Introduction
As technology continues to develop, we continue to create more and more ways to communicate. With the advent of the Internet, later followed by the World Wide Web, the way we communicate with others has changed dramatically. Of the many forms of communication that have come from the World Wide Web, one of the most notable is social media. Those living in the United States are likely quite familiar with social media, and most have access to it. However, social media has grown differently in other countries. Social media is being widely adopted in the Asian countries of Nepal, China, and India and have become and important means of communication and expression in their cultures.Nepal
Social media has
only recently become a part of Nepal but is being adopted rapidly.
Despite being considered behind technologically, Nepal has quickly
adopted information technology, connecting them individually to one
another and the world. According to data from The World Bank for
2011, Nepal has a population of nearly 30.5 million people, 43.81% or
nearly 13.5 million Nepalese have a mobile phone subscription, while
only about 9% or less than 3 million Nepalese have Internet access
[1]. Due to socioeconomic gaps in Nepalese society as well as the
varying terrain – from the tallest peaks in the world to just above
sea level – very few people have access to The Internet, and under
half have mobile phones. According to Ghanashyam Sharma and Bal
Kirshna Sharma, access to The Internet and social media is changing
the cultural structures in Nepal as the youth adopt popular culture
from around the world: challenging the knowledge controlled by Janne
and (Nepalese wise men) educators, the inaction of politicians, and
the traditional hierarchical culture of Nepal [2].
From my own
interviews with Nepalese students who came to St. Cloud State
University (United States, Minnesota) for international study, I
learned that social media was commonly used by young people in cities
and that it was common for them to have Internet access and mobile
phones, and also learned there was much more limited technology in
other areas of Nepal. Some of the common services used in Nepal
include facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Blogspot, LinkedIn, and Blogger.
According to socialbakers, a social network analysis site, there are
nearly 2 million facebook users in Nepal which is about 81% of the
online population and 6.65% of the total population of Nepal [3].
Additionally, according to Alexa, a website analysis site, facebook
is the most popular site in Nepal, YouTube is third most popular,
Blogspot is 6th, Twitter 12th, LinkedIn 13th,
and Blogger 14th [4].
There is limited
data published on the number of Nepalese users of the preceding
sites, but considering facebook is the most used and only reaches
6.65% of the total population, we can assume the descending sites
have fewer users, but still a significant enough number to receive a
high popularity ranking. When considering the number of Nepalese who
have mobile phone access versus Internet access and the number of
facebook users being around 81% of the online population, we can
conclude that these websites are mainly used by those with Internet
access rather than those with mobile phones. This conclusion seems
sensible due to the lack of information infrastructure in Nepal. To
better understand the Information infrastructure in Nepal, we can
draw on Sharma and Sharma's study which detailed that not only is
Internet access rare outside of cities, but it is also slow and
unreliable where it is available, as well as in their discussion of
power shortages in cities limiting access to The Internet [2].
Despite the lack
of well-developed infrastructure, Nepalese continue to use social
media in cities, including for political purposes. Nepal has recently
become a democratic country after the Maoist Insurgency, but despite
this, the Nepalese government has yet to draft a Constitution [5]. In
response to this, Nepalese youth have used social media to demand a
functioning government. According to Voice of America, several
protests were organized in May of 2011 in Nepal through social
networking sites such as facebook by a group called NepalUnites [6].
They go on to explain that the constitution for Nepal was to have
been drafted by May 2010, but the government had already missed two
deadlines [6]. Another source, GlobalVoicesOnline, pointed out that
this protest was unique in its use of social media, while also
quoting popular Nepali blogger Deepak Aryal, and columnist C K Lal,
who criticized the protests by bringing up that the lower classes
could not access social media, and that the protesters were
privileged class youths [7]. This shows us that Nepalese have begun
to use social media as a means of political activism, but also brings
up a deep class rift in Nepal that is reflected by who has access to
social media.
Despite social
media being recently adopted by Nepal, it's use by journalists also
shows that it has quickly gained importance. According to two surveys
of Nepalese journalists, the majority of Nepalese journalists use
social media for a variety of purposes including blogging,
information gathering, and communicating with one another [8]. They
also found the majority of journalists believe social media is
important in news reporting [8]. It is clear that social media has
begun to play an important role in Nepal, and that it will continue
expanding. Although the majority of Nepalese do not have access to
social media, and those who do are mostly youths of privileged
socioeconomic status living in urban areas, it is still being used
for a variety of purposes including journalism, political activism,
and education. Although it may be some time before most of Nepal has
access to social media, it appears to be a significant part of the
countries media.
China
China is the worlds
largest user of social media, but this is not reflected by their use
of websites such as Twitter and facebook. Twitter and facebook are
blocked in China, and are unlikely to gain popularity if unblocked
due to business regulations and the existence of already popular
localized services [9]. China has nearly 1.34 billion people, about
73.19% or nearly 1 billion people in china have a mobile phone
subscription, and about 38.4% have internet access, all as of 2011
[1]. The majority of Chinese have access to social media by mobile
phone, which is where the majority of social media use lies in China.
This can be understood from the larger base of users that have mobile
phone subscriptions – currently the majority of China – while
only a little over a third have internet access, which is only people
who have access to the internet and not their own subscription like
mobile phone users have.
One of the most
popular services in China is a mobile social media network called QQ,
which started allowing access to social media via cell phones in the
90's and still does [9]. Another network called Qzone, which was
developed from the QQ user base, is similar to facebook [9]. QQ has
700 million users active monthly, while Qzone has 500 million users
active monthly [9]. This means out of nearly 1 billion people who
have mobile phones in China, almost 70% of them use social media. But
this is not the only service used, other services include: Sina
Weibo, a Twitter-like service, has 400 million users, Tencent Weibo,
a Twitter-like service owned by the creators of QQ, has 200-250
million users, WeiXin, a voice-messaging service has 100 million
users, Douban, a MySpace-like service has over 100 million users, and
Renren, another facebook-like has 100 million users [9]. It is
estimated that the combined total users of social media is about 1
billion Chinese [9]. This means nearly everyone who has a mobile
phone in China is using it for at least one form of social media, and
that over 70% of the population is using at least one form of social
media. China differs greatly from most other countries in that it
almost exclusively uses it's own social media services.
One of the few
services used by China that is not local is LinkedIn, a professional
social-networking site that is mostly used for business purposes.
However, only about 2 million Chinese professionals use Linked-In
[9]. Two million barely scratches the surface of the Chinese social
media world, and just reinforces the fact that there are few
outsiders in Chinese social media. Understandably, the amount of
censorship in China such as blocking facebook and Twitter, and the
almost exclusively localized social media services used in China
leads to the Chinese people being largely cut off from direct
international communication. Although some Chinese still communicate
with the outside world, the majority remain inside their own
localized services while being forbidden from using most
international services by the government. This is one of the main
issues in China versus Nepal and India. It would not be unheard of
that the others have censored things, but China is famous for the
lengths it goes to to censor The Internet.
There are
political activists who attempt to use The Internet to express their
views in China, but as detailed in a U.S. congressional report on
Chinese censorship, not only are these people and their messages
censored, but they are also detained, imprisoned for extended periods
of time, and in some cases tortured [10]. The report also goes on to
explain that localized social media in China is governed such that
the state can easily censor people through it, that China has gone to
great lengths in obtaining technology to track down and monitor
online dissenters, and do not make it clear to their people what they
consider illegal activities until they show up at their doors [10].
The extensive censorship and actions taken against those attempting
to exercise free political speech helps explain why services such as
facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are not allowed in China, while their
own services that are built with censorship governance are the only
options available.
One of the primary
uses of social media is to find peers recommendations online for
everyday consumer choices, partly due to a lack of trust in formal
institutions [11]. This lack of trust in formal institutions by users
of social media can be understood as a response to China's censorship
of free speech and opposing views, the government itself being a
ubiquitous formal institution. Among the users of social media in
China, the main commercial uses of social media are: learning about
products and services, sharing news and reviews about products and
services, developing social circles, and reading others opinions
[11]. This shows that many Chinese use social media for consumer
purposes and to share their views on non-political topics with many
different people they might not otherwise be able to reach. Even
though censorship is a powerful, widespread machine in China, social
media still manages to be ubiquitous, and the Chinese have developed
their own social media services, many of which are used for consumer
recommendations and non-political opinions.
India
India is a growing
world power and a world leader in technology. As is expected in a
country that is becoming increasingly important in the world stage
and is a leader in technology, India is also a user of social media.
According to data published by The World Bank for 2011, The
population of India is nearly 1.25 billion people, 72% of which, or
nearly 900 million, have a mobile phone subscription, while only
about 10% or about 125 million Indians have Internet access [1].
Although Internet access is limited in India, the majority of Indians
have mobile phone subscriptions. According to Indian Media, written
by Adrian Athique, the majority of Indians who have Internet access
are of privileged class and educated, and are living in urban
technology hubs [12]. He also notes that an increase in mobile
internet technologies is starting to allow Internet access to the
lower classes via mobile phones [12]. Additionally, he goes on to
point out that social media has started to become popular in India,
including blogging about film and politics and as a means of personal
expression, while he also brings up the importance of Internet cafes
in bringing access to users in urban locations [12].
Despite limited
access to The Internet by rural Indians, it has become a popular
means of expression for those who are educated and of privileged
class. According to socialbakers, India has about 61 million facebook
users, which makes up about two thirds of the online population, but
only about 5% of the total population [13]. Based on a report on
Indian social media published by Open Source Media in December of
2010, facebook has become the most popular social media site in
India, while some other popular sites include Orkut, – a Google
service similar to face book (created long before Google+) – which
was more popular than facebook in India until July 2010, and had
nearly 9 million Indian users in 2009, LinkedIn, which had 3.4
million Indian users in November 2009, YouTube, which had 5 million
Indian users in 2008, Twitter, which had 8 million Indian users by
the end of 2010, various blogging services including Blogspot, and
various SMS (Short Message Service, which is mobile phone texting)
including local services SMSGupShup and Vakow [14].
Based on these
numbers, it is clear that facebook has become a significant social
media service, serving over half of Indian Internet users, while
other sites such as Orkut, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn are also
popular services. Based on the growing trends of social media use, we
can assume that these sites have gained many more users since the
respective dates their user statistics were reported, with the
exception of Orkut, which has largely been replaced by facebook. The
importance of social media in India is further reinforced by it's use
for political purposes. According to the Open Source Media report,
The Congress party used YouTube as part of their 2009 election
campaign, numerous politicians used blogging to reach young Indians
during the same election, and it also included a photo showing the
Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh's facebook page [14]. In
addition, it briefly discusses the use of social media in political
activism including examples of social media pressuring traditional
media into investigating Minister A. Raja of the IT and
Communications ministry, eventually resulting in his resignation, as
well as protests over civilian killings in Kashmir valley, declaring
it an abuse of human rights [14].
The use of social
media by politicians to reach out to India's youth and to support
their electoral campaigns shows that politicians believe social media
is important when it comes to connecting to the country. The use of
social media by various bloggers also shows that political concerns
are expressed through this channel, and in some cases result in
action being taken, such as the resignation of the aforementioned IT
and Communications Minister. Overall, social media has been quickly
embraced in India despite limited Internet access. Although most
Internet users are of privileged classes, the development of mobile
networks has begun to increase the ability of the lower classes to
access these same resources. A variety of social media services are
used including facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Orkut.
Social media is used for a variety of purposes including personal
expression, blogging, politics and political activism, and film
discussion.
Conclusion
Social media has
been adopted quickly in China, Nepal and India. Indian and Nepalese
have limited access to The Internet, but still use it for many
purposes. China has adopted social media widely despite extreme
government censorship, with most users accessing social media via
mobile phone. Social media is used politically in all three
countries, to protest the government failure to draft a constitution
in Nepal, to question government actions in India and for politicians
to reach the Indian people, and to express dissent in China,
resulting in censorship and punishment by the government. India and
Nepal have widely adopted the social media sites used
internationally, while China has only been allowed to access
localized services. Social media is also used for a variety of
purposes including journalism, consumerism, sharing views with many
people, and in finding educational resources. Although most of these
countries have limited Internet penetration, the development of
mobile Internet technologies is starting to allow lower classes to
access social media, which is mainly used by the educated and
privileged in India and Nepal. These countries all have adapted
social media in similar and different ways, and are at different
stages in their development of its use. Overall, despite the
differences in who is able to use social media and for what, it has
become a significant means of communication and expression in these
countries.
Works Cited
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