Leveraging social media for CPEC & OBOR by Wali Zahid

Skill City: Asian Answers… to Asian Questions skillcity.co

Leveraging social media for the success of CPEC-OBORWali Zahid, ceo Skill City, President IMC China Study Centre | Islamabad | 14 November 2016


Who’s Wali Zahid?▪ Asian businesses have known Wali for 25-plus-year work on business

leadership and executive coaching ▪ Wali leads the longest-running Train-The-Trainer workshop | 16th year | 16+

Asian locations | 1,000+ trainers trained▪ MBA courses at IBA, ZABIST, CBM, UMT, IIU, Dow▪ Disruptor, future-trends watcher, blogger, social media strategist ▪ Past: Team Leader, Prime Minister Quality Award, Pakistan | V2025▪ Past: Member, BoG PSTD | advisory at LCWU, Indus Valley▪ Past: Member, Board of Studies, CBM and advisory IBA▪ Now: Member, BoG PIM (Pakistan Institute of Management)


Wali Zahid bio…1▪ Wali Zahid is a Pakistani futurist, speaker, social media strategist and

blogger. His blog, walizahid.com, is the most authentic place on everything Pakistan.

▪ Wali was one of the first bloggers to post about CPEC as a game changer and THE first to publish an in-country post on OBOR.

▪ Known for his widely-read #Pakistan2050 forecast, Wali appears on national TV, occasionally writes for The News and speaks about CPEC and OBOR enthusiastically. He was part of the first nationwide brainstorming on Vision 2025 at Planning Commission in 2013.

http://walizahid.com

https://walizahid.com/2016/08/back-to-the-future-pakistan-in-2050/


Wali Zahid bio…2▪ Wali's early work life was as a journalist where he worked for Dawn, The Nation

and becoming Editor of The News, Lahore in 1991. He later worked briefly at BBC London. Later, he established Institute of Media & Communications (IMC) in Islamabad which offered training courses in print and TV journalism, advertising, cartooning and PR.

▪ Wali has been a China watcher for 30 years and has seen China grow from ‘just another’ country to become world's next superpower.

▪ Wali was an early adapter to online media, using email by 1994, first website in 1997, and early user of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. His Twitter followers include US President Barack Obama, several Pakistani ministers and media people. His FB page has over 140k fans and LinkedIn over 15k followers.


Wali▪ Today


Pakistan of future▪ Wali on

Pakistan of future

▪ The News▪ 14.8.2014


#Pakistan2050 | The News | 14.8.2016


That’s me on /mywali


author page


walizahid.com: Over half a million views


CPEC our top-viewed post: nearly 60k





Social is not just all talk It’s BIG money


11.11▪ Social media

is not just talk▪ Singles’ Day▪ alibaba.com▪ RMB120B/

$18B sales


1 What do CPEC and OBOR mean to Social users








CPEC & OBOR▪ Since CPEC became a national issue - more than

a mere $46B economic project - there is some awareness among masses, but very little actual knowledge

▪ OBOR - very little information even at the elite level▪ This after experience of speaking to 1,000’s people


OBOR developments missed on social25 August 2016: Chinese-built Tajikistan Railway, the first railway project in OBOR initiative, started operation


OBOR developments missed on social8 September 2016: First cargo train from China arrives in Afghanistan’s Hairatan port in northern Balkh province


OBOR developments missed on social5 October: Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway is launched today


OBOR developments missed6 November: First Silk Road trans-Eurasia cargo train from China arrives in Riga, Latvia


How China left US behind in GDP PPP▪ China is now $2.7 trillion ahead of US▪ China, US and India are three countries

whose economies matter (slides on contribution to world GDP and FDI inflows)




FDI 3


2 Key challenges Stakeholders


Failing of four stakeholders1. Federal govt2. Opposition3. Provincial govts4. ‘Other’ more powerful stakeholders


Failing of stakeholder: federal govtFederal govt failed to (in spite of APCs, 1on1’s):▪ Proactively engage other stakeholders▪ Provide transparency▪ Use social media▪ Impose rule of law in general & cyber laws in

particular on CPEC rumour-mongering


Lost opportunity1. No state or private media

accompanied PM Sharif to BRICS/SCO summit in Ufa, Russia, where significant and far-reaching developments were about to happen

2. Ditto SCO meeting on 2-3 Nov in Bishkek


Gwadar Port▪ Twitter trends on the

day PM Sharif inaugurates it

▪ No mention of Sharif


Failing of stakeholder: OppositionOpposition historic folly:▪ Islamabad dharna▪ Delaying President Xi’s visit▪ Delaying CPEC initiation▪ Delaying CPEC projects completion


Failing of stakeholder: Provincial govtsFailing by some provincial govts:▪ Lack of being onboard from the start▪ Provincialising a federal G2G project


Failing of stakeholder: ‘The Others’Failing by some ‘the other’, more powerful stakeholders:▪ Limit federal govt hand in two provinces▪ Use security threat to leverage more portion

of CPEC monies▪ ‘Let’ CPEC become embroiled in controversy


3 Key challenges Media


A bit of media overview▪ Print▪ Electronic▪ Social▪ Grapevine


Print - English▪ National access to print is limited because of

people’s low purchasing power and low literacy▪ English-language dailies have negligent readers but

important in agenda-setting▪ Within English, very few access info regarding

economy and business topics. CPEC/OBOR currently falls in economic category


Print - Urdu▪ Urdu-language dailies have relatively wider

circulation but publish pop version of news - mostly political news and politician-bashing

▪ CPEC/OBOR currently of not central interest to these readers


Electronic▪ Agenda-setting in prime-time electronic media

is a closely-kept play by ‘real powers’▪ On private TV channels, mostly, it’s politician-

bashing, scandal-sniffing news & current affairs anchors-led parallel courts + media trial

▪ Very few people watch official PTV in cities


Social - Twitter & FB▪ Social is dominated by political narrative

against politicians▪ Twitter sets the agenda▪ Facebook follows the lead▪ Younger population is not bothered about

both. They are on Instagram and Snapchat


Social - Whatsapp phenomenonHere’s a particular phenomenon - Whatsapp. It is used to:▪ Form opinions▪ Spread disinformation▪ Reinforce disinformationPrint, TV, FB used to reinforce further disinformation


Grapevine▪ The most lethal way on how disinformation

and rumours are spread▪ Fodder for public consumption for all

demographics - from poor to elite▪ Combines all media


Social - some numbers▪ 27 million social media users in Pakistan▪ Only 14% of population▪ PTA: 34 million 3G/4G subscribers by end-Oct▪ Snapshot next slide



The disinformation effect▪ It shows on all media▪ Let me pick examples from all media

regarding CPEC


TV▪ KPK PA Speaker Asad Qaiser on national TV▪ Clip: https://youtu.be/aPTUqg4e7mU

https://youtu.be/aPTUqg4e7mU


Print▪ 3 false news refuted in one day by Zhao▪ Express Tribune ▪ The Nation




GrapevineWhatsapp & Photoshop used. 3 examples1. Wali Zahid, Project Ignorance2. Mansoor Ali Khan, Express News TV3. NYT’s Salman Masood


Grapevine


Grapevine▪ NYT’s Slaman Masood



Additional complexity▪ China has a very large social media universe▪ Source info is in Chinese (unlike American)▪ China’s social media & news not SEO-

optimised (results don’t show from Xinhua, SCMP, People’s Daily unless you search by name)


China social▪ WeChat▪ Qzone▪ Weibo


4 The way forward Leveraging social media


What to do 1: get viral▪ Use feature or animated videos with virality▪ Create an CPEC/OBOR app▪ Create a Whatsapp number anyone can subscribe

to▪ Create interactive websites in Chinese/English/Urdu▪ Develop infographics/maps/quizzes in 3 languages


What to do 2: achieve scale▪ My CPEC post reached nearly 60,000 views.

But in a 27M social universe, it’s nothing▪ Everything that you do around CPEC & OBOR

needs to achieve a scale


What to do 3: involve KOLs, P2P contacts▪ Involve researchers, youth leaders, campus

ambassadors, business leaders, professional bodies, entrepreneurs societies

▪ Develop a material supply line for bloggers▪ Arrange blogger meet-ups▪ Transition from economic to culture dimension▪ Create CPEC/OBOR merchandise


Final point▪ The only way to deal with disinformation is

either preempt it (proactively), or counter it real fast (reactively). Don’t let it snowball.


Thank youWali Zahid

[email protected] skillcity.co

walizahid.com fb.com/mywali

twitter.com/walizahid youtube.com/c/walizahid


Follow me on /mywali

Leveraging social media for CPEC & OBOR by Wali Zahid

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