9.41 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

Facebook capital of the world

Published
By AFP

The world’s third largest community of Facebook users is Indonesia. It has become a showcase for the social network’s global power and reach.

It connects over 40 million people within the vast archipelago and for many of them Facebook is the Internet.

Mrs. Yetti Sugiati is a Jakarta housewhife who spends ten hours a day on Facebook.

“I open facebook whenever I have the chance because I want to check on my daughters since they are always traveling for work. And also to follow the latest developments and events in other countries like the death of an actress or the latest on politics and    economics in the Middle East."

In a country where the majority of people live on less than $2 dollars a day, only about 10-percent use computers to access the intenet.

Mobile phones sold at low-cost come already bundled with the social networking site application making it easily accesible for millions of users.

And while on Facebook many Indonesians play games, a fact that does not escape advertisers.

Surveys show that about 65 percent of internet advertisements are directed at games.

That’s why Rovio - the company behind the smash-hit Angry Birds - recently chose the Indonesian capital Jakarta for the game's worldwide launch on Facebook.

"It's the Facebook capital of the world, Jakarta, 17 million in the greater Jakarta have active accounts so it is definitely the right place to be, Indonesia 43 million connected Facebook fans, so I think we're in the right place at the right time"

But, in the world's most populous Muslim nation, known for its strong religious and cultural beliefs, Facebook isn’t fun and games for everyone.
 
The website’s ability to smash through social norms has raised the ire of Islamic clerics, who have called for a ban, arguing that it allows improper mingling between the sexes and encourages pornography and illicit sex.

For now, however, Indonesia’s 43-million Facebook users will continue their insatiable need to update their status and fling birds at egg-stealing pigs.