As the boundaries of social media expand to
coincide with those of society in general, it is only to be expected that new platforms
should emerge aiming to satisfy the requirements of specific communities. Announced today MuslimChannels is a new
user generated content (UGC) site that provides Muslims around the world with
an online venue where the standards of censorship concur with their religious beliefs.
The site offers several live 24x7 news broadcasts
edited from an Islamic perspective as well as religious, educational and
entertainment programs. The sources from
which this content is gleaned include Al Jazeera English, LinkTV, Press TV and
DemocracyNow. Two religious channels (which
also broadcast around the clock) run programmes that are currently drawn from
Huda TV and IslamChannels.
In addition, users can upload and share video
or textual content and connect with each other on the site?s forums. This social dimension is essential to the
project, which was designed to encourage its target audience to pool their
knowledge in order to create a vast online resource of religious and other
user-generated scholarship.
"We are optimistic many of our scholars and
Imams from the 1000+ Islamic centres across the country, and our user base,
will add tens of thousands of pieces of useful content," said Stephanie
Khan, communication director of MuslimChannels.
While the site?s administrators have tended to
place the emphasis on the religious and educational dimension of the endeavour,
they have also drawn attention its recreational and commercial aspects. Regarding the former, Mrs. Kahn claims that
the exclusion of "sexual" or "hate" videos will make the
site a haven for ?clean entertainment?. With
a view to the latter, business users can post promotional videos free of charge
and reach out to their local customers by means of a special "one click"
feature.