Mai al Abria -
A joint study by the Ministry of Information and Sultan Qaboos University has ranked WhatsApp as the clear favourite among social media users in the Sultanate, with a resounding 86 per cent opting for this popular messaging app to connect with family, friends and colleagues.
The study, which looks at social media trends, placed YouTube in second position with 71.2 per cent uptake, followed by Twitter (52.5 per cent), and Facebook 51.6 per cent).
In fifth position was the online mobile sharing app Instagram with 45.6 per cent uptake. Further down the ranking were Google Plus, LinkedIn, MySpace, TWOO, Tagged and others.
Interestingly, the study found that Instagram was a big hit with young girls and women. Instagram, a community of over a half billion users worldwide, has many pockets and diverse communities that focus on everything like promoting healthy body image, makeup, vehicle trading, and so on.
In the Sultanate, the popular app is a handy tool for young women shoppers who go online to browse for anything from fashion, apparel, beauty products, and so on. Not surprisingly, promoters of such merchandise are capitalising on Instagram’s popularity with women to target them with apparels, cosmetics and assorted fashion products. And with the app’s built-in filters that do everything from intensifying shadows to making colours pop, merchandise touted via Instagram usually ends in the shopping carts of online buyers.
To understand the factors driving Instagram’s popularity with female users, the Observer spoke to Reem, a young fashion-obsessed Omani girl.
“Instagram, with all of its features, gives you the power to enhance your looks and appearance without the need for make-up and beauty products; so it’s every woman’s best ‘friend’!” she remarked.
Nader al Aisri, a chef who went online to launch his catering startup, says he depends almost entirely on Instagram to attract women customers to his growing culinary business.
“It is well known that young women frequent Instagram and other image sharing apps. Thus, by promoting my business on this platform, I’ve been able to attract the attention of homemakers to my culinary offerings. We get lots of online orders via Instagram, and that’s an incentive to continue with this platform.”
Zainab adds: “Online shopping allows me to view numerous options with a click. Goods bought online are usually delivered almost instantly, which is a big deal for me when you’ve picked up a fashion outfit that you’re dying to try out!”
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