VOA慢速英语--Technology, Social Media and Ramadan

 

Technology is shaping the way Muslims spend Ramadan.

Islam requires followers¹ to go without food, water and other liquids between sunrise and sunset during the Muslim holy month. This religious custom, known as fasting, is meant to bring people closer to God.

Now during Ramadan, more and more Muslims are spending time on social media, computers and other electronic devices.

People in the Middle East spend close to 58 million more hours on Facebook during the month. They also watch more YouTube videos now than at any other time of the year. This makes Ramadan an important time of the year for advertisers.

Ramez Shehadi is Facebook’s managing director for the Mideast and North Africa. “Consumption² and time spent on our platforms does indeed increase,” he said of Ramadan.

In general, Muslims stay up a lot more at night during Ramadan and have more free time. This is especially true before “iftar,” the nightly meal that breaks the daylong fast, and the “suhoor,” when people gather to eat before another day of fasting. Many people also work shorter hours during the day.

All that means that people have more time to look at social media. Shehadi said that during Ramadan, people spent 5% more time on Facebook’s platforms. That represents nearly 58 million more hours. Put another way, there are almost 2 million hours of additional time spent daily on Facebook in the Mideast during Ramadan.

So much advertising³ money is spent during Ramadan that Google launched “The Lantern Award” to celebrate the most creative ads of the month.

Google does not report total watch time for YouTube during Ramadan. But the American company says that in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for example, viewing of sports videos jumps by 22%. Viewing of travel videos increases by 30%, and action games, simulation⁴ and video games see an increase of 10-20% during the month.

People also spend 27% more time watching religious material on YouTube.

Joyce Baz is Google’s head of communications in the Mideast and North Africa. “To us, YouTube brings people together. We see a lot of people wanting to watch things together,” she said.

Baz added that Google products, like its search engine, are there “to simplify people’s lives so that they can focus on things that matter like being with their loved ones and family.” The company’s “Qibla Finder,” for example, helps Muslims find the direction of Mecca so they can pray toward it, wherever they happen to be.

Google says the top trending searches during the first week of Ramadan this year were surprising. In Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia the top results included a mix of “Game of Thrones,” prayer times, Ramadan TV shows, movie timings and English Premier⁵ League games.

To better connect with about 180 million users in the Middle East, Facebook and Instagram launched special Ramadan icons⁶. These signs or images give people more ways of expressing themselves online. Instagram also has a campaign to promote acts of kindness during the month.

Shehadi said that Facebook is trying to magnify⁷ “goodness as opposed to what might seem on the surface” to be more “consumerism.” He also said the idea of Facebook is about “bringing people together around things that matter to them.” This idea is close to the ethos, or spirit of Ramadan, he added.

Haitham el-Ghoneim, a Jordanian living in Dubai, said he uses Facebook to connect with friends during Ramadan. He shares traditional greetings for the holy month and communicates with his family in Jordan.

Still, he does not think the rest of it — all that time spent online, on games and ads — is a good thing. “It’s not being spent in a useful way. It’s mostly fake⁸ news, or jokes and things that have no benefit,” he said.

I'm John Russell.

And I’m Jill Robbins.

Words in This Story

consumption – n. the act of using up something

platform – n. computers : a program or set of programs that controls the way a computer works and runs other programs

viewing – n. the act of inspecting or looking at something

simulation – n. a recreation of a process or situation

focus – v. to pay attention to someone or something

trending – adj. currently⁹ popular or widely discussion on social media or the internet

online – adj. connected to or controlled by a computer or a computer system

magnify – v. to make (something) greater

ethos – n. the guiding beliefs of a person, group, or organization

benefit – n. a profit gained from something

1 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

2 consumption   

n.消费，消耗，消费额，消耗量，结核病

参考例句：

• Consumption of oil has declined in recent years.石油消耗量在最近几年下降了。
• The meat was condemned as unfit for human consumption.这种肉已被宣布不适宜人们食用。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 simulation   

n.模拟

参考例句：

• To make the training realistic the simulation operates in real time . 为使训练真实，模拟是实时运行的。
• a computer simulation of how the planet functions 行星活动方式的计算机模拟

5 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

6 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 magnify   

vt.放大，扩大；夸大，夸张

参考例句：

• He tried to magnify the part he played in the battle.他试图夸大他在战斗中发挥的作用。
• Tony wanted to magnify that picture.托尼要把那张照片放大。

8 fake   

vt.伪造，造假，假装；n.假货，赝品

参考例句：

• He can tell a fake from the original.他能分辨出赝品和真品。
• You can easily fake up an excuse to avoid going out with him.你可以很容易地编造一个借口而不与他一同外出。

9 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。