WEB | Want an Arab blog? Jordanian internet companies have something for you, Ahmad Humeid reports.

Last week, I was on an hour long Skype call with my friend, whom I will call here the London Banker. We were talking about one of my favourite subjects these days: blogging. In the middle of the conversation, he surprised me with a comment. “You know Ahmad,” he said, “even here in the bank, which is full of savvy and exposed people, most of them don’t even know what a blog exactly is.”

Now go tell that to the vibrant, noisy table of two dozen young Jordanian bloggers who were sitting in a Amman café earlier last week attending the latest Jordan Planet meetup! At least for some of them, blogging is not just something they do. It’s an integral part of their lifestyle.

It was not just regular bloggers who attended that meeting. Sitting at different corners of the long table where representatives of three Jordanian internet companies who, within the space of the last 2 months, all started offering users free Arabic and bilingual blogging services: Jeeran.com, Maktoob.com and Albawaba.com. Reportedly, another blogging-related company, still in stealth mode, was also represented (hint: toot). That doesn’t count Fastlink, which also has recently released a blogging service on its portal.

What’s the deal here? After some period where internet innovation in Jordan was dormant, there seems to be a revival in that space. Jordan had its share of success stories on the web with companies like Maktoob and Arabia.com in the mid to late 90’s. But not much has happened after that. Now, Jordanian companies seem intent on regaining their pioneering position by powering the Arab world’s nascent blogging revolution. The quintessential Jordanian engineering spirit is at it again.

At the intersection of the Kingdom’s relative freedom of expression, its relatively good internet infrastructure and the young enthusiasm of some of its entrepreneurs, an interesting dynamism is taking place. The self publishing revolution that is sweeping the globe has not only found enthusiasts in Jordan but also companies willing to empower more Jordanian and Arab users with tools to join the revolution.

Jordanian bloggers already have a significant presence on the web. Do a Google search on ‘Arab Blogger’, ‘Arab Blogs’ and you will notice that Jordanian voices are strongly present in the Arab blogosphere. Given the small size of Jordan’s population, this is a significant development. Among the pioneering names in Arab blogging is Haitham Sabbah, a Jordanian blogger living in Bahrain (he once confessed being responsible for over half a dozen blogs alone!).

Now, it seems its the turn of Jordanian internet companies to impact the Arab web. If hordes of new Arab bloggers come rushing to the web looking for services that allow them to easily write and publish in Arabic, Jordanian entrepreneurs will be ready for them. Until recently, people who were interested in starting an Arabic blog, had to make do with English language sites where Arabic was only nominally supported. Tech savvy users were indeed able to install their own Arabized blogging engines, but that required a certain level of know how. That’s why the mentioned Arabic, Jordanian made, blogging services can play a significant role in bringing the culture of self publishing on the web closer to the Arab mainstream. With any of the mentioned services you can be the proud owner of a blog, complete with colourful design template in a matter of minutes. All that you need after that to become a successful blogger is to spend sleepless nights in front of your computer, crafting interesting blog posts and answering comments from total strangers.

Egypt, Tunisia and the Gulf countries already have growing blogging trends. So the timing of launching these Jordan based blogging services is opportune. As the usage of the internet keeps growing in the Arab world, and as a new generation of users who grew up with the net becomes more vocal, blogging and other forms of self expression will continue to grow in importance. And we Jordanians will be there to power it all on our platforms. Who knows, maybe our Jordanian web entrepreneurs will get some some London bankers as customers.

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Comments

3 responses to “The Arabic blogging revolution: made in Jordan?”

  1. hatem abunimeh Avatar
    hatem abunimeh

    I loved it. Bravo Ahmad. Getting exposed in the mainstream media is the best way of advertising.

  2. Global Voices Online Avatar
    Global Voices Online

    Jordan: Arabic blogging revolution: made in Jordan

    Ahmad Humeid says, as the usage of the internet keeps growing in the Arab world, and as a new generation of users who grew up with the net becomes more vocal, blogging and other forms of self expression will continue to grow in importance. And we Jord…

  3. Haitham Avatar
    Haitham

    Way to go, Ahmad.

    All the best.