Introduction
Social media has only recently become a
part of Nepal but is being rapidly adopted. Despite being considered
technologically behind, 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 (World Bank).
Due to socio-economic 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 are changing the
cultural structures in Nepal as the youth adopt popular culture from
around the world, challenging the knowledge controlled by Janne
(Nepalese wisemen) and educators, the inaction of politicians, and
the traditional hierarchical culture of Nepal, while noting that
those the were able to study were mostly privileged Nepalese youth
who lived in urban areas (Sharma and Sharma). 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 especially mobile phones,
and that there is 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 (socialbakers).
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 (Alexa). 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 the most popular site, is around 81% of the
online population, we can conclude that either 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
Sharmas study which detailed that not only is Internet rate outside
the cities, but it is also slow and unreliable where it is available,
and in there discussion of power shortages in cities limiting access
(Sharma and Sharma). 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 (BBC). 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
(Voice of America). 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 (Voice of America). 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 the lower class could not access social media, and that the
protesters were privileged class youth (GlobalVociesOnline). 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, communicating with one another; They also
found the majority of journalists believe social media is important
in news reporting (NepalMonitor). 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 is the worlds largest users 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 allowed due to business
regulations and the existence of already popular localized services
(Fong). 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 (World Bank). In 2003,
6.22% had internet access and 20.87% had mobile phone subscriptions
(World Bank). The majority of Chinese have access to social media by
mobile phone, which is where the majority of social media use lies.
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 today, 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 allowed
access to social media on cell phones in the 90's and still does,
while another network called Qzone developed from QQ; Qzone is
similar to facebook and gains many of its users from QQ (Fong). QQ
has 700 million users active monthly, while Qzone has 500 million
users active monthly (Fong). 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
(Fong). It is estimated that the combined total users of social media
is about 1 billion Chinese (Fong). 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 Linked-In, a
professional social-networking site that is mostly used for business
purposes. However, only about 2 million Chinese professionals use
Linked-In (Fong). 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 –
according to socialbakers only about 600,000 chinese have managed to
find a way to get on facebook – and the almost exclusively
localized social media services used in China leads to Chinese being
largely cut off from direct international communication
(socialbakers). 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
(U.S. Congress). The report also goes on to explain that localized
social media in China is governed for 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 make
it clear to their people what is considered illegal activity until
they show up at their doors (U.S. Congress). 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 availability.
In fact, one of the primary uses of social media is to find
recommendations of peers online when it comes everyday consumer
choices due to a lack of trust in formal instutitions (Magni and
Atsmon). 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 (Magni and
Atsmon). This shows that many Chinese use social media for consumer
purposes, allowing them 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.
India is one of the growing world
powers today, and is 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 (World
Bank). 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 living in urban
technology hubs, while also noting that an increase in mobile
internet technologies is starting to allow Internet access to the
lower classes via mobile phones (Athique). He also 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 also bringing up the importance of internet cafes
in bringing access to users in urban locations (Athique). 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 (socialbakers).
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 in India than facebook 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 (OSC).
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 previous report, The Congress party used YouTube as part of their
2009 election campaign, as well as numerous politicians using
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 (OSC). 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 (OSC). 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. Essentially, social media has become an important
form of communication and expression in India in recent years despite
limited access by many groups.
Conclusion
No comments:
Post a Comment