Saudi entrepreneur launches a microblogging platform to help users tackle their goals
The impatient
bloggers of the world have tumblr and Twitter for their
microblogging, but now, thanks to an entrepreneur in Saudi
Arabia, Liriod gives any blogger with
writer's block an extra push, by allowing them to write about a
specific topic, in a defined period of time.
With a name drawn from a combination of "limited" and "period," the
platform allows users to post videos, photos, and text, on a daily
basis; it's less for the casual writer than for those with goals
they are trying to achieve, along with the help of comments from
the community, says creator Abdulmajid Althari, a
student who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and is now studying
Computer Science at Malaya University in Malaysia. In a case of
life imitating art, Althari was inspired to
create Liriod while watching a movie in which a hero regularly
blogged on a single subject.
Several e-services, like Goalmigo and 42Goals, offer
users the ability to tackle goals within a limited period of
time. However, what sets Liriod apart is its Arabic interface
and focus on blogging within a certain time frame rather than
merely ticking boxes.
Since the site's beta launch on May 3rd, the
site has reached 270 registered users who have already logged 100
goals.
As Althari builds his userbase,
he's focusing on features like social goals, which he hopes will
also help companies "give their employees the chance to participate
in achieving one goal in a cooperative spirit.”
One element that the site may need to improve as it grows is
making it easier to show the goals of various users, in order to
encourage mutual support and build a community, especially if
bloggers are looking to get inspired by others with similar
goals.
Althari hopes to eventually take the site global; hence
the somewhat English name. When aiming to go global, "it was
better to choose a name globally accepted and easy to pronounce”,
he says.
The youth problem with the
labour market in the region
Althari's path to
entrepreneurship hasn't been easy. Although he studied
Computer Science at British Staffordshire University, he faced a
dilemma that many face upon graduation in Saudi Arabia: there
simply weren't any jobs available in his field.
He then took a job as an Assistant in the Human Resources
department at a specialized public hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Yet
after three years, once he returned to
school at Malaya
University, to continue studies in Computer Science, he was able to
leap into various startup projects, including Btaqa, an electronic service that allows
users to create and share digital business cards, and Restval, a smartphone app that helps
travellers discover new places while traveling.
If he can continuing working as a
tech entrepreneur, hopefully he can return to create more jobs in
his home country, he says. “I have always dreamt of working in
computer science and now I’m achieving my ambitions," he
says.