Nesreen Abdulaziz, a 28-year-old from Benghazi started using Facebook seven years ago and notes two phases of change since then. The first was in 2011 when Facebook was central in covering and providing information around the revolutions across North Africa as well as the political changes all over the world, and the second, nearly two years ago, when it became a place to make money.

Different notion

Nesreen Abdulaziz, a 28-year-old from Benghazi started using Facebook seven years ago and notes two phases of change since then. The first was in 2011 when Facebook was central in covering and providing information around the revolutions across North Africa as well as the political changes all over the world, and the second, nearly two years ago, when it became a place to make money.

Different notion

A browser can easily find a lot of pages that promote the sale, purchase and leasing of many things, including cars, real estate and used materials, in addition to the women’s groups that promote cosmetics, accessories, clothes, food and sweets with home delivery services.

This is different from e-commerce where a customer has to pay online using a payment card and then wait for the receipt of the goods that might not be identical to what they need. In Libya a customer orders a certain item and only pays for it after he/she has examined it upon delivery.

“You only need more time to get all of what you like,” says Sarah, a 23-year-old resident of Benghazi. “I can buy whatever I need, especially clothes, through Facebook groups and pages.”

Imports

Some Facebook groups show pictures of clothes available in other countries, especially in Turkey. “When you order them,” says Sarah, “they will be shipped from there and you only receive them after one to three months. In this case, you need to pay half the price in advance through a special account and then you pay the other half once you receive your item.”

Amira Mahmud, a 46-year-old divorced employee who provides for two daughters, promotes such goods. “I spend many hours on Facebook to photograph and publish the pictures of the cosmetics and accessories I sell,” she says. “I have created a closed women’s group to promote my goods.”

Mahmud sells imported goods and cooperates with a non-Libyan woman who brings and stores goods and then agrees with other Libyan women to promote and sell them through Facebook, against a percentage of profits. This is easier and more profitable than opening her own shop.

Method of promotion

Promotion is facilitated by Facebook’s structure. When a vendor creates a promotional page she/he can determine the target age group, city and sex. Then, the page starts appearing within the suggested pages on the right-hand side of potential target users.

Moreover, there are features that help increase the target audience, including sharing and inviting friends to like the page.

Mahmud’s group and lotions are highly in demand. “I deliver them to homes personally, and sometimes I use a delivery man for a fee,” she says. “The money from this work is good.”

Household products

Another market has grown all over Libya where women work at home to make various foods and sweets and then promote their products on Facebook pages.

“The products of home-based saleswomen are cheaper than those in shops because we do not include the rent of the shop or other expenses in the price,” says Rubyan, a 23-year-old home-based confection saleswoman.

Prices sometimes increase because of the continuing rise in the prices of basic materials she and others use in the manufacture of such products. “The profession however remains the best solution for unemployed women with no education or for girls whose conditions force them to work at a young age because it is one of the skills acquired inside Libyan houses.”

Rubyan says the profits are great although the work is tiring. She maintains that a large number of women are engaged in this work because the demand for these products is high in daily life and special occasions, whether happy or sad, large or simple — they all require sweets. Rubyan also argues that working women may not have sufficient time to make such sweets, especially with sudden and unanticipated events.

Hanan, a 35-year-old housewife and mother of two, concurs with Rubyan but says that while the prices of such products are usually less than in well-known shops in the country, saleswomen start raising prices when they gain the confidence of Facebook users and their products become well-known.