Malaysians have taken to online social networking

The highest traffic volume to one of the world’s leading social networking sites, friendster.com, comes from Malaysia. Friendster.com is also the second most visited site in Malaysia next to yahoo.com. Out of the 13.5 million Internet users in Malaysia, 3.1 million are registered on Friendster. The site, the 17th largest in the world, was founded in California in 2002.With 44 million members worldwide, the site allows users to set up their personal profiles, which can either be accessed by anyone or by a select group of friends.
Users can make new friends, find old ones or locate activity partners and dates through the site.Users can email each other over Friendster, which also allows them to share photos, post bulletins, videos, and blog. Friendster Inc marketing and public relations director Jeff Roberto said according to Alexa.com, a website that provides information on web traffic, Friendster’s traffic breakout is: 22.4 per cent Malaysia; 21.8 per cent Philippines, 20 per cent Singapore; 12.7 per cent Indonesia; and six per cent United States."It is ranked the number one site in the Philippines, and number two in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia."The majority of users, about 55 per cent, are women. This pattern is the same all over the world. I think it’s probably because women are more social than men."The Asia user base is mostly 16 to 30-year-olds," he told the New Straits Times.Roberto said Asia currently accounts for over 70 per cent of total daily traffic to Friendster. It represents some 150 million daily page views and over four billion monthly page views.Asked why Friendster is bigger in Asia than in the West, Roberto said users in this part of the world are younger and tend to keep their pages open for viewing."Their profiles are open so there is more activity. We are also the first to enter this region."

source:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Frontpage/20070612073117/Article/index_html

Islamic Capital Market

Islamic Capital Market The Islamic Capital Market (ICM) refers to the market where capital market activities are carried out in ways that do not conflict with the conscience of Muslims and the religion of Islam. Transactions are free from the elements such as usury (riba), gambling (maisir) and ambiguity (gharar). The ICM has functioned as a parallel market to the conventional capital market for capital seekers and providers, and has played a complementary role to the Islamic banking system in broadening and deepening the Islamic financial markets in Malaysia. Today, Bursa Malaysia has the largest Islamic products listed as compared to exchanges in other Islamic countries.

source:http://www.klse.com.my/website/bm/products_and_services/islamic_capital_market.html