

In Kuwait, Instagram Accounts Are Big Business - zalew
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/07/kuwait-instagram-accounts-are-big-business/67127/

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zmitri
I also found it especially interesting how much interaction the religious
leaders have on Instagram for the size of Kuwait. For example,
[http://instagram.com/mishari_alafasy](http://instagram.com/mishari_alafasy)
is the grand Imam of Kuwait. 15K likes for his following size is very
impressive when compared to other Instagrammers with similar following sizes.

PS. He shared his profile from my app on his Instagram profile and our app
immediately shot up to the top 10 apps in the Kuwait app store, and number 2
in photo and video. Users thanked him, and thanked Allah that he had shown
them this new app.

~~~
ameen
FYI, Mishary Al Afasy isn't popular just in Kuwait, he's popular through out
the entire Middle East.

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tomeric
This is not exclusive to Kuwait. I've seen several of these kinds of
storefronts all over South East Asia. People use an app like "Line" to order
stuff and communicate payment options . It's really interesting to see how
people use social networking in unintended ways.

Most of the stuff that is sold is relatively cheap (< 15$), but trust is still
a big problem. In my time there, I always wondered if it would be worthwhile
for Facebook to facilitate this by for instance handling the payments, but I
don't even know if they knew about this kind of stuff happening.

~~~
nandemo
Can you give an example of a country in SE Asia where that sort of commerce is
common? I'd have thought that people would opt to use one of the e-commerce
platforms, since they provide payment and anti-fraud solutions.

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edwinnathaniel
Indonesia (and probably Malaysia).

Anti-fraud for e-Commerce is a long way to go. Most people still transfer
money via bank using SMS (and they take screenshot of their cellphone for
proofs to the seller).

Twitter, Instagram, Line, BBM, WhatsApp, and Facebook are being used for
eCommerce.

Most of their customers won't mind if they were "tagged" (in Facebook) by
sellers while westerners would complain like there's no tomorrow (and
unfriended their friends if the sellers were their friends).

I'm just in awe to see how SE Asia countries are using social media.

~~~
esusatyo
As an Indonesian, I can concur.

PayPal, etsy, and eBay is like a disease over there. No one wants to deal with
third party eCommerce platform. I don't know whether it is because of the cost
or other things.

What I know is you can not scale verification of bank transfers once it
reaches a certain number.

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blueprint
It's exactly for this kind of use-case that we built Bondsy, an app that lets
you trade with friends. Doesn't have to be for money.

Check it out, it's free.

[http://www.bondsy.com](http://www.bondsy.com)

~~~
blueprint
Why the downvotes? It's not as if this is spam nor unrelated to the article. I
think it's quite relevant actually. tagabek just asked why no one has built
what we are building.

~~~
smartwater
You didn't explain the relevance. "Trade with friends" doesn't clarify.

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blueprint
I was hoping that "exactly for this kind of use-case" would explain the
relevance.

Bondsy is a mobile app that lets you post beautiful pictures with captions
like Instagram. Except that Bondsy is designed specifically for trading and
selling stuff, and that lets us help out sellers a lot more than Instagram.

~~~
brazzy
I still have no idea what it does.

~~~
smartwater
Me either. Something about trading instagram stuff?

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D9u
This story was totally not what I expected regarding Instagram accounts.

In my Americentric preconceived assumption I thought it would be about
_selling_ Instagram accounts, not using them as storefronts.

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posabsolute
That's kind of cool, considering instagram is free, that makes you a free
online store with a very simple process to work with.

Compare that to something like shopify, it's a much simpler product, maybe an
e-commerce idea can be taken from this..

~~~
mahmud
Kuwait is a tiny country. It's cheaper and quicker to just drive everywhere
and pickup your order than wait for delivery.

~~~
alghanimn
Actually, we get everything delivered pretty quick...another plus side of
being a tiny country. Also, its really damn hot...

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danial
s/Instgram/social networks/

I have seen such ad-hoc marketplaces for the middle east and south asia on
other social networks being used to sell anything form used furniture,
imported goods, or as boutique store fronts. There are even intercity ride
share groups.

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tagabek
I am curious as to why no one has built a web/mobile app to make this easier
for the sellers.

~~~
wdewind
My read on this is that the software doesn't matter very much, it's the
network. Everyone's on instagram, and so you may as well sell on it. My guess
(correct me if I'm wrong) is that Kuwait is very cash based for this stuff,
and so things like credit card processing don't matter. If that's the case a
picture stream is a pretty good approximation of a store's 'inventory,' and
the slight benefit of making this software fit the needs of the seller better
would be far outweighed by the fact that they would lose the buyer network.

~~~
zalew
> Kuwait is very cash based for this stuff

also, there is no personal income tax or vat, so they can legally post
whatever at any time and any quantity and put 100% of cash straight into the
pocket - no need to formalize those transactions, no IRS hunting your
instagramic wealth.

~~~
tagabek
These are some very enlightening points.

One of the things that I love most about software is how it might end up being
used completely different than originally intended. When Kevin Systrom and his
team started building Instagram, I bet that they didn't intend to provide a
makeshift online marketplace for the people of Kuwait.

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Killah911
Free classified ads. Wonder if this isn't monetizable. Paid "Ads" for higher
visibility of your sheep for sale?

