Freedom to experience the world!

I typed a comment, read it thrice to make sure everything is right and clicked ‘Post’ - it started appearing on his blog right away. The next day, I was absolutely surprised to see that an entrepreneurial guru and a world famous blogger Guy Kawasaki who gets hundreds of comments on his blog daily, had taken time out to reply to my comment. It was thrilling to directly interact with a celebrity in USA while sitting thousands of miles away at my home in Pakistan. Since then I have digitally interacted with several people of national and international fame, as well as common people like myself living all around the globe, making friends and working alliances.

The Internet has turned a world into a global village but what fortifies ties between people of this global village is Web 2.0. It does so through its community driven structure. Content based interactions within this community are what excite me the most about Web 2.0 – blogging, tweeting, social networking, video/music sharing has given me the freedom to experience the world and even beyond, as NASA often takes me on a tour of space too!

Seeing Web 2.0 from the perspective of Women Empowerment makes one appreciate its remarkable features even more. Web 2.0 has given every woman VOICE, no matter which corner of the world she belongs to. It lets her speak about the rights, miseries and achievements of herself as well as other women and also makes her be heard. Many of us who experience domestic abuse and female harassment no longer die in solitude as we decide to vent out our feelings and find out many others like us – Web 2.0 turns out to be cathartic for us.

In addition to Personal Empowerment, Web 2.0 offers to women equal opportunities for Financial Empowerment too. Even those of us who are bound to stay home can do everything from getting effective e-education to learning new skills and eventually earning online. While some of these features were available earlier too, Web 2.0 has made them easier to understand and benefit through.

I can vouch that the significant power of Web 2.0 is capable of changing lives of women because it has changed my life for good. Few years after starting blogging, I decided to take it a bit further and live blogged at a tech event only to find out later that I had become first live blogger of Pakistan. This earned me an award for Best Live blogger of Pakistan from Google Pakistan and CIO Pakistan. Later, when I experienced harassment, I decided to make Web 2.0 my weapon and now I’m leading TakeBackTheTech Pakistan campaign – part of a global campaign that encourages use of ICTs to empower women. I now use blogs, twitter, social networks, and video sharing sites for a cause: advocating online security, privacy and fighting against cyber as well as other forms of female harassment while I strive to empower other women around.