Networked by
Rainie and Wellman part I has explained the process on how we are
becoming networked individuals very well. Using easy to digest language, I like
the way they divided the process into three different evolutions: social
network, internet, and mobile. I gave particular attention to the mobile
revolution part, mainly because it is very relevant with technological
revolution in Indonesia. I agree with Rainie and Wellman when they
argued that mobile phones are crucial in less-developed countries. For majority
of Indonesians, it is indeed the first access to ICTs particularly the internet.
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| Source: http://www.jeffsangeorge.com/keeping-up-with-facebook-pages/ |
In 2012, internet penetration through computers & broadband access in Indonesia is still very low
with only less than 10 percent of population has access to the technology. Although
the number of internet users has grown significantly in the last five years, it
is also worth to note that around 48% of users were accessing the internet
through their mobile phones while majority of users only use the internet for
social-networking activities. As of November 2011, Indonesia is a home to the
second largest Facebook community in the world with 40.8 million users and the third largest Twitter community with
6.2 million accounts (summarized from multiple resources).
Focusing on social networking activities, it has been argued
that for many Indonesians, social networking is the only internet access they
are familiar with (Wibisono & Naidu, 2012). It is even said that, “many
people who are not familiar with the Internet do not realize that Facebook is
part of the Internet, and many do not bother to do anything else on the
internet and are barely aware that they can use the browser button on their
phone to go online” -interview with Danny Oei, co-founder of a homegrown social
networking MindTalk- (Wibisono & Naidu, 2012). The rapid penetration of
social networking via mobile phones is mostly caused by many cheap smartphones
available in the market, which usually bundled with social-networking package
that enable users to easily access their social-network account.
Wibisono, S. and Naidu, S. (2012, 2 February). For Many
Indonesians, ‘Facebook’ is the Only Internet. Jakarta Globe. Article is
available from (English) – reposted in Bangkok Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/world-updates/278047/for-many-indonesians-fesbuk-is-the-only-internet
That's so fascinating about the majority of users only using the internet for social media. Do you think this is due to the devices available to them and how easy apps are? Did you find any statistics on the use of in-home internet (dial-up or broadband) vs public wifi?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing information from another country. I appreciate you looking at this globally.
Hi Allison, for me as an Indonesian, it is rather sad to think that there are many potentials that have yet been explored from the internet. I read some analysis about it, first it is because many telco providers offered free Facebook in your phone plan while you have to pay for data plan and internet access. Second, public wifi is only available in big cities. Third, as a very collective culture, social networking activities predominates online activities in the country. According to 2014 data, broadband internet access only reached 16% of the population. So yes, many things we have to do to improve web 2.0 learning.
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