tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358737.post-71044108326297485862008-01-26T04:29:00.000-08:002008-01-26T05:02:59.240-08:002008-01-26T05:02:59.240-08:00How did this happen and we completely missed it? Or, I completely missed it.<br /><br />I knew about iToot.net, the network of Arab blogs. But many of those are also in English, thus excluding many exclusively Arabic-speaking people. Now the makers of Toot have come out (as of late 2006) with another site that is like Youtube and Flickr in one, and in Arabic: <a href="http://ikbis.com/">http://ikbis.com/</a>.<br /><br />They were even featured in <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/70058">Newsweek</a>. I read in Jordan's Pulp Magazine (I was up till the dawn adhaan jetlagged and was bored, ok?) about Ikbis in an interview with its creator Ahmad Humeid where he says that the goal is to incorporate other Jordanians and Arabs besides those in West Amman in the Internet revolution.<br /><blockquote>A lot of people, especially in the Gulf, don't speak English very well. And according to our statistics, most people prefer the Arabic interface over the English one. Not everyone in the Arab world is like people in West Amman. For the most part, everyone here speaks English. But that's not always the case.</blockquote>Other pluses of Ikbis include the fact that it's videos and pictures in one place (in other words, better than Youtube and Flickr both), and the fact that there's no pornography so they don't go getting their site banned in a bunch of places. (Sorry Nadeem)<br /><br />I guess that means we can't link the <a href="http://www.kabobfest.com/2007/11/my-loony-bun-is-fine-benny-lava.html">Indian Buffalax video</a> to it?<br /><br />Also a big draw is this:<br /><blockquote>So why would I, as an English speaking person in Jordan, choose Ikbis over Youtube?<br /><br />You use Ikbis if you want to be part of a smaller, more focused community.... For example, there was an American Muslim guy who wanted to talk about culture and religion and start dialogue about Islam and the West. When he put his video up on YouTube, he got no responses. But when he put it up on Ikbis, he got hundreds of views and comments. So, you go to Ikbis when you want a more localized, Arabic experience.<br /></blockquote>Emilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09902338848408979253noreply@blogger.com