Anna
Schneider for their input and support.
In undertaking this research and preparing the report, the research team
gratefully acknowledges the assistance of all the many individuals and
organisations that provided their time, expertise and insight, without which this
report would not have been possible.
The interpretations offered in this report are those of the authors and do not
necessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheBritishCouncil,itsofcers,orthose
individuals who contributed to the research.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 2

Digital and social media in Pakistan
are vital for the country’s successful
development: economically, socially
and culturally.
The internet is making the formation
of relationships faster, cheaper, and
more convenient, due to the radically
reduced costs of communication
stemming from internet technologies.
This challenges existing models of
how countries conduct their business.
In order to be trusted, the internet
must provide channels for secure,
reliable, private, communication,
which can be trusted in a mutually
understood manner.
The opportunities are enormous, for
Pakistan as for other countries.
Nearly three billion internet users
worldwide are both creators of
information as well as consumers.
Websites, blogs, videos, tweets,
can all be broadcast and accessed
in the largest mass medium
imaginable. Audio and video calls
and conferences can be set up and
received without regard to distance
or cost.
The internet allows for what we call
“permissionless innovation”, where
anyone can create and offer a
service whether they are in Sindh or
Silicon Valley.
Governments can use the internet
to deliver services and levy taxes
and, in turn, can choose to enable
citizens to elect, petition, and oversee
their government online improving
accountability and helping build
social capital.
People’s ability to build the internet
as a unique, universal platform that
uses the same standards in every
country so everyone can interact
with everyone else is one of the
most spectacular, and most hopeful,
success stories of our time.
For this to happen, the internet
needs to be accessible. This
requires government action through
appropriate policies that are
implemented consistently to give
condencetocitizens,businesses
and others.
Today, there are both huge risks
and huge opportunities in the digital
space for Pakistan.
Regulation (driven by the desire
for control, security and a wish
to preserve traditional patterns
oflifeandthought)couldstie
innovation and creativity, depriving
young people in particular of the
opportunity to drive Pakistan’s
economy, society and culture
forward.
Inappropriate investment in
infrastructure and services could
enhance the existing digital divide
between provinces, rich and poor,
urban and rural, men and women,
majority and minority populations.
Good regulation, developed
inclusivelyandputtingusersrst,
will succeed in enhancing the
thriving Information Communication
Technologies (ICT) that delivers
outstanding levels and quality of
mobile broadband, allowing internet
access to all parts, and to all the
people, of Pakistan.
Users will have access to a wide
range of services, educational and
business opportunities, which will
enhancetheirprosperity,condence
and ability to take their place as
global citizens.
Pakistan has the vision, the ability and
the energy to succeed in developing
digital citizenship to take the country
into the 21st century. The internet
is here to stay. This report offers a
snapshot of where the country is
today. It also offers some thoughts on
where it could be tomorrow.
FOREWORD
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan3
Jehan Ara
Jim Booth

ACRONYMS AND
ABBREVIATIONS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 4
PTA Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
ICT Information and Communication Technologies
GSMA Groupe Speciale Mobile Association
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
KPK Khyber Pakhton Khwa
FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas
PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
MQM Muttahida Quami Movement
PMLN Pakistan Muslim League (N)
PPP Pakistan People's Party
AWP Awami Worker's Party
PEMRA Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority
PTCL Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited
ISP Internet Service Provider
USF Universal Service Fund
CERT Cyber Event Response Team
SNS Social Networking Site
ITU International Telecommunications Union
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
COMSATS Commission on Science and Technology for
Sustainable Development in the South

Internet access
Despite the rise in connectivity in Pakistan in the past year, inequalities
in access to digital citizenship remain. These are mainly economic, but
also social and cultural.
Uses for online and social
media
As elsewhere, the main uses were for discussion of sport, politics and
popular culture. There were differences in patterns of use between men
and women and people in rural or urban contexts.
Social media are increasingly important in business, the practice of
politics and the development of civil society. There was support for the
development of online learning.
Language and culture
Increasing availability of opportunities to use local languages will ease
the access of rural people - where growth in smart phone usage has
increased tremendously. There are mixed views of the cultural impact,
with awareness of new opportunities as well as anxiety about a threat to
traditions.
Opportunities and threats
The opportunities for Pakistan are similar to those for other countries:
better sharing of information, commerce, social life, digital access
to government services, and more opportunities for self-distraction.
Technical and regulatory developments are increasing access. Young
peopleinparticulararelikelytobenet.
The main threats come from limitation on access, especially in the rural
areas, and the use of ‘trolling’ against women and minority groups, often
accompaniedbyofinethreatstopersonalsecurity.
Pakistan in context
Pakistanhassignicantlylowlevelsofinternetaccess,whichiscon-
sistentwithSouthAsia’sgeneralgures.ThePTAAnnualReport2015
conrmedthatSouthAsiahasthelowestInternetPenetrationLevelin
the world at just 19 per cent. Support for uncensored internet access in
Pakistan is lower than in other South Asian countries and was the lowest
among all countries surveyed by Pew Research (2014).
KEY FINDINGS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan5

The success of the internet is rooted in the way it
was built and able to grow: an open platform for
innovation and sharing of ideas. It is this openness
thathasdenedtheinternetfromtheoutsetand
has enabled it to become such a strong tool for
positive change through new ideas and services
that make a real difference to people all around
the world.
An infrastructure strategy should cover cities,
towns, villages and communities. This means that
planning strategies at federal, provincial and local
levels should give priority to making sure there’s
proper equipment like computers, modems,
telephone lines and network hardware available to
run what we know as the internet.
The user experience should be central: everyone
– regardless of their age, language, income,
gender, or physical or mental abilities – can
access the applications that run on the internet
and have the same experience. This implies an
inclusive approach to service design, which
the Government can lead as it rolls out online
services and transactions.
Competition should continue to be supported
in order to lower price barriers and transaction
costs at every level from infrastructure investment
to service provision.
Pakistan should continue to work to implement
internet regulation that is consistent with best
international practice and the constitution of
Pakistan. Its governance should be based on
processes that are transparent, inclusive and
driven by consensus, ie the multi-stakeholder
approach advocated by the internet Society.
The internet in Pakistan should use best
international standards so that everyone can
interact with everyone else.
There should be clear guidance on the
interpretation of the Prevention of Electronic
Crimes Bill in order to ensure that basic rights to
privacy, expression and access to content are
protected in line with Article 19 of the constitution
of Pakistan.
Measures should be taken through education
and strategic communications to create a clear
and simple ways for everyone - regardless of
background - to understand and be a part of the
internet.
The Strategic Vision should focus on prioritising
resources to the provinces with the lowest rates
of internet access via the Universal Service Fund.
Our data analysis suggests that the initial focus
should be on those provinces with low access
rates and high populations:
The economic potential of social media should
be supported through supply side measures
such as skills training, support for online learning
and encouraging the development of social
media applications for commercial, citizen to
government, and other relevant transactions.
As economies move towards being more
knowledge-intensive, information-rich activities
in which content is created, collected, managed,
processed, stored, delivered, and accessed,
spread into a broad range of industries,
contributing to further innovation, growth and
employment. Worldwide, digital content is
becoming central to research, health, education
and social services, knowledge and cultural
services and government. It is also stimulating
increased participation and creative supply by
users.
There should be a clear commitment to support
content development alongside investment in
infrastructure. Support should be given to:
• Initiatives aimed at addressing shortages in
skills, training, education and human resource
development for the creation, distribution and
use of innovative digital content;
• Policies that stimulate enhanced knowledge
creation, dissemination, lawful use and
preservation of different forms of digital
Province % of people with
internet access
Gilgit Baltistan 0.001%
Baluchistan 1.1%
FATA 2.7%
Khyber Pakhtun Khwa 5.8%
ACTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 6

content, (including access to information,
research, data and publications), encourage
investments in such creation, dissemination
and preservation, and encourage global access
to content regardless of language and origin;
• The development of online education at
every level through high quality, multi-channel
courses and programmes which target both
academic and practical education, with priority
given to literacy programmes and to the skills
needed for effective digital citizenship;
• Policies that enhance access and more
effective use of public sector information; and
• An initiative to create and ensure an
environment that promotes freedom of
expression and access to information and
ideas while adhering to the social norms
ofthecountry.Thereshouldbeaspecic
Government-led campaign focusing on
practical uses of the internet, linked to
meaningful transactions as well as addressing
concerns about the impact of internet
freedom on traditional culture. It could draw
on those aspects of popular and traditional
culture which attract people to the internet in
Pakistan (cricket, movies etc.) in “infotainment”
packages that target those sceptical about the
benetsofinternetfreedom.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan7

Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 8
Copyrights: British Council

INTRODUCTION
This report is about the current state of digital
citizenship in Pakistan. By digital citizenship we
mean:
People who use the internet regularly and
effectively on a daily basis – digital citizens
therefore are those who have regular access to
the internet, the literacy and digital skills to use it,
and can use it freely and ethically to participate in
society, political and civic life.
By access to the internet, we mean access to
those digital media accessed by all relevant
technologies for digital citizenship including
access via PCs and mobile internet technologies,
with a focus on social media, i.e.: online media
which share characteristics of participation,
openness, conversation, community and
connectedness.
There is a range of such media, including social
networks, blogs, micro-blogging sites, wikis,
podcasts and content communities1.
Digital citizenship is important because there are
potentiallyhugebenetstodevelopingcountries
from the “digital dividends” of using digital
technologies. While the technologies themselves
havespreadrapidly,thesebenetsoftenlag
behind.
In many instances, digital technologies have
boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and
improved service delivery. Yet according to
the World Development Report 2016 “Enabling
Digital Development: How the internet promotes
development,”2 their aggregate impact has fallen
short and is unevenly distributed.
Fordigitaltechnologiestobeneteveryone
everywhere, the remaining digital divide needs to
be closed - especially in terms of internet access.
But greater digital adoption will not be enough.
To get the most out of the digital revolution,
countries also need to work on the “analogue
complements” i.e. to strengthen regulations
that ensure competition among businesses,
adapt workers’ skills to the demands of the new
economy, and guarantee the accountability of
institutions.
The benets of digital technology
Technology development has vastly reduced
the cost and increased the speed of all the
digital technologies that drive the internet.
The result has been lower transaction costs
- and often as a consequence, production
costs.
The internet makes transactions faster,
cheaper, or more convenient. It thus affects
economic development in three major,
interrelated ways:
• Better information: it can help
overcome information problems. The
emergence of e-commerce platforms has
made it much easier for small producers
tondcustomers,andforindividualswho
cannot use traditional marketing tools like
advertising or trade shows;
• More inclusion: vastly lower search and
information costs create markets. This
fosters inclusion—in new and existing
markets, in social interaction, or in
government service delivery systems.
Inclusion for the individual usually means
expansion of a market by those on the
other side of the transaction, such as a
rmoragovernment;
• Innovation: for many internet-based
businesses or services, the transaction
cost essentially drops to zero because
what previously involved routine human
labour can now be fully automated. This
leads to the enormous innovation—
the third mechanism—that is typically
associated with the “new economy.”
In many, if not most, transactions, more than
one of the three mechanisms may be at
work. For example, transactions on internet
platforms typically involve all three. While
the platform running a fully automated
service is the main innovation, one side of
the transaction often involves a provider
of a service, such as a freelance worker in
a remote location. For them, it will often
be a case of inclusion in an otherwise
inaccessible market transaction.
Adapted extract from: http://documents.worldbank.
org/curated/en/896971468194972881/310436
360_20160263021502/additional/102725-PUB-
Replacement-PUBLIC.pdf
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan9
1. See Table 1.
2. Sourcedfrom:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/896971468194972881/310436360_20160263021502/additional/102725-PUB-Replacement-
PUBLIC.pdf

Within digital media, social media platforms play
a distinctive role by changing the dynamics of
social networks in three main ways:
• They encourage expansion of the scope and
density of networks since links are easy to
form, regardless of physical distance;
• They speed the diffusion of information
between links; and
• They increase the visibility of opinions and
some behaviours across the network.
In general it can be said that social media affects
economic development by reducing transaction
costs, encouraging entrepreneurial activities and
helping to identify customers (see above). They
can also be used to promote desired behavioural
change, e.g. by encouraging people to exercise
peer pressure. Social media platforms are also
useful before, during and after natural disasters
or other crises: to disseminate information and
channelrequestsforassistance.Informationows
inalldirections,notonlyfromofcialsourcesto
the population.
The evidence on the role of social media in
encouraging social change is mixed and, crucially,
countryandcontextspecic.Peopleare,onthe
whole, more likely to share information broadly
iftheythinkthatbydoingsotheycaninuence
events or policies. In development contexts, it
is worth noting that purpose-built platforms set
up by governments and agencies can be more
effective than general-purpose social media
platforms, particularly when they are used as part
of programme delivery eg. to provide services to
farmers.
This report considers the position of Pakistan
in 2015-16. There is no doubt that the picture is
changing fast across all the different dimensions
of digital citizenship. We start, however, by
examining the level of access to the internet.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 10

Copyrights: British Council

ACCESS
CHAPTER 01
Access to the internet is the prerequisite for
digital citizenship. Without universal connectivity,
at a cost both the country and individual users
can afford, the regular access on which effective
digital citizenship depends will be impossible.
We review the evidence on access across a range
of dimensions:
A. Vision and policy framework;
B. Regulation and accountability;
C. Education and skills;
D. Physical access, infrastructure and technology;
E. The social demographics of access;
F. Barriers to access.
We also draw on our more subjective interview
material to create a more nuanced picture based
on real experience.
Finally, we compare internet access in Pakistan
with the position in other South Asian countries
and more widely.
The report starts, however, with a description of
the existing policy vision for both infrastructure
and for regulation.
A. VISION AND POLICY FRAMEWORK
The Government of Pakistan’s Vision 2025
identiesimportanthigh-levelprioritiesforICTin
Pakistan.3
Italso,morespecically,identiesaspectsofICT
development that are key to digital citizenship,
especially e-governance:
• An important tool for achieving good
governanceandachievingefciencygains,
increased transparency and improving the
citizen interface with Government;
• To support the development of government-
to-government, government-to-citizen and
government-to-business relations;
Putting Pakistan on the ICT Map
Information and communication
technologies (ICT) are a key driver of
innovation, economic competitiveness and
greater social inclusion. Pakistan Vision
2025 seeks to lay the foundation of a
knowledgeeconomybypromotingefcient,
sustainable and effective ICT initiatives by
bringing industry and higher education
together. Due to its young population,
Pakistan has strong potential to develop
a knowledge-based industry fostering
innovation and entrepreneurship.
The vision focuses on IT literacy, and
strengthening Pakistan’s IT infrastructure.
Pakistan will drive wider Broadband internet
access, facilitate access to computers,
and ensure the requisite education and
training in schools to improve technological
readiness. Pakistan’s information and
communication technology (ICT) sector
will be revolutionised with the recent
introduction of 3G and 4G networks offering
huge increases in bandwidth and internet
speed.
Pakistan cannot rely on ICT infrastructure
development alone. A comprehensive
strategy will be followed to create
conditions for skills, innovation and
entrepreneurshiptoourishalongside
modern infrastructure. Strengthening
data protection and Intellectual Property
rights laws will be a key component of
this strategy. Introduction of e-education,
e-commerce, e-health and e-government,
in addition to improving governance, will
increase the adoption and promotion of
technology in the Public Sector. Pakistan
is poised to move to the next level in ICT
sector with a very talented youth and
workforce. ICT parks will be set up all over
the country.
Source: http://www.pc.gov.pk/wp-content/
uploads/2015/05/Pakistan-Vision-2025.pdf
3. Source: http://www.pc.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pakistan-Vision-2025.pdf
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 12

• To increase the access of citizens to IT tools
and to promote greater connectivity;
• Promote active citizenship for improved and
more democratic governance; and
• An Open Data Initiative to provide the general
public with greater access to public sector
data.
ICT is also seen as key to achieving economic
growth, acknowledging that the potential of ICTs
isnotsufcientlyleveragedinPakistan,witha
digital divide between rich and poor.
The Ministry of Information Technology leads the
planning process, through which the Pakistan
Government aims to deliver these aspects of its
Vision 2025. The policy framework is set out in
the Telecommunications Policy 2015.
The key elements of the Policy are:
4. For an example, see: ITU: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/newslog/Telenor+Pakistan+Passes+5m+3G+Subscriber+Milestone.aspx
4a. For an example, see: ITU: http://www.itu.int/ITU-
5. There are signs that the mobile broadband market is responding to the Government’s Vision 2025. The advocacy document Realising Digital Pakistan, An
internet not for the few, but for the many published by Telenor in January 2016 offers a roadmap based on claims that ICT can deliver all of the aspirations
set out in the Vision 2025.
6. Sourced from: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/23/broad-support-for-Internet-freedom-around-the-world/
subscribers across the country. In July 2015,
11.7 per cent of the mobile subscribers were
using 3G/4G services and some companies were
reporting increasing numbers of 3G subscribers.4
According to the numbers reported for December
2015 by GSMA Intellignace4a the numer of mobile
subscribers jumped to 127.9 Million 19 per cent
of whom are using Mobile Broadband (3G/4G)
services. The percentage of Mobile broadband
users is now higher than Bangladesh and India
who both launched these technologies before
Pakistan.
The strategic vision and goals are ambitious, but
Pakistan is still a long way behind most of the
world. Globally, mobile broadband penetration
reached 47per cent in 2015, a value that has
increased 12 times since 2007.
Key to success will be whether the Government’s
approach will address regional imbalances in
access. These regional disparities are one of the
single biggest factors in accounting for current
low levels of access. Rural areas represent a
signicantpopulationshareanditremainstobe
seen whether reliance on the Universal Service
Fundwillbesufcienttoaddressthehigher
costs and lack of infrastructure that constrain
investment from internet service providers.5 In the
last two years, the Government of Pakistan has
initiated programmes to improve rural broadband
connectivity using Universal Service Funds. It
may also be a case of changing attitudes. As the
Spring 2015 Global Attitudes Survey6 says:
Itisrecognisedthatthebenetsofdigitalisation
can only be realised once there is affordable,
universal broadband internet access. In Pakistan,
mobile broadband will be the primarily source
of high-speed internet access, increasingly
demandingbrebackhaulcapacityto3G,4Gand,
in the future, 5G cell sites.
In 2015, there were 114.7 million mobile phone
Strategic Vision:
Universally available, affordable and quality
telecommunication services provided
through open, competitive, and well
managed markets and ubiquitously adapted
tothebenetoftheeconomyandsociety.
Goals:
Efcientmarketswithstraightforwardentry
andexitofqualiedentitiesthathave
sufcientnancialresourcetoinvestinand
deliver quality services.
http://tinyurl.com/j2agn6h In a relatively short period of time, the internet
has become an inuential arena for public
debates about political and social issues.
And around the world, many consider free
expression in cyberspace to be a fundamental
right.
As access to the internet continues to spread
globally, demands for freedom in cyberspace
may grow as well. Countries in which a large
share of the public reports using the internet
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan13

7. The National Assembly passed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2015 on 13 April 2016.
8.See for example: Written statement submitted by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development to the Human Rights Council of the General
AssemblyoftheUnitedNationson10June2015(A/HRC/29/NGO/98).
9. https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/08/joint-statement-prevention-electronic-crimes-bill-2015-pakistan
10. Sourcedfrom:https://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/38195/en/country-report:-the-right-to-information-in-pakistan
11. Sourcedfrom:http://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/2016/01/kps-rti-act-2013-secures-rst-position-with-73pc-score/
12.Source:http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/les//pslm/publications/PSLM_2014-15_National-Provincial-District_report.pdf
also tend to have greater levels of support for
internet freedom.
Once people have internet access, most start
using it on a daily basis, and most also begin
to engage in social networking. And when
people have access to these technologies and
platforms, they use them to engage in politics.
It can be expected therefore that as access
grows, so will support for internet freedom.
According to the Pew research, however, Pakistan
not only, has both the second lowest rates
of access in the sample of 31 emerging and
developing nations, but has also scored low on
support for internet freedom. However, these
studies have used data that may be out of date
due to the recent rapid increase in numbers of
Mobile Broadband users.
B. Regulation and Accountability
The Government’s vision is for “appropriate
regulation” to encourage the development
ofefcienttelecommunicationmarkets.
Regulations will aim to promote competition,
sector development and migration to new and
moreefcientmethodsofdeliveringservices.
The regulatory system should also safeguard
consumers.
There are, however, concerns about the proposals
for regulation in the Policy that are being enacted
through the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill7,
which have been expressed both within Pakistan
and internationally.8 However, the government
is of the view that it is in accordance with the
constitution of Pakistan.
The opponents of Bill see it as as posing a risk to
freedom of expression, the right to privacy, and of
access to information in Pakistan. Members of the
National Assembly of Pakistan have been urged to
take a stand against the Bill by voting against it in
its current form.9
It is not yet clear what impact the Bill could have
on Freedom of Information10 in Pakistan. The
citizens’ right to information varies from province
to province, along with citizens’ ability to hold
politicians to account.11
C. Education and skills
Themostsignicantskillsgaprelatestolevel
of educational attainment. It is clear that there
is a high correlation between levels of literacy
and education and ability to engage as a digital
citizen. While a high proportion of graduates (50
per cent) report themselves as unable to use the
internet, the proportion is much higher for those
who are illiterate. There are also differences in
skills at the provincial level, although these are
lesssignicantthanthedifferencesineducational
attainment.
Our research found clear evidence that young
people who are currently at school are more
likely to have internet access than either those
whohavenishedschoolorthosewhohave
never attended. This appears to correlate with
the relatively high levels of internet use for
educational purposes.
Policies to widen access through the
Universal Service Fund (USF)
The use of industry-contributed Universal
ServiceFund(USF)hasplayedasignicant
role in bridging the digital divide between
urban and rural areas. Going forward,
the USF will be particularly important to
facilitate universal access to broadband
services and applications. The universal
access goal of the telecom policy will be to
provide available and affordable telephony
and universal broadband access to enable
e/m service coverage for all currently
under-served an unserved people.
http://tinyurl.com/j2agn6h
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 14

AsitstandsinPakistan,68percentofmen
and 45 per cent of women are literate.12 People
who can read and write are much more likely
to access the internet than those who cannot.
It is interesting that despite the difference in
literacy rates between men and women, access
rates were broadly similar. In fact, an analysis of
internet access rates revealed that there were no
signicantdifferencesbetweendifferentages,
genders or whether users were based in rural or
urban communities. The important differences
were in relation to province and educational level.
Interviewevidenceconrmedthathighilliteracy
rates and an inability to communicate in English
were two of the main barriers that led to digital
exclusion in Pakistan. Exclusion due to illiteracy
was only partial, however, due to the availability of
memes, pictures, and videos.
Thiswasconrmedbyaninterviewee,a
prominent social media activist:
“…groups are not formally excluded, for
example most of the contents in social media is
in English so people who cannot communicate
in English are excluded.”
There was a clear difference in skills level
betweenthe15-18agegroupandthoseintheir
late twenties. This suggests that young people are
acquiring the skills they need to access and use
the internet.
Interestingly, there does not seem to be a
signicantskillsgapbetweenmenandwomen:
very similar proportions of respondents from each
gender said that they did not have the necessary
skills.
Inruralareas,nodoubtreectingdisparitiesin
infrastructure,asignicantlyhigherproportion
of the population reported that they did not have
the skills to access and use the internet.
D. Physical access, Infrastructure and
Technology
Although recent developments in the telecom
sector have increased the geographical and
rural spread of the internet in Pakistan, internet
penetration is still very low and there are
enormous differences in access rates by province
as well as a range of other factors.
Telecom Sector
Access to an effectively functioning telecoms
infrastructure is crucial to internet access. The
regulatory framework aims to attract investment,
and there are signs of positive developments.
According to the Pakistan Economic Survey
2014-15, telecom revenues in the last six months
of 2014-15 (the most recent statistics available),
amounted to Rs.299.0 billion (around £2bn)
which made the sector very attractive for further
investment.
Third and fourth generation mobile internet
services were launched in Pakistan in July 2014,
since when the internet landscape of Pakistan
has changed substantially. Within a year of the
launch, the number of internet users jumped from
3.8millionto16.9million.Thenumberofmobile
internet users reached 13.5 million by mid-2015,
currentlyproviding80percentoftheinternet
services across the country. Although mobile
broadband access is still very low, it is rapidly
increasing with the number of users reaching 24
million in December 2015.
The acceleration of internet access in 2014-
15 following the roll-out of mobile broadband
is the most dramatic statistic, but it is worth
noting that while the number of households with
DSL connections continues to increase, other
technologies have either plateaued or are in decline.
While there are a number of other factors that
affect levels of access, the difference in access
rates between provinces is particularly striking.
Thereisaverysignicant,andlikelyrelated,
difference in reported internet access between
those living in urban and rural contexts. Access to
the internet is much less common in households
where there is no access to an electricity supply.
Although the overall internet penetration rate
has increased substantially over the last year, the
majority of participants in our study talked about
continuing issues with physical access to the
internet, particularly in rural areas, as well as in
certain provinces.
The barriers to access were related both to a lack
ofxedormobileinternetcoverage,andtothe
unaffordability of services and devices.
Thiswasconrmedtosomeextentby
interviewees.Oneseniorgurewithanoverview
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan15

of internet policy in Baluchistan reported that
while there was “enormous” use of social media
there among young people, access, and therefore
usage, was limited to the urban centres. It should
be noted that according to the Government of
Baluchistan, the urban population at the time
ofthe1998censuswasonly23.8percent,
but that today it is likely that the proportion
living in urban centres has grown.13 The same
source also drew attention to special features
of Baluchistan including its physical size and
low population density, making it expensive for
telecom companies to invest there and leading
to high internet costs for users. However, the
government has now focussed on providing ICT
services in Baluchistan using USF money. Similarly,
anotherinterviewee,aseniorofcialinaleftist
political party, drew attention to the cost barrier
to internet access for working class people living
in slums, as well as to geographical (regional)
differences in access to basic facilities such as
clean water, let alone the internet.
E. Social factors
Economic status is very important; access to the
internet is very closely related to income levels.
Average per capita annual income in dollar terms
recordedasignicantgrowthof9.25percentin
2014-15reachingalevelof$1,512(158,313.83
PKR)14. Those with annual incomes of between
25,000 and 100,000 PKR enjoy the highest rates
of internet access. Access rates are much lower
for people on lower incomes. Unemployed people
looking for work are more likely to have access to
the internet than the economically active (waged
employees and the self-employed) while students
are the group who have the highest rates of
access.
While men are more likely to have internet
access than women, the difference is less than
expectedandisnotstatisticallysignicant.It
appears that people aged 15-26 are more likely
to have Internet access than people aged 27-
10. The differences don’t quite reach statistical
signicance,althoughthe19-22and27-30age
groupsmightshowmoresignicantvariation
with bigger samples. It is clear, however, from the
comparison of young people in urban and rural
contexts, that it is the urban young who are the
most likely to have internet access with access
rates more than twice the national average.
By contrast, young people in rural areas are
around four times less likely to have access to
the internet, though they are still more likely to
have this than older people. There seems to be
more difference in access rates between men and
women in urban than in rural areas, although in
neithercaseisthedifferencesignicant.
Young children are more likely to have internet
access than others, including graduates. This
couldreectotherndingsabouttheuseof
the internet for education. Possibly the most
signicantfactorwhichwilldeterminewhether
someone has access to the internet is which
province they live in. The difference are large
andstatisticallysignicant.Theinternetismost
commonly accessed at home, although mobile
access follows close behind.
F. Barriers to access
Kenneth Keniston of MIT15identiedfourdigital
divides in access to digital media of which two
are directly relevant to this report on Pakistan.
In addition, there is the important question of the
whether there is a strong gender divide in levels
of access to the internet in Pakistan. Our research
foundnostatisticallysignicantdifferenceinrates
of access between men and women (and that this
was the case in both urban and rural areas), but
that there were major differences in both use and
perceptions.
Economic
Cost was seen as a barrier to internet access.
There was some difference in perceptions of cost
between men and women, with women more likely
to see it as a barrier. Surprisingly, the internet
was more likely to be seen as expensive by those
living in urban settings. It is hard to explain this
ndingasthecostofaccessisundoubtedly
proportionately greater for lower income
households in rural areas. As would be expected,
young children without access to resources or
income are more likely to see internet access as
expensive.
13.Sourcedfrom:http://www.balochistan.gov.pk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1271&Itemid=100430
14.http://www.nance.gov.pk/survey/chapters_15/Highlights.pdf
15. Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Human Development, Emeritus, in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 16

There are differences in cost of access by
province, but these differences do not seem to
explain the different access levels in each area.
There is one province – Sindh – where the cost
of internet access is seen as much higher than
elsewhere. The reasons for this are unclear and
cannot be explained in terms of internet tax rates;
whilethetaxcosttoconsumersinSindhis18.5
percent,thisgureisslightlylowerthanthetax
costs in both Punjab and KPK (the other provinces
with the highest rates of tax).
Despite current costs, the majority of participants
in our study were optimistic that digital access
would increase in the coming years. The
attributed this to an increasingly competitive
telecommunications sector, which was gradually
reducing the costs of smart phone and internet
packages.
A representative of one of the most active telcos
inPakistanconrmedthathisowncompanywas
developing “smartish” phones with 3G packages,
which were lighter, less expensive and more
affordable. Other companies were doing the
same. This would, in his view, help to increase
internet penetration in Pakistan.
Linguistic and cultural
Language: Urdu and English are spoken and
understood in the literate community, who
comprise 60 per cent of the total population
in Pakistan. The remaining 40 per cent of the
country rely on their regional language to
communicate - there are more than 70 such
regional languages spoken in Pakistan; more
people speak Punjabi than Urdu nationwide.
Speakersofallrstlanguagesaremostlikelyto
access the internet in English, followed by Urdu
in Roman script, ahead of Urdu. The number
of people able to access the internet in other
languages is very small. This clearly represents
a barrier for those who can use neither English
norUrdu,butasUrduistheofciallanguage
of Pakistan and both Urdu and English are very
widely used, it is hard to quantify how important
this barrier is.
A waste of time? The research asked people
they deliberately chose not to access the internet:
did they see it as a waste of time? The results
suggest that this option was mostly relevant for
those who have had the opportunity to try the
internet (the older amongst the young adults with
good education). There was little difference in
attitude between men and women, but it is worth
notingthaturbanrespondentsweresignicantly
more likely to see the internet as a waste of time
than were those from rural areas. Interestingly, as
educational levels rise, there is also a rise in the
proportion of those who regard the internet as a
waste of time.
Family disapproval: There are clear signs that
families have concerns about allowing access
totheinternet.Theguresarepredictable–
younger people (and, to a lesser extent, women),
are less likely to have family permission to use
the internet. More surprisingly, families in urban
contexts seemed more concerned, perhaps
because they were more familiar with the
internet. Ostensibly, it was also surprising that
more educated people were more likely to face
restrictions. This could be because only people
who are educated enough to know how to use
technology are in danger of not being permitted
to use it - for others the topic would be less
16. Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Human Development, Emeritus, in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
• Economic: Therstdivideisthatwhich
exists within every nation, industrialized or
developing, between those who are rich,
educated, and powerful, and those who
are not.
• Linguistic and cultural: For people who
speak no (or little) English, the barriers
to the Information Age are almost
insuperable. All widely-used operating
systems require some knowledge of
English or one of the ‘Northern’ languages.
Thus, in practice, unless Pakistanis know
English, which most do not, computer use
and Internet access are effectively out of
the question. Therefore, it can be argued
that there is no market for non-English
language software or culturally relevant
content.
http://web.mit.edu/kken/Public/PAPERS/Intro_Sage.html
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan17

likely to arise. There were also clear differences
between provinces. For the provinces where
we had enough respondents to form a sample,
a clear divide emerged between Punjab and
Sindh where levels of restriction were lower than
average, and KPK and Baluchistan where levels of
restrictionweresignicantlyhigherthanaverage.
Gender: The research suggested that geography
(where you live), economic status, age, level of
educational attainment and literacy all played
muchmoresignicantrolesthangender.Itwas
likely, however, that the statistics were hiding
more subtle truths.
A range of interviewees, from the different
perspectives including of regional level internet
policy, academia and a digital media agency, all
agreedthatgenderwasaverysignicantissue
in access to the internet and that this was due
to the persistence of the view, even in more
developed parts of the country, that it was not
acceptable for women to have cell phones. In
some areas where traditional patriarchal social
structures and attitudes are still the norm, the
situation is even worse, and the risks to women
can be great – some women had even been killed.
There was a view that as costs come down and
cell phones and internet access become more
common, the risks to women would also increase.
This was generally seen as more of a problem in
rural areas, but the provinces of Baluchistan, KPK,
FATAandinteriorSindhwereidentiedasposing
particular challenges.
Otherpublishedresearchhasalsoconrmed
that there are gender differences. Where access
exists, men tend to be heavier internet users
than women, with women spending less time
online. Women also tended to access the internet
from home, while internet cafes were their least
preferred location, due to cultural barriers and
limited accessibility for women.16
During interviews when the participants were
asked about the impact of internet and social
media on women, almost all of them talked about
boththepositiveandnegativeinuences.
On the positive side, social media provided a
space for Pakistani women where they could be
present and visible. It also challenged the existing
gender norms by allowing women to interact
with their male counterparts. These were seen as
particularly important for a country like Pakistan
where women’s mobility is restricted and cultural
norms do not always support young women’s
interaction with men.
Intervieweesconrmedthatdespitethe
difculties,socialmediaoffersopportunitiesfor
women to empower themselves, not just socially,
but in terms of business and education.
There were very positive views from the private
sector (a former head of a major IT company and
a tech developer) that the internet gives women
more access to information in their homes so
the conventional challenge of not being them go
outsideisbeenreplaced.Specicapplications
such as WhatsApp have changed a lot of lives in
terms of interacting and engaging, as they enable
sharing of rich visual and audio (not written)
content like videos, audios and voice messaging.
Social media also give women more power, and
a lot of girls are doing businesses online and, of
course, they can also make purchases online.
Similarly, from representatives of an NGO
and a major political party, there were strong
endorsements of the potential of social media
to empower women to express themselves as
active participants in society. As social provides
spaces where women can interact, and their
opportunities to work as professional journalists
are limited, they are using social media to act
as citizen journalists and to comment on public
affairs. Despite the fact that there are limits to
public expression, social media is a space where
women can achieve presence in civil society. This
participation is currently online, but the view was
expressed that over time, it will translate into
ofineempowerment.
While the overall effect on women is positive,
there are risks to women due to their lack of
internet experience, from cyber-crimes, stalking
or the misuse of their information by people with
wrong intentions. There are also concerns about
multiple identities, impersonation and trolling.
Interviewees from NGOs and an academic
identiedsomeofthespecicrisks,butalso
highlighted positive action that is being taken
to reduce them. One particular problem relates
to Facebook, which is by far the most popular
16.Sourcedfrom:http://archive1.diplomacy.edu/pool/leInline.php?IDPool=1338,ArzakKhan,Factorsinuencingbroadbandadoptionanddigitalcontent
consumption in developing counties: A case from Pakistan.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 18

researchidentiedsurveillanceandsilencingof
non-populist communities and groups based on
religion, political views, sexual orientation and/
or ethnicity. The blasphemy laws were seen as
restrictive and there was some evidence that
internet freedom had reduced between 2011 and
2014 .
Prospects for change
Theinterviewsidentiedrealoptimism.Inaddition
to the increasing affordability of smart phones,
there was evidence that the Urdu language
and to a lesser extent regional languages were
increasingly being used for communication on
social media.
A media source said that in his view, the two main
barriers to internet access were language and
social media platform in Pakistan, and that is the
use of multiple accounts. People create multiple
accounts for a number of reasons, but principally
it is done to keep friends and family separate – to
keep male friends away from female relatives.
It is also the case the some men use multiple
Facebook accounts, posing as women to trick
friends, extort money by extracting information
from women, which they then use to blackmail
them, or meet real women.
Anotherabuse,identiedbyanintervieweefrom
a prominent NGO, is that of “cyber armies” who
attackspecicpeopleonline.Intheinterviewee’s
opinion, this has a particularly negative impact
on women who are subject to online harassment,
whichcantranslateintoofineviolence.
While such problems are very serious, another
interviewee from the Digital Rights Foundation
was more positive about the potential to educate
women in colleges and universities about cyber
harassment:
“We have recently launched a campaign with
the name of “Hamara Internet”, it has a focus
on young women who use technology, mobile
and internet. In Pakistan whenever women face
violence, harassment, stalking or threats, they
usually distanced themselves from technology
as they see no remedy, they don’t know about
the privacy, security and safety. We go to
colleges and universities and we do some
sessions on “safe online spaces for women” in
which we discuss about cyber harassment and
at the same time we teach them about different
tools through which they can use technology
in a safer way. We have covered most of the
universities in Lahore and Peshawar and our
next target is Islamabad.”
As noted by the United Nations Broadband
Commission Working Group on Broadband and
Gender, these gender effects are important as
access to the internet is a matter of fairness
and opportunity for women. It can also enable
women to increase their productivity, access new
markets,improvetheireducation,ndbetterjobs,
and contribute to the innovation economy.17
Political exclusion was mentioned as a growing
concern by almost all of our respondents. The
The social media is growing
exponentially in Pakistan. The two main
barriers in Pakistan were language,
as not so many people speak and
understand English and the other
barrier is access to the technology and
theInternet.Ithinktherstbarrierhas
been broken with the introduction of
Urdu blogs, portals and websites. The
second barrier has also been broken
as a smart phone of under Rs. 5000 is
available in the market. With both these
barriers broken, this country is going
towards the social media explosion. -
(FK)
People say that Internet is for the urban
class but they are wrong. I belong to
village in interior Sindh called Dadu so
wheneverIgothere,Indthemplaying
these latest songs on their phones and
I would ask them where you did get
them and he would say that a guy in
town takes 10 rupees to upload about
100 songs to the mobile phone through
his Pentium-2 computer. - (AGP)
17. Sourced from: http://www.unwomen.org/en/docs/2013/9/doubling-digital-opportunities-women-and-girls-in-it
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan19

cost.Therstwasbrokenbytheincreaseduseof
Urdu blogs, portals and websites, and the second
was coming down thanks to the arrival of cheap
smart phones. More anecdotally, a musician spoke
of how people in rural areas – in his case interior
Sindh – were able to access the latest songs on
their phones. A village industry has grown up
whereby the one person with the songs on his
computer charges a very small fee to upload
them to other peoples’ mobile phones.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 20

Copyrights: British Council

Evidence of levels of access and participation
in digital media are not enough in themselves
to allow us to say whether digital citizenship is
effective. We also need to look at what people do
with and through digital media, at what they can
now do that they could not do before, and how
digital media are perceived and understood.
This is crucial in contexts where digital media
are already being used, particularly in politics,
journalism, education, business, entrepreneurship
and civil society and where they are being rolled
outforthersttime,oftenchallengingtraditional
ways of life and thought through the potential
they have to connect people to others across the
world, for good or ill.
Thefollowingbroadareasofusewereidentied:
with the largest proportion of users accessing
the Internet every day. while urban dwellers were
much more likely to be daily users than those in
rural areas.
The pattern of social media use in Pakistan
shows that regardless of education level, gender
or age, Facebook is the most frequently used
social media site. This is unsurprising, but what
is more unexpected is the popularity of Google+
compared to other countries (globally, Google+
has struggled to gain popularity) across the
spectrums of education, gender and age. The
popularity of Google+ in Pakistan has been
noted in the past, as it offers a privacy setting
on gender – so users can decide who sees what
gender they are.
Uses of the Internet
Overall, people use the Internet for entertainment,
education, hobbies, sports, news and politics.
There are gender differences in use. Women are
signicantlymorelikelytousetheInternetfor
education and hobbies, while men are more likely
to give priority to news and, especially, sports.
This report considers areas of use most directly
relevant to digital citizenship.
Politics: (see chapter 3). There is a clear
correlation between Internet/social media use
and political participation. Some political parties
have sophisticated social media operations. In
the May 2013 general election, social media were
used as a tool for campaigning and mobilisation
forthersttimeinPakistan.Youngpeopleare
actively engaged in the creation, consumption,
production and dissemination of political content
and report a growing sense of individual freedom
and social connectedness. The emergence of the
PTI has catalysed change.
News and current affairs: There is growing
competition between traditional and social media
(see Chapter 4). Social media provide a space
for alternate voices and they expose issues not
covered in traditional media, e.g. for Baluchistan.
Social media are increasingly seen as a strong
complement to traditional media – they enable
quick responses to events with visual materials,
and facilitate the sharing of information across
borders.
Effective digital citizenship depends on regular
access to the Internet. Levels of use of the
Internet/social media among the population are
very low in Pakistan. There is a clear gender
divide, with men some 3 times more likely to
access the Internet every day than were women.
Bothweresignicantlymorelikelytousethe
Internet on mobile devices than on PC. Younger
people were more frequent users of the Internet,
USES OF DIGITAL MEDIA
CHAPTER 02
Figure 01: Broad area of use of Internet
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 22

Some parties report a generational effect:
their older members stick to traditional
campaigning approaches even as their parties
are increasingly engaged (and feel compelled to
be engaged) with citizens through social media.
Parties also reported a darker side to social
media, in that they can be used for defamation
and disinformation. There is a challenge for the
parties from an increase in transparency; how
can they encourage their members to use social
media while controlling its inappropriate use?
Learning: It is a strategic aim of the Higher
Education Council to encourage the take-up of
onlinelearning.Therearealready1.8mstudents
actively engaged, but more needs to be done to
overcome barriers to participation. There is also
a strong correlation between being in education
and Internet access. Students are particularly
frequent users of the Internet. Use of the Internet
for news is clearly related to education, and
perhaps even more to age and participation in
society, with a very high proportion of those
who had left school (91%) using the Internet.
Education is also, predictably, of most interest to
those who are currently at school.
Economy and business: Use of Internet or
social media for economic purposes is still very
low, but there has been growing use of social
media for the promotion of start-ups and women
entrepreneurs. Many interviewees recognised
that the technology sector is the easiest sector
in which to start businesses. Techies set up
incubators, and create community spaces.
This is important for helping to reduce youth
unemployment.
Low levels of use reported for transactional
purposes, whether for business or shopping, are
contradicted when people are asked whether
they have ever used the Internet or a smart
phone to buy or sell goods. Some 22% of people
have used social media in this way. The highest
proportions of people who have done this are
those who have never been to school, are women,
live in urban contexts and in their early 20s. In
all cases, the proportions of people using the
Internet and social media to buy and sell goods,
and to transfer money, are higher than the overall
proportion of comparable users – and this is true
in both urban and rural areas.
Culture: The impact of online media on culture
is seen as mixed and contested with many
individuals being in two minds. A good example
is in relation to language. The revival of local
languages through their use on digital media is
positive, but standards of language use are also
seen to be declining. In a more general sense
there is anxiety about the perceived loss of
Pakistani values and traditions, yet paradoxically
this is combined with concern about growing
conservatism.
Civil society: Social media increasingly act as
a space for debate and mobilisation. Disaster
response is particularly important where social
media are seen as having the credibility needed
to mobilise philanthropy, through information
sharing and co-ordination. They are also seen as
a valuable platform for fundraising, training and
awareness-raising.
What people talk about on social media
Social media in Pakistan are overwhelmingly used
to talk about cricket and politics. An analysis
of the top 10 hashtags on Twitter, as a way of
identifying the topics of discussion, showed that
cricket was by far the most popular subject.
Patterns of use vary between men and women.
The top 3 topics for men (in order) were movies,
sport, and current affairs, while for women
they were religion, movies, and current affairs.
However, levels of interests were similar in
relation to religion, human and minority rights.
When analysed along a rural/urban split, there
were broadly similar levels of interest in movies
and religion, but less interest in sports, human
and minority rights in the rural areas.
The differences in use were less obvious in
relation to communication with friends and family.
Interestingly, women were more likely than men to
buy or sell goods online.
While social media are mainly used to share views
on movies and sports, there is clear evidence
of relatively high levels of interest, regardless of
educational level, in religion and politics.
Topics of interest differ between men and women.
Overall, men report themselves as more likely to
share views on a range of topics than women. It
is not clear why this is the case. Women like to
discuss religion and movies, while men like to
talk about movies and sport. The proportion of
men and women who talk about religion is similar
however and while men are more likely to talk
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan23

about current affairs, it is the third most preferred
topic for both groups.There was no difference
in the preferred topics discussed in urban and
rural areas. Movies, sports and current affairs
dominated in both areas.
The only noticeable trend in relation to age is not
surprising – current affairs climbs steadily as a
topic from around 40% to around 50% between
the ages of 15 and 30 as people are more
actively engaged in society. Levels of interest in
othertopicsuctuatealittlebutstayremarkably
constant.
We also looked at the patterns of Internet use
bydevice.Therewasnosignicantdifference
between devices used by men and women.
Overall more young people access the Internet
bymobiledevices.Therewerenosignicant
differences in patterns of use with the 5
categories of entertainment, news, sports,
hobbies and education dominating.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 24

Copyrights: British Council

The general elections in May 2013 witnessed the
emergence of social media as a tool for electoral
campaigning and mobilisation in Pakistan. This
wasalsothersttimeinPakistanwhenall
mainstream political parties utilised social media
for political campaigning at varying levels.
While political party representatives, particularly
PTI and MQM, during their interviews mentioned
that they considered social media to be an
effective tool to communicate with their
electorate after the US elections, political parties’
utilisation of social media was also partially
attributed to violent attacks during political rallies
and death treats received by the candidates.18
The results of the elections were surprising
for those who did not see social media as an
effective medium for political campaigning. In
addition to recording the highest turnout since
the 1970s in all provinces, FATA and Islamabad
CapitalTerritory(55%comparedto44%in2008),
the political landscape of the country changed
signicantlywiththeemergenceofthePTIasthe
third national party securing the second highest
number of total votes, in addition to winning a
province (KPK) and seats in other provinces.
Two of the mainstream political parties associated
their initiation of political campaigns through
social media to US presidential elections, while
two others talked about the need to show some
presence online particularly since some parties
were very active online.
OneintervieweefromthePTI,identiedthe2011
PTI gathering in Lahore as a game changer. The
event had a huge coverage on both traditional
and social media, generating a “phenomenal”
response. That was the point at which the party
realised that it needed a social media strategy.
The PTI was also seen by interviewees from other
parties (PMLN and PPP) to be leading in its use of
social media:
“Since PTI came in, social media became more
popular in terms of politics. Punjab government
started their own social media twitter account,
the chief minister started his own twitter
account in the recent years. Social media is not
been able to reach rural youth so our target
was the urban youth where our competitors
existed.”
“As far as the social media is concerned,
PPP is a little behind the PTI and some other
parties, most of voters in the constituencies
are from the rural area. In the past we never
concentrated on the social media but right now
we cannot ignore the fact of social media…
there are a lot of things going against the PPP
because we don’t have that much presence on
the social media so this forced PPP to come on
this front.”
Neither the PTI nor the MQM talked about any
speciceffortstoincreasetheirfollowersor
convince party members to be active on social
media. PMLN and PPP interviewees, on the other
hand, were concerned about not being able to
convince party members to join and be active on
social media. As a solution they developed quasi-
systems: PMLN formed district level groups that
would share the party activities on Twitter and
PPP appointed a focal person:
“Social media has a huge impact but
unfortunately only a few of our members
are active on the social media. The party
(PMLN) wants to be active but there are
representatives who don’t believe in social
media because they are not from this
generation, they believe that going out and
meeting people have more impact and as a
result more votes. 60-70% of our party people
don’t use social media; they are shy being on
the spotlight. People who use social media
are between the ages of 30 and 40. We tried
to convince the senior leadership but they
18.S.Ahmed&Skoric,2014;McKenzie,2013
POLITICAL PARTIES AND
THEIR USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
CHAPTER 03
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 26

hardly have a time even to pick up their phone
calls. Now, we made a group in every district
across Pakistan and those groups constantly
tweet about the party’s achievements. It is not
very effective but we are building up on it. We
have very small number of followers but it will
increase eventually.”
PPP has a lot of volunteers and supporters
working on the social media individually but few
months back we tried to gather them at some
point. We announced a focal person for the social
media who is constantly in touch with me or some
other member representing social media.
Interviewees from the PTI and MQM described
very strong social media network systems, which
were supported by applications like Whatsapp,
Viber and SMS. Party members discussed,
decided, and sent hashtags when they wanted
a topic to trend. This also indicates that most of
the trending topics were not organic, but were
actively promoted by the parties.
A representative of the MQM described how
the party uses hashtags as a way or organising
content for campaigns:
“We have a system which is called CERT (Cyber
Event Response Team), we have got heads
of different regions in that group, we decide
on which hashtag to be launched on which
campaign, based on that hashtag we agree with
our leadership along with a little summary of
the event. The hashtag will be given to different
region or unit heads and those unit head will
disseminate further to their workers and within
5 to 10 minutes it will reach to all. We also sent
them an SMS through which they can reach to
their twitter and Facebook”.
The PTI also described how the party makes use
of hashtags on Twitter and combines that with
other media to set the agenda:
“Recently we launched an SOP which says that
a hashtag is to be aligned with party policy. It
is event based, for example, the recent judicial
commission is going on these days and there
are sessions every day, so our hashtag was
“Anwar Mehboob exposes rigging”. The hashtag
is always aligned with party line, the team
proposes it, I approve it and then it is launched,
then our volunteers across the world bring it
to the top. We also have a WhatsApp group, we
discuss the hashtag, feedback comes in and
then we post it on twitter”.
Political parties were using social media for
a number of reasons varying from political
campaigning to social causes. These were:
• Political campaigning;
• Political mobilisation and/or protest;
• Live mainstreaming of party events;
• Countering other parties;
• Sharing political agendas and policies, and
getting feedback, and
• Getting attention within the party
In addition, parties used social media to promote
social causes and, occasionally, to defame
opponents.
A representative of MQM explained at length
the importance of social media to his party,
to counter what the party saw as negative
propaganda, conspiracy theories and
disinformation. It was also seen as important as
a way to get the message out and present the
party’s side of the story:
“I have got more than 6000 friends on
Facebook, mostly party related people. I took
advantage of that situation and disseminated
the information, ideology, aims and objectives
of my party. In Pakistan our party has suffered
a lot since the 1990s, various propagandas,
state operations, targeted killings, extra judicial
killings, arrests and what not. At that time the
media wasn’t free, the print media was mostly
controlled. It opened up in 2002-03. This was
an opportunity for us to speak up and try to
clear up whatever is being built up against us.
Social media for a political party like us is very
important... Social media is very useful but at
the same time it can be used as a propaganda
tool, it can then be used to clarify and to give
your opinion in an easier way and without any
restriction. Social media is an integral part
of the politics now… Right now there is an
operation going on against us but we are trying
to build our image by countering the negative
propaganda. All of the propaganda has been
exposed on the social media, if social media
hadn’t existed, none of this could have come
out. It would have been the same situation we
were facing until the 2000s. People are getting
awareness because of the social media… If the
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan27

social media is able to inuence an opinion
and is able to convert few minds or at least
to let that mind think about the other side of
the story, to counter the conspiracy theories
then that is an effective social media for us.
The Karachi incident was put on the MQM
by the PTI leaders as the Ismailis voted for
PTI and it is our job to counter such type of
nonsense claims, we are trying to explain that
MQM is a political party and we have nothing
to do with those killings… Basically we are
spending much time on countering the attacks
but my countering gives a lot of messages as
I am attempting to clear their minds and to
understand the other side of the logic”.
There are a number of challenges reported by
the political parties. Principally, they felt that they
needed to convince party members, particularly
older members with more traditional views, that
social media could be as effective as traditional
methods.
They are also very aware of the need to control
their followers and prevent them from trolling
their opponents. Trolling and threats through
social media have become common in Pakistan
to an extent that political parties are developing
codes of conducts for their members. Most of
the journalists/social media activists we talked
to mentioned being harassed online when they
criticised political party leaders, the government
or other prominent groups or people.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 28

Social media seem to be overtaking traditional
media – both newspapers and radio – in
popularity in Pakistan. The constant availability
of online media is also a factor, with the standout
number the proportion of people who use social
media every day compared to other media – even
radio, which is also constantly available.
As people get older, they are more likely to read a
newspaper every day. This is in contrast to social
media users whose usage tends to peak at an
earlier age then decline. Men read newspapers
much more frequently than do women. Indeed
men are 7 times as likely to read a newspaper
every day. The difference is much less marked
forradio,perhapsreectingthatradiolistening
can be a shared experience. While women have
similar levels of access to social media than
men do, they are much less likely to use them.
Newspapers and social media are also both more
urban phenomena than radio.
Social media have changed the ways in which
news is gathered, consumed and disseminated in
Pakistan. What makes social media of particular
interest to traditional media (TV channels and
print media) and journalism, is how social media
havebecomeaninuentialtoolforguidingthe
news channels and breaking news in the country.
Traditional media have become more dependent
on the social media, and people are increasingly
using online sources and social media for
news. All large newspapers now have a digital
section, and the major media groups have a
strong presence on social media, particularly on
Facebook and Twitter (give the table on media
groups and their presence).
Ourresearchconrmedthattraditionalmedia
were still being used in Pakistan19 but there
was growing competition between traditional
and social media. The amount of and speed of
information shared on social media creates both
competition with, and dependency on, social
media for traditional media.
Most of the people we interviewed talked about
social media being a strong complement for
traditionalmedia,fromwhichTVchannelsbenet
extensively. As representatives from traditional
media and the PTI explained:
“As far as news is concerned, social media
is faster than the traditional media. The
mainstream media will give you the history or a
background of an event whereas social media
gives you the immediate report or reaction.
The mainstream media is now provide more
wider picture to the immediate event happened
on social media”.
“The headlines in the news channels are picked
up from the social media. If Imran Khan or any
other politician tweets about something on
twitter, they would make it a breaking news on
the news channel. The old ways of sending the
press release to all the media units and then
making report out of it, is gone now. Twitter is
now being considered authentic medium and
one of the main mediums to communicate”.
“Social media benets TV. Social media helps
anchorpersons and producers to get their
ratings. The anchorperson research on social
media and select their topic from the tweets
and the posts and later on they produce their
show from the inputs provided by the social
media”.
Sound Bites from the Interviews
There is also a competition in terms of the
coverage: geographic coverage as well as
the issues that are usually do not get enough
attention on the traditional media.
The social media is a great challenge to
mainstream media. Having alternate voices
count,orevenhavingthemattherstplace
isadifcultjobinPakistan…Mainstream
mediahasaverynarrowfocus…Youwould
see that citizens’ voices portal, Pak Voices,
coming online. People from Gilgit-Baltistan
- nobody even heard about them before
on Internet - people from KPK, Baluchistan,
FATA – are using the Internet to voice their
concerns. Portal will add to the existing
network of social media. They are running a
video chat and use social media to get their
concerns online.
(AD- journalist, social media activist, NGO)
SOCIAL MEDIA AND
TRADITIONAL MEDIA
CHAPTER 04
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 30
19. g.usesofsocialmediacomparedtotraditionalmediaonpage62

Whenever you are going to say something
about the military establishment, no
Urdu media will cover you up, only BBC
or sometimes Dawn and Tribune. We are
working in the slums of Islamabad but no
media is covering us, for them it’s nothing
to have half a million homeless in the
heart of this country. Whenever our party
leaders are being invited by a TV channel
for a show, it’s shut in the middle. So
social media is the only place where we
speak whatever we want. - (FD, AWP)
There is a huge blackout regarding
Baluchistan issue on the mainstream
media, people from Baluchistan who
want to highlight their issues, social
media is helping them a lot to raise their
voices. It includes Facebook, twitter,
blogs and different websites. Their blogs
and websites have been blocked by the
authorities but they cannot do anything
about the social media. These groups are
using social media a lot and effectively
to raise their voices. Facebook, twitter
and video sharing websites play their role
where the mainstream media is missing. -
(NT, NGO)
Even with the presence of several TV
channels, there were certain internal
stories which were brushed under the
carpet or which were hidden behind the
iron curtains, exposing those stories
would have not been possible before the
emergence of the social media. It was
not possible for the general public to
give someone’s story to the conventional
media and they would telecast it but
social media has done it so easily. (FD in,
PEMRA)
The headlines in the news channels are
picked up from the social media. If Imran
Khan or any other politician tweets about
something on twitter, they would make it
a breaking news on the news channel. The
old ways of sending the press release to
all the media units and then making report
out of it, is gone now. Twitter is now being
considered authentic medium and one of
the main mediums to communicate. - (IN
PTI)
Using social media as a source of information
creates a number of challenges for the traditional
media. It necessitates an editorial monitoring and
verication,whichaddstotheresponsibilitiesof
the traditional media journalists/reporters before
broadcasting or publishing.
As a senior News Director and columnist
explained:
“Biggest challenge is anybody can join
and say anything… In the case of Pakistan,
misinformation, wrong deliberately planted
information is common. So, you have to
be careful about what is right and what is
wrong. Strong editorial judgement is required
especially from Pakistani [traditional] media,
before using social media… We ensure that
every detail we pull out of the social media
to broadcast on the screen is very heavily
monitored and regulated. We are very, very
careful that nothing negative or nothing which
is not been veried is put on air… I get my own
team to verify it before we can run it.
Citizen journalism is gradually increasing in
Pakistan particularly with the expansion of
smartphones. Generally citizens become
journalists to report cases of injustice, and
spreading information to hold politicians and/
or other authorities, often their family members,
accountable for their misconduct.
Representatives of NGOs also stressed the
importance of PakVotes as having been
instrumental in the increased accountability of
the election process in the 2013 election. In the
2008election,theonlyelectionmonitoringand
coverage had been on traditional media, but due
to lack of reporters, it had not been possible
to cover more than just over one third of the
constituencies. The use of social media in 2013
by contrast allowed people in every part of the
country to cover the elections, at every polling
station. In addition, the PakVotes platform, with
its use of SMS and social media, had proved very
successful, and it is still being used for regional
and local elections. People throughout Pakistan
volunteered to go to polling stations and report
on events, often doing so by taking pictures and
posting them online.
The PakVotes experiment showed that
• Videos received more attention than TV
channels;
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan31

CASE STUDY: PAKVOTES
Engaging citizens to help monitor elections through social
media
During the 2013 general and by-elections a social media experiment was designed and run by
Bytes for All, an Islamabad based human rights organisation and a research think tank with a
focus on ICTs. The project, which was supported by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP),
aimed to monitor violence and misconduct during elections through engaging citizens as
reporters.
TheprojectwastherstcitizenjournalisminitiativetomonitorelectionsinPakistanusingsocial
media.Itwasinitiatedin10districtsthatwererelativelyremote,conict-proneandofine,and
did not usually receive regular coverage by the traditional media. The coverage of the districts
increased to include all of the 41 constituencies where by-elections were held in August 2013.
For the project, a network of citizen reporters, who were equipped with Android Phones, was
trained in ethical journalism, social media ethics, information verication and safety under a
codeofconductthatdenedhowcitizenreporterswouldcollect,verifyandshareinformation
on social media.
In order to ensure that the information sent by the citizens was accurate, Bytes for All, used a
two-tiervericationsystemandanIslamabadbasedteamcheckedtheinformationcomingfrom
its citizen reporters before publishing it online on Twitter, Facebook, a blogging website and
an online map. Although only 5.5% of the citizen reporters’ information was published during
the general elections, the hashtag #PakVotes became a trending topic providing real-time
information from remote areas in English and Urdu, in addition to stories, pictures, and videos.
#PakVotes was used by major politicians and media persons, and also received international
coverage in French media, and on Al-Jazeera TV. On the general election day, #PakVotes was
used by 5,251 unique users who sent 13,324 tweets and was viewed by more than 12 million
users (Gienger 2013). During our interviews PakVotes was often mentioned as a successful
example of expanded reporting of elections, which easily surpassed the coverage by the
traditional media.
• SMS was necessary to increase the reporting of
citizens without smart phones;
• Having a board of advisors from well-known
Twitteratis and online activists helped the
popularity and credibility of the project.
The project was replicated in Afghanistan
Presidential and Provincial council elections in
2014 as AfghansVote.20
Our research indicates that social media could
have advantages for traditional journalists:
• Journalists are needed, not only as reporters or
interpretersbutalsoassourcesofverication;
• Journalism is enhanced through multimedia
sources such as videos, graphics etc., which
can be the best means to tell certain stories as
compared to text;
• Social media allow journalists to interact
with their audiences, open up channels for
collaboration and networking with other
journalists, and also to understand better the
issues people care about.
The evidence from this research does not
seemtoconrmtheviewofresearchersand
commentators who believe that social media
has a negative impact on traditional media
and journalism. It could be argued instead that
in Pakistan, social media, blogs and UGC are
not replacing journalism, but are creating an
important extra layer of information and diverse
opinion.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 32
20. Sources: for PakVotes

Copyrights: British Council

Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 35
In Pakistan 90% of social media users are on
Facebook (ranked at 1), and 30% on Twitter
(ranked at 7)21.
Thesegurescomefromourquantitativeanalysis,
but the interviews revealed a different picture.
Our key informants suggested, in contrast, that
Twitter was seen as much more important than
its ranking suggests, to the extent that the phrase
‘social media’ was mostly associated only with
thesetwomedia.Thisprobablyreectsthefact
that the interviewees were not representative of
the whole population, but were chosen for their
involvement in social media. Except for the digital
marketers and activists, our key informants rarely
talked about other social media platforms unless
they were prompted.
This study focuses on Twitter for methodological
reasons – Twitter make their data available to
researchers. There are some interesting studies
on groups of Facebook users that have found,
for example22, that Facebook is the most popular
Social Networking Site (SNS) among university
students in Pakistan. The study also found that the
intensity of using SNS, duration of using SNSs, and
motives of using SNSs were found to be positively
associated with the formation of bonding and
bridging social capital. Bridging Social Capital is
important in that it consists of social ties that link
people together with others across a cleavage
that typically divides society (like race, or class,
or religion). More work needs to be done on
Facebook.
Our Twitter analysis was of tweets from the 1%
feed that were geo-tagged with coordinates
inside a geographic box which included all of
Pakistan and parts of surrounding countries. The
geographical distribution of tweets remained
stableacrossthesampledperiod,reectingand
conrmingtheprovincialdisparitiesinaccessto
social media.
Tweets were collected for the period of six
months for the time period 21st November 2014
to 31st May 2015. The collection was split into six
monthly sub-collections.23
We looked at tweets in English, Urdu and Roman
Urdu. We analysed tweets containing hashtags
so that we could identify the topics under
discussion. Predictably, the most popular topics of
conversation on Twitter were around politics and
sport.
Table 1: Ranking of social media websites in Pakistan
Social media websites Total
Facebook 90.00%
Google Plus 70.10%
Whatsapp 57.90%
Dailymotion 51.60%
Skype 46.80%
YouTube 43.90%
Twitter 30.40%
Vimeo 16.60%
Snapchat 11.50%
Linkedin 5.40%
Millat Facebook 5.30%
Instagram 5.30%
Orkut 3.90%
MySpace 3.70%
Pinterest 2.90%
Flixster 2.50%
Tumblr 2.30%
n= 982
TWITTER ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 05
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 35
21. See table 1
22.Ahmad,Saeed,Mustafa,Mudasir,&Ullah,Ahsan(2016).Associationofdemographics,motivesandintensityofusingSocialNetworkingSiteswiththe
formation of bonding and bridging social capital in Pakistan. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 107-114. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.027.
23.Therstsub-collectionisslightlylargerasitstartson21stNovember2014andendson31stDecember2014.

Toptopicschangedwithtimeandevents,howeverandreected3keyeventsrelatedtoterrorism,
sport and politics.
Toptopicschangedwithtimeandevents,howeverandreected3keyeventsrelatedtoterrorism,
sport and politics.
This pattern usefully
conrmedwhatthe
other research told us
about the uses people in
Pakistan make of social
media – which are typical
of how people elsewhere
use them. The content
shared on social media is
mostly personal, popular
culture and spectacular
events that attract
mass media audiences.
While patterns of social
media use are always
contextspecic,there
are characteristics of the
media themselves that
appear to be universal.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan36
What people talk about: Twitter analysis
Top 500 hashtags (Dec 2014 to May 2015) – NB categorised hashtags make up only about 42%
of the top 500 hashtags
• December 2014 to May 2015: Dominated by cricket and politics, varying by month as to the
signicanceofeachcategory
• Topics discussed were variable and in politics, sometimes the tweets were anti-the party
mentionedinthetweet:moreanalysisneededtoseehowfarthesetweetsreect‘hate-speech’
Hashtag Tweets
Cricket 109,359
MQM 50,500
PTI 45,127
City 25,514
PML 22,616
JI 18,077
PPP 9,421
Province 8,018
Lockdown 7,392
PAT 6,555
Afridi 3,906
Army 2,065
What people talk about: Twitter analysis – key words timeline
December 2014: Peshawar aack
February 2015: Cricket World Cup
April 2015: By-elecon for naonal
assembly seat 246, in Karachi

In general, the relationship between social
and digital communications media use and its
potential for change is not straightforward.
Previous research by the Centre for Cultural
Relations for the British Council24 found that:
• It cannot be assumed that the use of social
media will necessarily bring about positive
change. Social media can work both for and
against people. On the positive side, they can
helpsharenews,llthegapwhentraditional
media are censored and feed content into
traditional media. They can also help to involve
new people in organised activities and they can
play several roles: support activism; provide
information; help with mobilisation and act as a
platform for debates.
• Theyexist,however,inspeciccontextsand
reectfactorsspecictotheirsociety.These
can be social; historic; economic; religious
or cultural. Social media can also be used to
advance sectarian interests.
• Social media use is often non-political. They are
often used simply as tools for commerce, social
life or self-distraction, rather than for being
used as a political, cultural or educational
force. In this, they are the same as traditional
media. It is often this social activity which
citizensndmostuseful;
• Social media create spaces where people can
increase shared awareness. By propagating
messages through social networks, people can
develop a public sphere where opinion relies
on both media and conversation. They do this
by spreading messages, sharing knowledge,
learning and skills, both within their own
countries and across borders. In this way,
social media can promote self-governance, and
contribute to economic growth; and
• Social media connect people to the outside
world. People can target external audiences
in order to inform them as to events; express
criticism of their opponents; enhance their own
legitimacy or advertise their ideas to global
audiences. They can also learn about strategies
from external sources.
Many of these positive opportunities were found
to be present in Pakistan. There were clearly
opportunities for economic growth, business
start-ups, online learning, civil society, information
sharing, and providing opportunities for young
people. There was a perceived weakening in the
two main barriers to effective digital citizenship as
cost and language barriers are reduced.
The earlier research found that, globally, the
main threat to use of social media came from
governments who act to limit the use of social
media, or use social media to manipulate public
opinion.
In Pakistan, the new Cyber Bill is seen overall as
a positive move, but there were concerns that its
primary purposes were to enhance controlling
and moral policing. By the vagueness of its
provisions, ran the risk of criminalising a wide
range of comment including satire.
In addition, fears exist that social media promote
the status quo, including ideological, ethnic
and sectarian polarisations, and increase social
inequality. Social media use could also be pre-
empted in an increasingly conservative society
to impose restrictions on women and minorities
through threats to their personal safety, and to
encourage violence, hate speech and terrorism.
24. https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/policy-insight-research/insight/soft-power-twitter
OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS
CHAPTER 06
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 37

Pakistan currently is among the countries with lower percentage of Internet users in South Asia, but it
also has the greatest rate of increase in numbers since 2014. In terms of active users of social media,
Pakistan has the same proportion as India and is ahead of Bangladesh, but is behind Sri Lanka and
Nepal. Again, the rate of increase is impressive – the second highest in the region.25
The rate of mobile connectivity is ahead of India and Bangladesh, and is increasing faster than in these
countries, but lags behind Sri Lanka and Nepal both in terms of numbers and rate of increase.
According to GSMA Intelligence, as of December 2015, the percentage of mobile connections with
broadband in Pakistan (19%) is now more than India (15%), Nepal (17%) and Bangladesh (13%),
butsignicantlylowerthanSriLanka(38%).Thisisacriticalissue,giventheimportanceofmobile
broadbandforthedevelopmentofdigitalcitizenship.Notsurprisingly,giventhis,theshareofwebtrafc
over mobile devices is also on the lower side. Speeds of connection are also low but are improving.
Levels of mobile social media use are increasing faster than elsewhere except Bangladesh.
The South Asian region as a whole has low levels of user penetration with India on 15.1%. In terms of
Internet freedom, the Internet Society ranks Pakistan at 20th equal with Sri Lanka, but behind India and
Bangladesh.
According to the Internet Society,26Pakistanranks149thamong180countriesintermsofInternet
penetration, although in terms of numbers of Internet users it ranks 27th.27
25. Source: Digital Social and Mobile in APAC, March 2015
26. Source: https://www.Internetsociety.org/map/global-Internet-report/
27. Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2153rank.html#pk
HOW PAKISTAN COMPARES
TO OTHER COUNTRIES
CHAPTER 07
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan38

DEFINITIONS
ThestudytookthedenitionofDigitalCitizenshiptobe:
People who use the Internet regularly and effectively on a daily basis, ie those who have regular
access to the Internet, the literacy and digital skills to use it, and can use it freely and ethically to
participate in society, political and civic life.
This report has in its scope all relevant technologies for digital citizenship, including access via PCs
and mobile Internet technologies. It also has a focus on social media – those online media, which share
characteristics of participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness. There are
six main types of social media: a) social networks (such as Facebook, MySpace); b) blogs; c) wikis; d)
podcasts (like iTunes); e) content communities (Flickr, YouTube); and f) micro-blogging (Twitter). These
different types of social media pose different challenges for researchers. While some (eg Twitter) make
their data available, others do not, and information has to be gathered through traditional surveys and
qualitative interviews. This report uses automated social media analytics where possible (ie in relation
to Twitter) and traditional methods elsewhere.
25. https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/policy-insight-research/insight/soft-power-twitter
APPENDIX A:
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 39

The research for this report combined four
approaches:
• A desk-based detailed review of the literature;
• A quantitative study of access to and use of
Internet, social media and smart phones, and
the attitudes and behaviour of young people
with regard to use of different forms of media
in Pakistan;
The target respondents for this survey were
young people aged 15-30. The sample size was
2,415youngpeopleincluding1,815random
sample and 500 booster sample (of Internet users
from urban areas). Information on access to and
knowledge of using PC/Laptop/Tablet, Internet
and smart phones was also collected from young
people with regard to their household members
who were aged 15 and above. This enabled us
to reach basic information on access/usage for
9,954 individuals from 2,415 households.
• Qualitative data were obtained through
interviews with key informants about their use
and views about the existing challenges and
opportunities with regard to Internet and social
media in Pakistan.
• Social media analysis: Twitter data were
investigated to identify the content of
discussions and the linguistic patterns of use.
In addition to a number of international and
national databases that provide county level
statistics on Internet penetration rates and social
media, a small number of surveys also present
more detailed insights about the demographic/
socio-economic characteristics of Internet, social
media and mobile phone users and their patterns
of use in Pakistan. These surveys,28 however, are
outdated considering the recent developments
in the telecommunications sector: 3G/4G mobile
Internet services are rapidly spreading across
the country, more affordable smart phones are
becoming available, and the costs of mobile
social media are becoming cheaper, if not yet
free. In addition, most of these surveys29 only
present partial information as they are not
nationally representative and focus mainly on
urban populations. In order to address the need
for a comprehensive survey on Internet, social
media and smart phone usage, a nationally
representative quantitative survey was designed
to collect information to:
1.Createaproleofsocialgroupsthathave
access to, and the skills to make use of, social
media in Pakistan,
2.Createaproleofthosewhoarestillexcluded
from digital citizenship, and
3. Investigate the behaviour and attitudes of
young men and women with regard to use
of media (new social media as well as other
forms).
28. For example, P@sha Internet Study, which is the largest survey conducted in terms of the areas covered both geographically (four provinces, both rural
and urban areas) and themes included in the survey, was conducted in 2013.
29. For example, Pakistan Internet Use Survey, which was conducted in 2013, provides detailed information about 1,100 Internet users, their methods of
access, patterns of Internet use, and experiences on Internet and use of social networks. The results of this online survey, however, are not nationally
representative as the majority of respondents (94%) were from three major cities (Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore) and were males (70%). Despite having
a better geographical coverage, the representation of the sample is also limited in Pakistan Digital Consumer Study, which focuses on attitudes towards
online consumption and consumption patterns among Internet users.
METHODOLOGY
APPENDIX B
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan40

LITERATURE REVIEW
Digitalcitizenshipcanbebroadlydenedas‘the
ability to participate in society online’, and digital
citizens are ‘those who use the Internet regularly
and effectively’ on a daily basis to participate in
the society, political and civic life (Mossberger,
Tolbert,&McNeal,2008:1).Basedonthis
denition,digitalcitizenshipgoesbeyondjustthe
access to the Internet, and embraces regular use,
digital literacy and skills, digital rights (such as
freedom of speech, privacy) and responsibilities
(suchasethicaluse).Therefore,wedenedigital
citizens as those who have regular access to
Internet, have literacy and digital skills to use it,
and can use it freely and ethically to participate in
the society, political and civic life.
AccesstoInternetistherstprerequisite
for digital citizenship. However, in majority
of developing countries, including Pakistan,
low Internet penetration rates continue to
be the foremost challenge. According to ITU
(International Telecommunications Union), in
2015therewere794millionxedbroadbandand
3.46 billion mobile broadband users in the World.
There,however,wasasignicantdividebetween
the developed and developing countries: while
in developed countries out of every 100 people
87hadaccesstomobile-broadband,accessto
mobile broadband was only 39% in developing
countries.Thexedbroad-bandaccess,although
was low (29%) in developed countries, it was
stillfourtimeshigherthanthexedbroadband
access rates in developing countries (7.1%).
Giventhesegures,itisevidentthatmorethan
4 billion people are still not online, and a great
majority of them live in the developing countries,
also including 160 million people from Pakistan.
The digital divide, according to Norris (2001)
can be seen at three levels a) global divide -
connoting the inequalities in Internet access
between countries; b) social divide - indicating
the inequalities within social groups within a
country; and c) democratic divide - suggesting
the differences between those who use Internet
for political reasons and the others. It is often
explained by the physical access to ICTs and
Internet(Chinn&Fairlie,2004),andinthemost
basicformdenedas‘thegapbetweenthose
who do and those who do not have access to
new forms of information technology’(van Dijk,
2006: 221-222) such as computers, Internet and
mobile phones. Although earlier studies equalised
digital divide with access to technology, the
research moved beyond access in early 2000s
to include digital competencies and skills as well
asaccess(Mossbergeretal.,2008;vanDijk,
2006; Warschauer, 2003). For example, Paul
DiMaggioetal(2001:310),denethedigital
divide more broadly as ‘inequalities in access to
the Internet, extent of use, knowledge of search
strategies, quality of technical connections and
social support, ability to evaluate the quality
of information, and diversity of uses’. Van Dijk
(2006), argues against the binary approach of
deningdigitaldivideby“haves”and“havenots”,
andexpandsthedenitionofaccesstocovernot
only the physical access to Internet but to include
differences in motivational access (willingness
to use Internet), skills access (operational,
information and strategic skills) and usage
access (usage time, type of use such as creative,
active etc). More recent studies, particularly
from developed countries where physical access
to computers and Internet are high, suggest
a paradigm shift from digital divide to digital
inclusion,whichcanbedenedasaprocess
of democratisation of access to ICTs to enable
the inclusion of marginalised in society (Hache
&Cullen,2009),andisnotrelatedwiththe‘the
technology that will promote inclusion but how
the technology will meet the social needs of local
communities’ (Nemer, 2015).
(With the emergence and growing use of smart
phones- dual digital divide- one between users
and non-users of smartphones, and other within
smart phone users who have skills to use advance
features and those who cannot (Park and Lee
2015)). Global Internet Report of 2015, which
focuses on the mobile Internet, presents data that
shows it is not always the access, but rather costs
and lack of useful content that support the digital
divide between and within countries.)
The impact of digital divide can be seen “across
a broad range of individual-level and macro-level
domains, including life course, gender, race, and
class, as well as health care, politics, economic
activity, and social capital” (Robinson et al
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 41

2015: 569).30 It leads to “unequal access to the
opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge
that will prepare youth for full participation in the
world of tomorrow” (Jenkins, 2009: 3). Therefore
it might strengthen or even exacerbate the
prevailing social inequalities through creating
furtherdifferencesinhumancapital(DiMaggio&
Garip 2012)31 .
Social media is a group of new kinds of online
media, which share the characteristics including
participation, openness, conversation, community
andconnectedness(Mayeld,2008:5).Mayeld
(2008)dividessocialmediaintosix:a)social
networks (such as Facebook, Myspace); b)
blogs; c) wikis; d) podcasts (like Itunes); e)
content communities (Flickr, Youtube); and f)
microblogging (Twitter).
In Pakistan, although the recent developments in
telecom sector increased the geographical and
rural spread of the Internet to some extent, the
Internet penetration is still very low and there
exist differences in Internet, social media and
smart phone use by gender, age, provinces, rural/
urban areas, income, and educational attainment
levels. A recent study also suggests differences in
ICT diffusion based on caste among rural farmers
in Punjab, Pakistan32 (Abdullah, 2015).
30. Laura Robinson , Shelia R. Cotten , Hiroshi Ono , Anabel Quan-Haase , Gustavo Mesch , Wenhong Chen , Jeremy Schulz , Timothy M. Hale , Michael J. Stern.
2015.Digitalinequalitiesandwhytheymatter.Information,Communication&Society,18(5):569-582.
31. DiMaggio,P.,&Garip,F.2012.Networkeffectsandsocialinequality.AnnualReviewofSociology,38:93-118.
32. Research - 2750 farmers in rural Punjab, 12 castes
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan42

INTRODUCTION
CATEGORY:EXAMPLES REGISTERED USERS
Social Networks
Facebook
Google+
LinkedIn
1,280,000,000
1,600,000,000
200,000,000
Blogs: There are many different types of blogs,
differing not only in the type of content, but also in
the way that content is delivered or written. Much
blogging is focused on lifestyle: gossip; food; fash-
ion; health.
NEWS:
• HufngtonPost
POLITICAL BLOGS:
• Global Politics
SCIENCE:
• City Lab
• NASA
No information
Micro blogging sites
Tumblr
Twitter
Weibo
226,950,000
645,750,000
222,000,000
Wikis Baike
Wikipedia
3,920,000
18,000,000
Podcasts: content from websites intended for
downloading. Often originated by media or educa-
tional organisations.
The list of podcasters
is enormous Examples
include:
BBC
TED Talks
Radio Pakistan
The medium is growing its
audience due to the rapid
growth in use of smartphones
and mobile devices.
Content communities Flickr
Instagram
32,000,000
300,000,000
CHAPTER 1: ACCESS TO DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP IN PAKISTAN
PHYSICAL ACCESS
FIG.1 INTERNET ACCESS BY PROVINCE:
PROVINCE POPULATION % OF PEOPLE WITH INTERNET
ACCESS
Azad Jamon Kashmir 2,972,501 10.3%
Baluchistan 13,162,222 1.1%
Fata 3,930,419 2.7%
Gilgit Baltistan 1,441,523 0%
Islamabad Capital Territory 1,151,868 23.1%
Khyber Pakhtun Khwa 26,896,829 5.8%
Punjab 91,379,615 13.2%
Sindh 55,245,497 12.6%
Total 11.3%
TABLES
APPENDIX C
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 43

FIG. EVOLUTION OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES IN PAKISTAN
1992-93 First dial-up service introduced in Lahore by ImranNet
1993 Dialup email services became available in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
1995 Paknet ( PTCL) started offering dialup text based Internet services in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad
via local call network
1996 Paknet(PTCL)startedofferingdialupgraphicsbasedInternet,speed14.4to28.8kbpsinKarachi,
Lahore and Islamabad.
1996 First ISP by COMSATS launched in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad
1997 Dialup Speed moved to 33.6 kbps
1998 Dialup Speed moved to 56.0 kbps
2001 First broadband, DSL launched by Micronet Broadband
2006 First FTTH launched in Islamabad by Nayatel (Pvt) Ltd
2007 FirstWiMaxserviceslaunchedbyWateenTelecomfollowedbyWiTribe,MobilinkInnityandQbee
2008 First EvDO services launched by WorldCall in Karachi, Lahore, Gujaranwala and Sialkot, followed
PTCL providing EvDO services in major cities.
2011-12 VDSL2 technology introduced by PTCL with a speed up to 100 Mbps.
2014 Mobile broadband (3G/4G) technology introduced by CMPAK, Mobilink, Telenor and Ufone
2015 Mobile broadband (LTE) technology introduced by Warid
Source: ISPAK and PTA annual reports
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
Has electricity in
household
Has no electricity
in household
Total
Has Internet in household 11.9% 2.0% 11.4%
Random sample of 1916 households, weighted, 0.0% missing
FIG. X INTERNET ACCESS BY URBAN/RURAL AREAS
Has Internet in household Urban Rural
20.8% 4.8%
Random sample of X households, weighted, 0.0% missing
There is a statistically signicant difference.
FIG. X SHARE OF INTERNET CONNECTIONS BY TECHNOLOGY, 2005-2015
DSL HFC WiMax FTTH EvDO Others Mobile BB
2005-06 26,611
2006-07 44,669 484,000
2007-08 102 , 910 42,760 19 ,612 2,800
2008-09 262,661 36,201 88,477 3,967 22,503
2009-10 476,722 49,110 257,616 5,002 111,194 1,004
2010-11 695,245 34,274 428,523 6,346 325,140 1,963
2011-12 880,071 35,520 589,887 8,444 584,459 2,934
2012-13 1,064,003 33,184 575,939 11,152 1,033,513 3,868
2013 - 14 1,346,817 37,011 530,889 14,848 1,861,118 5,240
2014 - 15 1,480,672 43,220 488,990 19,180 1,349,843 6,069 13,498,677
SOURCE: PTA
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan44

FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY GENDER
Female Male
% of sample with Internet in household 10.1 12.6
Random sample of 1915 people, weighted, 0.0% missing
The 95% condence intervals do not show a statistically signicant difference.
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY INCOME (ONLY FOR WAGED WORKERS, SELF-EMPLOYED AND RETIRED PEOPLE)
Annual income in Rupees
<5,000 5,001 to
10,000
10,001 to
25,000
25,001 to
50,000
50,001 to
100,000
Don't
know
Refused
to answer Total
% of sam-
ple with
Internet in
household
2.5 3.5 10.3 24.2 33.3 10.3 9.3 8.4
RANDOM SAMPLE OF 619, WEIGHTED, 67.8% MISSING
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
% of sample with Internet in household 12.2 13.4 12.5 8.2 11.4
Random sample of 1916 people, weighted, 0.0% missing
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY STATUS
% of sample with Internet in household
Waged employee 8.9
Self-employed 7.1
Student 23.3
Homemaker 7.1
Doesn't work and looking for work 7.8
Unemployed (but looking for work) 14.9
Unpaid Family worker 0.0
Retired 66.7
Unable to work 16.7
Random sample, weighted, 0.2% missing
Grey results are not based on large enough samples.
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS: URBAN/RURAL AND AGE
% of sample with Internet in household
Urban 15- 18 20.6
19-22 23.7
23-26 21.8
27-30 17.4
Total 20.7
Rural 15- 18 5.1
19-22 6.3
23-26 5.9
27-30 2.1
Total 4.6
Random sample of 1,124 people, weighted, 0.2% missing
THE SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHICS OF ACCESS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 45

FIG. INTERNET ACCESS: URBAN/RURAL AND GENDER
% of sample with Internet in house-
hold
Urban Female 17.2
Male 23.9
Total 20.7
Rural Female 5.0
Male 4.6
Total 4.8
Random sample of X people, weighted, 0.1% missing
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY EDUCATION
Never been
to school
Completed
Schooling
Currently
receiving
schooling
Total
% of sample with Internet in household 1.5 12.6 21.7 11.3
Random sample of 1914, weighted, 0.1% missing
FIG. INTERNET ACCESS BY LITERACY (ABILITY TO READ AND WRITE IN ANY LANGUAGE)
Canread&
write
Cannot read
&write Total
% of sample with Internet in household 14.9 1.4 11.4
Random sample of 1913, weighted, 0.2% missing
FIG. NO ACCESS TO INTERNET BY AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I do not have access to the Internet 39.0% 40.1% 35.3% 34.3% 37.1%
FIG. NO ACCESS TO INTERNET BY AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I do not have access to the Internet 39.0% 40.1% 35.3% 34.3% 37.1%
FIG. LANGUAGES USED ONLINE
LANGUAGE USED ONLINE
English Urdu
Urdu in
Roman
script
Provincial
language
Provincial
language in
Roman script
English and
Urdu in
Roman script
English and
provincial
language
Language
spoken
Urdu 393 176 234 84 60 3
99.0% 97.8% 100.0% 88.9% 80.0% 100.0% 100.0%
English 350 92 18 7 0 1 50 1
88.2% 51.1% 79.9% 0.0% 20.0% 83.3% 33.3%
Punjabi 82 67 86 0 0 13 0
20.7% 37.2% 36.8% 0.0% 0.0% 21.7% 0.0%
Sindhi 55 5 22 1 1 9 3
13.9% 2.8% 9.4% 11.1% 20.0% 15.0% 100.0%
Pushto 42 23 26 1 1 5 0
10.6% 12.8% 11.1% 11.1% 20.0% 8.3% 0.0%
Others 3 0 1 0 0 5 0
.8% 0.0% .4% 0.0% 0.0% 8.3% 0.0%
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan46

FIG. NO ACCESS TO INTERNET BY GENDER
Female Male Total
I do not have access to the Internet 35.9% 38.5% 37.1%
FIG. NO ACCESS TO INTERNET BY URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
I do not have access to the Internet 36.2% 37.6% 37.1%
FIG. NO ACCESS TO INTERNET BY EDUCATION
Illiterate Less than
Primary
Primary
to Class
9
Matric Inter-me-
diate Graduate Total
I do not have access to the
Internet 33.6% 40.2% 44.9% 32.4% 40.8% 28.3% 37.0%
FIG. NO ACCESS TO INTERNET BY PROVINCE*
Punjab Sindh Khyber Pa-
khton Khwa Baluchistan Total
I do not have access to the Internet
46.1% 30.3% 21.0% 28.6% 37.0%
*Random sample, weighted, only people who don’t use Internet, provinces with n<50 not separately listed in table
but included in total count.
FIG. LOCATION OF INTERNET USE
Home 77.0%
Ofce 9.6%
School 7.2%
Internet Café 2.4%
Library 1.9%
Mobile phone, through WiFi 17.7%
Mobile phone, through GSM operator 43.1%
Other 0.7%
BARRIERS TO INTERNET ACCESS
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 47

ECONOMIC BARRIERS
FIG. AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
Internet is expensive 9.9% 15.0% 11.5% 12.0% 12.1%
FIG. PROVINCE*
Punjab Sindh Khyber Pakh-
ton Khwa Baluchistan Total
Internet is expensive 9.4% 25.5% 0.5% 8.3% 12.1%
FIG. GENDER
Female Male Total
Internet is expensive 10.5% 14.0% 12.1%
FIG. URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
Internet is expensive 14.7% 10.7% 12.1%
FIG. EDUCATION
Illiterate Less than
Primary
Primary
to Class
9
Matric Interme-
diate Graduate Total
Internet is expensive 9.3% 11.1% 17.1% 12.5% 10.7% 15.2% 12.1%
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan48

LACK OF SKILLS
FIG. AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I cannot use the Internet 65.7% 72.6% 71.3% 76.2% 71.6%
FIG. PROVINCE*
Punjab Sindh Khyber Pakh-
ton Khwa Baluchistan Total
I cannot use the Internet 75.8% 67.2% 71.0% 66.7% 71.7%
FIG. GENDER
Female Male Total
I cannot use the Internet 72.7% 70.4% 71.7%
FIG. URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
I cannot use the Internet 61.1% 77.2% 71.6%
FIG. EDUCATION
Illiterate
Less
than
Primary
Primary
to Class
9
Matric Interme-
diate
Gradu-
ate
Post
Gradu-
ate
Total
I cannot use the Internet 85.1% 84.4% 66.8% 57.2% 51.2% 43.5% 50.0% 71.6%
Random sample, weighted, only people who don’t use Internet, provinces with n<50 not separately listed in table but
included in total count.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 49

CHOICE
FIG. AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
It is a waste of time 7.9% 9.7% 13.6% 13.8% 11.3%
FIG. PROVINCE*
Punjab Sindh Khyber Pakh-
ton Khwa Baluchistan Total
It is a waste of time 11.8% 16.2% 3.2% 9.5% 11.3%
FIG. GENDER
Female Male Total
It is a waste of time 11.5% 11.1% 11.3%
FIG. URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
It is a waste of time 19.8% 6.8% 11.3%
FIG. EDUCATION
Illiterate Less than
Primary
Primary
to Class
9
Matric Interme-
diate Graduate Post
Graduate Total
It is a waste of time 3.6% 7.5% 13.3% 18.5% 16.5% 37.0% 50.0% 11.3%
Random sample, weighted, only people who don’t use Internet, provinces with n<50 not separately listed in table but
included in total count.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan50

NOT ALLOWED BY FAMILY
FIG. PROVINCE*
Punjab Sindh Khyber Pakh-
ton Khwa Baluchistan Total
I am not allowed to use the Internet
by my family 12.5% 12.3% 24.9% 20.5% 16.2%
FIG. AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I am not allowed to use the Internet
by my family 25.9% 20.6% 8.7% 9.6% 16.3%
FIG. GENDER
Female Male Total
I am not allowed to use the Internet by my family 19.4% 12.4% 16.3%
FIG. URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
I am not allowed to use the Internet by my family 19.2% 14.7% 16.3%
FIG. EDUCATION
Illiter-
ate
Less than
Primary
Primary
to Class 9 Matric Interme-
diate
Gradu-
ate
Post
Graduate Total
I am not allowed to use
the Internet by my family 10.9% 14.1% 19.3% 21.0% 22.3% 21.7% 0.0% 16.3%
Random sample, weighted, only people who don’t use Internet, provinces with n<50 not separately listed in table but
included in total count.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 51

INTERNET USE
FIG. OVERALL LEVELS OF USE
% of men and women using the Internet by PC and mobile
Female Male
PC 816
Mobile 12 30
FIG. ACCESS TO INTERNET IN URBAN/RURAL AREAS BY DEVICE
% of Internet access by device in urban and rural areas
Urban Rural
PC 27 16
Mobile 31 15
Random sample, weighted.
FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY GENDER
Female Male Total
I did not use it at all 91.0% 73.5% 81.9%
1-2 days a week 1.5% 6.2% 4.0%
3-4 days a week 1.2% 3.9% 2.6%
5-6 days a week 1.9% 3.5% 2.7%
Every day 4.4% 12.9% 8.8%
Random sample, weighted, 1.3% missing.
FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE BY URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
I did not use it at all 73.1% 87.9% 81.9%
1-2 days a week 4.8% 3.5% 4.0%
3-4 days a week 4.1% 1.5% 2.6%
5-6 days a week 4.5% 1.4% 2.7%
Every day 13.5% 5.6% 8.8%
Random sample, weighted, 1.2% missing.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan52

USE OF THE INTERNET ON PC BY YOUNG PEOPLE AND DEVICE
FIG. USE OF PC FOR INTERNET ACCESS
Young people: % use on PC by age group
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Overall
Entertainment 78 78 79 65 75
News 31 48 61 46 46
Sports 24 29 30 37 30
Hobbies 19 31 18 14 22
Education 36 33 28 25 31
Politics 16 15 13 17 15
Social media 12 11 11 12 12
Business 1 9 7 12 7
Shopping 1 6 5 5 4
n= 83 99 61 65 308
FIG. USE OF MOBILE DEVICES FOR INTERNET ACCESS
Young people: use on mobile by age
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Overall
Entertainment 75 89 82 81 82
News 43 36 49 41 42
Sports 32 31 32 25 30
Hobbies 34 35 27 25 30
Education 35 28 27 15 26
Politics 14 10 23 13 14
Social media 17 15 9 9 13
Business 4 4 85 5
Shopping 3 10 1 1 4
n= 107 12 4 79 101 4 11
Random sample, weighted.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 53

FIG. SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY EDUCATION AND URBAN/RURAL
Never been
to school
Completed
Schooling
Currently
receiving
schooling
Urban Rural Total
Facebook 88.90% 89.10% 91.60% 92.30% 84.40% 90.00%
Google Plus 52.80% 67.00% 76.90% 73.90% 60.60% 70.10%
Whatsapp 50.00% 56.40% 61.30% 63.40% 44.30% 57.90%
Dailymotion 33.30% 50.60% 55.20% 54.90% 43.60% 51.60%
Skype 33.30% 49.10% 44.60% 51.40% 35.50% 46.80%
YouTube 38.90% 43.10% 45.70% 48.10% 33.30% 43.90%
Twitter 25.00% 30.50% 30.90% 32.70% 24.80% 30.40%
Vimeo 11.10% 16.40% 17.50% 17.70% 13.80% 16.60%
Snapchat 5.60% 10.20% 14.20% 12.60% 8.90% 11.50%
Linkedin 0.00% 5.10% 6.40% 6.00% 3.90% 5.40%
Millat Facebook 11.10% 4.80% 5.60% 6.90% 1.40% 5.30%
Instagram 2.80% 4.40% 7.00% 6.60% 2.10% 5.30%
Orkut 2.80% 3.10% 5.30% 5.00% 1.10% 3.90%
MySpace 2.80% 3.20% 4.50% 4.10% 2.50% 3.70%
Pinterest 0.00% 2.70% 3.30% 3.70% 0.70% 2.90%
Flixster 8.30% 1.90% 3.10% 3.60% 0.00% 2.50%
Tumblr 2.80% 2.40% 2.20% 3.30% 0.00% 2.30%
n= 36 587 359 700 282 982
Random&boostersample,unweighted,onlypeoplewhoansweredthequestion
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan54

FIG. SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY GENDER AND AGE GROUP
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Female Male Total
Facebook 92.40% 87.10% 92.30% 88.50% 81.00% 95.40% 90.00%
Google Plus 66.20% 72.70% 73.00% 68.60% 72.30% 68.70% 70.10%
Whatsapp 52.50% 60.50% 64.40% 54.90% 57.60% 58.10% 57.90%
Dailymotion 49.80% 52.80% 57.70% 46.50% 42.70% 57.00% 51.60%
Skype 39.90% 45.80% 53.20% 50.00% 48.90% 45.60% 46.80%
YouTube 37.60% 46.50% 51.40% 40.70% 38.00% 47.40% 43.90%
Twitter 26.20% 28.80% 37.40% 30.50% 31.30% 30.00% 30.40%
Vimeo 12.20% 17.30% 18.90% 18.60% 14.90% 17.60% 16.60%
Snapchat 9.10% 14.00% 10.80% 11.90% 12.80% 10.70% 11.50%
Linkedin 6.10% 4.40% 5.90% 5.30% 4.60% 5.90% 5.40%
Millat Facebook 4.60% 5.90% 4.10% 6.60% 7.30% 4.10% 5.30%
Instagram 5.70% 6.30% 5.00% 4.00% 5.70% 5.00% 5.30%
Orkut 4.90% 2.60% 4.50% 3.50% 4.30% 3.60% 3.90%
MySpace 3.40% 4.10% 3.60% 3.50% 3.50% 3.70% 3.70%
Pinterest 2.70% 3.30% 2.70% 2.70% 3.30% 2.60% 2.90%
Flixster 1.90% 3.70% 3.60% 0.90% 4.10% 1.60% 2.50%
Tumblr 2.30% 2.60% 2.70% 1.80% 3.00% 2.00% 2.30%
n= 263 2 71 222 226 368 614 982
Random&boostersample,unweighted,onlypeoplewhoansweredthequestion
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 55

PURPOSES OF INTERNET USE
FIG. USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY GENDER
Female Male Total
Entertainment 77 87 84
News 36 43 41
Politics 14 43 41
Education 29 17 20
Hobbies 34 19 22
Sports 5 26 21
Shopping 533
Business 233
n= 86 270 356
FIG. OVERALL PURPOSES OF USE BY GENDER AND PURPOSE
% of men and women using the Internet on PC by purpose
FEMALE MALE
Entertainment 34 Entertainment 31
Education 24 News 21
Hobbies 16 Sports 14
News 10 Education 11
Politics 8Hobbies 8
Sports 4 Politics 6
Shopping 2 Social media 5
Social media 2 Business 4
Business 0 Shopping 2
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan56

FIG. PATTERNS OF USE ON PC AND MOBILE BY GENDER:
% of men and women using the Internet on mobile devices by purpose
FEMALE MALE
Entertainment 40 Entertainment 31
Hobbies 19 News 19
Education 14 Sports 14
News 11 Hobbies 10
Sports 7 Education 10
Politics 4 Politics 6
Shopping 2 Social media 6
Social media 2 Business 2
Business 1 Shopping 1
FIG. USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY EDUCATION
Never been
to school
Completed
Schooling
Currently
receiving
schooling
Total
Entertainment 86 84 85 85
News 591 50 43
Politics 29 15 12 14
Education 14 16 28 20
Hobbies 14 22 24 23
Sports 14 18 26 21
Shopping 0423
Business 0413
n= 7 224 123 354
Random sample, weighted
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 57

FIG. USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY AGE
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
Entertainment 85 86 81 87 85
News 44 39 41 43 41
Politics 13 11 9 24 14
Education 22 26 16 12 20
Hobbies 23 29 21 16 23
Sports 24 20 22 17 21
Shopping 24413
Business 03653
n= 87 118 68 82 355
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan58

USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ECONOMIC PURPOSES
USE OF INTERNET OR SMART PHONE TO BUY/SELL GOODS?
FIG. BY EDUCATION
Never been to
school
Completed
Schooling
Currently receiv-
ing schooling Total
Bought/Sold goods 27.8% 21.3% 21.7% 21.7%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
FIG. BY GENDER
Female Male Total
Bought/Sold goods 25.0% 19.7% 21.7%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
FIG. BY URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
Bought/Sold goods 23.9% 16.3% 21.7%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
FIG. BY AGE GROUP
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
Bought/Sold goods 16.7% 23.2% 24.3% 23.0% 21.7%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
TRANSFER OF FUNDS OVER THE INTERNET FROM MOBILE DEVICES (SMS)
Never been to
school
Completed
Schooling
Currently receiving
schooling Total
Yes 25.0% 22.7% 25.7% 23.8%
FIG. USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY POLITICAL PARTIES
Ofcialpagesofparties
Facebook Twitter
Local Fans Total Fans Followers Joined since
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 59

FIG. USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY POLITICAL PARTIES
Ofcial pages of parties
Facebook Twitter
Local Fans Total Fans Followers Joined since
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) 2 294 563 2 967 429 1 333 605 March 2010
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) 1 179 295 1961148 37 725 June 2010
Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PMLN) 904843 1 127 464 127 000 February 2012
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) 262872 341 979 37 412 June 2013
Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) 133 203 143928 49 900 April 2012
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 97 643 111836 15 700 April 2012
Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) - 42 739 - -
Awami National Party (ANP) 23 711 30 951 12 507 May 2010
FIG. USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES LIKE FACEBOOK/TWITTER TO SHARE VIEWS BY EDUCATION
Never been to
school
Completed
Schooling
Currently receiving
schooling Total
Movies 52.80% 55.40% 65.70% 59.10%
Sports 52.80% 48.00% 63.20% 53.80%
Religion 44.40% 45.30% 47.60% 46.10%
Current Affairs 38.90% 43.30% 46.80% 44.40%
Human Rights 41.70% 28.80% 30.40% 29.80%
Political views 30.60% 23.30% 25.30% 24.30%
Minority rights 16.70% 15.00% 18.90% 16.50%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan60

FIG. USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES LIKE FACEBOOK/TWITTER TO SHARE VIEWS BY EDUCATION
Female Male Total
Movies 40.20% 70.40% 59.10%
Sports 28.30% 69.10% 53.80%
Religion 45.90% 46.30% 46.10%
Current Affairs 31.00% 52.40% 44.40%
Human Rights 26.10% 32.10% 29.80%
Political views 12.80% 31.30% 24.30%
Minority rights 10.30% 20.20% 16.50%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
FIG. PREFERRED TOPICS OF ENGAGEMENT RANKED BY GENDER
Topic Female Topic Male
Religion 45.90% Movies 70.40%
Movies 40.20% Sports 69.10%
Current Affairs 31.00% Current Affairs 52.40%
Sports 28.30% Religion 46.30%
Human Rights 26.10% Human Rights 32.10%
Political views 12.80% Political views 31.30%
Minority rights 10.30% Minority rights 20.20%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
FIG. BY URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
Religion 47.1% 43.6% 46.1%
Current Affairs 48.7% 33.7% 44.4%
Human Rights 34.0% 19.5% 29.8%
Movies 59.7% 57.4% 59.1%
Political views 26.7% 18.4% 24.3%
Sports 57.9% 43.6% 53.8%
Minority rights 19.6% 8.9% 16.5%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 61

FIG. BY AGE GROUP
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
Religion 43.0% 44.6% 46.8% 50.9% 46.1%
Current Affairs 40.7% 45.4% 43.2% 48.7% 44.4%
Human Rights 24.7% 30.6% 31.1% 33.6% 29.8%
Movies 60.1% 61.6% 59.5% 54.4% 59.1%
Political views 19.0% 23.6% 27.9% 27.9% 24.3%
Sports 57.8% 54.2% 55.4% 46.9% 53.8%
Minority rights 12.2% 17.0% 18.5% 19.0% 16.5%
Random&boostersample,unweighted
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan62

FIG. USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL MEDIA
Social Media Newspapers Radio
I did not use it at all 81.90% 82.80% 92.10%
1-2 days a week 4.00% 6.70% 3.60%
3-4 days a week 2.60% 3.20% 1.50%
5-6 days a week 2.70% 3.20% 0.60%
Every day 8.80% 4.10% 2.20%
FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF NEWSPAPERS BY AGE GROUP
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I did not use it at all 84.1% 83.2% 81.2% 82.3% 82.8%
1-2 days a week 6.9% 7.9% 6.5% 5.8% 6.7%
3-4 days a week 2.2% 2.8% 5.9% 2.5% 3.2%
5-6 days a week 3.7% 2.5% 3.2% 3.3% 3.2%
Every day 3.0% 3.6% 3.2% 6.1% 4.1%
n= 492 471 372 553 1,888
Random sample, weighted, 1.4% missing.
TRADITIONAL MEDIA
FIG. DAILY MEDIA USAGE BY AGE GROUP
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 63

FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF NEWSPAPER BY GENDER
Female Male Total
I did not use it at all 93.1% 73.3% 82.8%
1-2 days a week 3.2% 10.0% 6.7%
3-4 days a week 1.4% 4.8% 3.2%
5-6 days a week 1.3% 4.9% 3.2%
Every day 1.0% 7.0% 4.1%
n= 907 981 1888
Random sample, weighted, 1.4% missing.
FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF NEWSPAPER BY URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total
I did not use it at all 76.2% 87.5% 82.8%
1-2 days a week 8.4% 5.6% 6.7%
3-4 days a week 4.0% 2.5% 3.1%
5-6 days a week 5.3% 1.7% 3.2%
Every day 6.1% 2.8% 4.1%
n= 772 1116 1,888
Random sample, weighted, 1.4% missing.
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan64

FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF RADIO BY GENDER
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I did not use it at all 93.5% 90.1% 92.0% 92.2% 92.0%
1-2 days a week 2.6% 5.4% 2.9% 3.4% 3.6%
3-4 days a week 1.8% 1.5% 1.1% 1.6% 1.5%
5-6 days a week 0.8% 0.2% 0.5% 0.7% 0.6%
Every day 1.2% 2.8% 3.5% 2.0% 2.3%
n= 492 467 374 554 1,887
Random sample, weighted, 1.6% missing.
FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF RADIO BY URBAN/RURAL
Urban Rural Total 27-30 Total
I did not use it at all 94.6% 90.3% 92.0% 92.2% 92.0%
1-2 days a week 2.7% 4.1% 3.6% 3.4% 3.6%
3-4 days a week 0.9% 1.9% 1.5% 1.6% 1.5%
5-6 days a week 0.9% 0.4% 0.6% 0.7% 0.6%
Every day 0.9% 3.2% 2.3% 2.0% 2.3%
n= 771 111 5 1,886 554 1,887
Random sample, weighted, 1.5% missing.
FIG. FREQUENCY OF USE OF RADIO BY AGE GROUP
15- 18 19-22 23-26 27-30 Total
I did not use it at all 93.5% 90.1% 92.0% 92.2% 92.0%
1-2 days a week 2.6% 5.4% 2.9% 3.4% 3.6%
3-4 days a week 1.8% 1.5% 1.1% 1.6% 1.5%
5-6 days a week 0.8% 0.2% 0.5% 0.7% 0.6%
Every day 1.2% 2.8% 3.5% 2.0% 2.3%
n= 492 467 374 554 1,887
Random sample, weighted, 1.5% missing
RADIO
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 65

TABLE: A COMPARISON OF SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan Bangla-
desh India Sri Lanka Nepal
Population (in millions) 18 9 15 8 1,268 20 28
Internet users (% of population) 15% 26% 19 % 24% 31 %
% increase since Jan 2014 47% 12 % 14 % 22% 20%
Active social media users (% of
population) 10% 8% 10 % 14 % 17 %
% increase since Jan 2014 72% 128% 38% 40% 50%
Mobile connections (% of population) 79% 77% 75% 165% 90%
% increase since Jan 2014 15 % 10 % 6% 35% 39%
Mobile broadband use (% of mobile
connections that have broadband) 4% 6% 8% 34% 9%
ShareofWebtrafcbymobilephone 46% 70% 68% 57% 47%
Average mobile net speed (in Mbps.) 1.5 1.7 2.6
Mobile social media use 9% 7% 9% 11 % 16 %
% increase since Jan 2014 11 3 % 132% 50% 53% 57%
Source: Digital Social and Mobile in APAC, March 201534
HOW PAKISTAN COMPARES INTERNATIONALLY
34. http://wearesocial.net/blog/2015/03/digital-social-mobile-apac-2015/
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan66

Abdullah, A. (2015). Digital Divide and Caste in Rural Pakistan. The Information Society, 31(4), 346-356. doi:
10.1080/01972243.2015.1040936
Ahmad, A. (2014). The Role of Social Networks in the Recruitment of Youth in an Islamist Organization in Pakistan. Sociological
Spectrum:Mid-SouthSociologicalAssociation,34(6),469-488.doi:10.1080/02732173.2014.947450
Ahmad,K.,&Sheikh,K.S.(2013).SocialMediaandYouthParticipatoryPolitics:AStudyofUniversityStudents.SouthAsian
Studies,28(2),353-360.
Ahmed,I.(2010,July8,2010).NewestfriendsonFacebook?Pakistanmilitants,TheChristianScienceMonitor.Retrievedfrom
http://ezproxy.lib.ed.ac.uk/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsggo&AN=edsgcl.2310000
73&site=eds-live
Ahmed,S.,&Skoric,M.M.(2014,6-9Jan.2014).MyNameIsKhan:TheUseofTwitterintheCampaignfor2013Pakistan
General Election. Paper presented at the System Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on.
Chinn,M.D.,&Fairlie,R.W.(2004).TheDeterminantsoftheGlobalDigitalDivide:ACross-CountryAnalysisofComputerand
Internet Penetration. UC Santa Cruz Department of Economics, UCSC.
Eijaz, A. (2013). Impact of New Media on Dynamics of Pakistan Politics. Journal of Political Studies, 20(1), 113-130.
Farooqi, H., Patel, H., Aslam, H. M., Ansari, I. Q., Khan, M., Iqbal, N., . . . Asad, N. (2013). Effect of Facebook on the life of medical
university students. International Archives of Medicine, 6.
Gold,S.(2011).TerrorismandBluetooth.NetworkSecurity,2011(7),5.doi:10.1016/s1353-4858(11)70073-3
Hache,A.,&Cullen,J.(2009).ICTandYouthatRisk:HowICT-driveninitiativescancontributetotheirsocio-economic
inclusionandhowtomeasureit.JRCScienticandTechnicalReports..
Haq,A.u.,&Chand,S.(2012).PatternofFacebookusageanditsImpactonAcademicPerformanceofUniversityStudents:A
GenderBasedComparison.BulletinofEducationandResearch,34(2),19-28.
Hassan,K.(2014).TheRoleofPrivateElectronicMediainRadicalisingPakistan.RoundTable,103(1),65-81.
Howard,P.N.,Duffy,A.,Freelon,D.,Hussain,M.,Mari,W.,&Mazaid,M.(2011).OpeningClosedRegimes:WhatWastheRole
of Social Media during the Arab Spring Project on Information Technology and Political Islam. . Seattle: Department of
Communication, University of Washington.
Javed,M.W.,&Bhatti,R.(2015).UsageofSocialMediabyMedicalandDentalStudentsatNishtarMedicalCollege,Multan,
Pakistan. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 15(1), 53-64.
Kamal, T. (2015). An Investigation into the Negative Impacts of Social Media on Academic Performance of Youth. New Media
and Mass Communication, 34, 50-56.
Kugelman, M. (2012). Social media in Pakistan: catalyst for communication, not change: NOREF: Norwegian Peacebuilding
Resource Centre.
Mahmood,Q.K.,Ullah,R.,&Akbar,M.S.(2013).ManifestationofMobilePhoneAssistedPersonalAgencyamongUniversity
Students:EvidencefromLahore.SouthAsianStudies,28(1),139-149.
Malik,Q.-u.-a.,&Khan,M.A.(2011).ShiftinMediaPower:AnEmpiricalAnalysisofEmergingPatternsofMediaUse.Journalof
SocialSciences&Humanities(1994-7046),19(1),65-84.
Mossberger,K.,Tolbert,C.J.,&McNeal,R.S.(2008).Digitalcitizenship:theInternet,society,andparticipation.Cambridge,
Mass: MIT Press.
Nemer, D. (2015). From Digital Divide to Digital Inclusion and Beyond. . The Journal of Community Informatics, North
America. Available at: http://ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1030/1131. Date accessed: 27 July 2015.
Norris, P. (2001). Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. . Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Phillips, W. (2015). This is why we can’t have nice things: Mapping the relationship between online trolling and mainstream
culture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Schoemaker, E. (2015). ‘Digital purdah’: How gender segregation persists over social media, Dawn, 31st July 2015.
Shackle, S. (2013). The Twitter jihadis. New Statesman, 142(5169), 17-17.
Tariq,W.,Mehboob,M.,Khan,M.A.,&Ullah,F.(2012).TheImpactofSocialMediaandSocialNetworksonEducationand
Students of Pakistan. International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI), 9(4), 407-411.
Valenzuela,S.,Park,N.,&Kee,K.F.(2009).IsThereSocialCapitalinaSocialNetworkSite?:FacebookUseandCollege
Students’LifeSatisfaction,Trust,andParticipation.JournalofComputer-MediatedCommunication,14(4),875-901.doi:
10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01474.x
van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2006). Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings. Poetics, 34(4-5), 221-235. doi: http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2006.05.004
Waller,L.G.(2013).EnhancingPoliticalParticipationinJamaica.SAGEOpen,3(2),1-9.doi:10.1177/2158244013486656
Warschauer, M. (2003). Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX D
Digital Citizenship in Pakistan 67

www.britishcouncil.pk
www.facebook.com/BritishCouncilPakistan
www.twitter.com/pkBritish