The online landscape may very well be changing given the reality of the PTI’s success. PHOTO: FILE
A quick glance online reveals the wide disparity between the major political players. The 2013 elections may have them thinking differently now.
The online presence of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its emergence as the third largest party in Pakistan may not be altogether unrelated. The online landscape may very well be changing given the reality of the PTI’s success.
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The basics
Total Pakistanis online: 20 million
Total Pakistanis on Facebook: Over 8.5 million
Total Pakistanis on Twitter: 1 million
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| Party | Website | Rank in Pakistan | Estimated users per day | Estimated pages viewed per day | Traffic from inside Pakistan |
| PTI | Insaf.pk | 116 | 19,743 | 67,125 | 76% |
| MQM | Mqm.org | 835 | 603 | 1,320 | 78% |
| PML-N | Pmln.org | 1,473 | 498 | 1,195 | 87% |
| JI | Jamaat.org | 3,464 | 160 | 400 | 86% |
| PPP | ppp.org.pk | 5,462 | 176 | 440 | 84% |
| ANP | Awaminationalparty.org | 11,064 | 91 | 190 | 74% |
| PML-Q | Pml.org.pk | 13,955 | 87 | 155 | 84% |
| APML | apmlpak.com | 25,998 | 54 | 140 | 77% |
Source: Alexa.com, websitetrafficspy.com as of May 24 2013
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| Facebook interest | Audience |
| PPP | 242,000 |
| PML-N | 442,000 |
| PTI | 1,200,000 |
| MQM | 198,000 |
| JI | 400,000 |
| ANP | 40,000 |
| PML-Q | 14,000 |
| APML | 98,000 |
| Source: Facebook.com as of May 24 2013 Note: Facebook interests are based on what users have entered as an interest on their timeline. Only the exact party name was used as keyword for the above stats | |
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| Name | Twitter account | Party | Followers | Klout | |
| 1 | Shafqat Mahmood | @Shafqat_Mahmood | PTI | 60,259 | 66 |
| 2 | Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad | @ShkhRasheed | AML | 97,346 | 67 |
| 3 | Shehbaz Sharif | @CMShehbaz | PML-N | 119,336 | 70 |
| 4 | Sharmila Faruqi | @sharmilafaruqi | PPP | 51,990 | 66 |
| 5 | Rehman Malik | @SenRehmanMalik | PPP | 91,660 | 82 |
| 6 | Pervez Musharraf | @PMPakistan | APML | 51,317 | 53 |
| 7 | Mushahid Hussain | @Mushahid | PML-Q | 53,462 | 75 |
| 8 | Maryam Nawaz Sharif | @MaryamNSharif | PML-N | 94,317 | 66 |
| 9 | Jahangir Tareen | @JahangirKTareen | PTI | 88,340 | 65 |
| 10 | Imran Khan | @ImranKhanPTI | PTI | 628,887 | 78 |
| 11 | Bilawal Bhutto Zardari | @BBhuttoZardari | PPP | 51,575 | 61 |
| 12 | Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari | @BakhtawarBZ | PPP | 73,967 | 69 |
| 13 | Aseefa Bhutto Zardari | @AseefaBZ | PPP | 61,853 | 66 |
| 14 | Dr Arif Alvi | @ArifAlvi | PTI | 64,166 | 69 |
| 15 | Ahsan Iqbal | @betterpakistan | PML-N | 46,127 | 65 |
| Source: Twitter.com, Klout.com as of May 24 2013 Note: Klout score is a measure of social influence based on followers and user engagement. | |||||
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Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 2nd, 2013.
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