That’s a regular question that I, or you, got these days following the booming of the social network in the country. No kidding: They have more than 35 million users in Indonesia already!
There are more than 642 million users are using this service globally. Indonesia is the second biggest Facebook users in the world, after United States. So, welcome to Indonesia, ‘the Republic of the Facebook‘!
Some Quora users have good answers on this, from technical perspective to cultural and social behaviour of Indonesian people.
“There are more people who know Facebook but have never heard of the Internet. Some thought Facebook was a BlackBerry invention so they bought BlackBerry devices just to get on Facebook,” says Aulia Masna.
“Put it simple, peer pressure. People using Facebook and telling their friends to join Facebook as well,” Rama Mamuaya explaines. “Indonesia is Facebook in real life…Indonesian culture is based on sharing, communication and solidarity….” Danny Hefer says.
“Many Indonesians like to show off, or don’t want to lose face,” Ronny Haryanto writes. “It’s called ‘Latah’,” Chris Prakoso adds.
“Because most of Indonesians are narcissistic,” Connie Panjenengan explains and “FB is the right place to show yourself off,” Dwi Rezeki Kirana Bangun says.
However, in term of updating or publishing, Facebook is much easier than, let’s say, blogging in a personal blog. “Facebook doesn’t require continuous attention. So posting something or reading updates can be done in a few minutes,” Ronny Haryanto adds another insight.
Anything else you can share why is Facebook so popular here in Indonesia? Write down your answer(s) below!
Not to mention that it’s free to access and post status updates on Facebook. Indo people like free stuffs. Imagine taking away the free BlackBerry Messenger service. I’m pretty sure many will go for iPhone or probably back to Nokia :)
@Michael Aulia: You’re totally right. We should also emphasize free stuff thing. Thanks for your feedbacks.
My dad uses facebook to get in touch with his former colleague. Sharing grand daughter photos, sharing some kind like inspirational quotes on his status and believe me, now Facebook is really easy to use. I just teach him like couple days and he’s a pro now on Facebook. :D
I think, Facebook is the cyber version of “Mangan ora mangan sing penting ngumpul” with free or at least ‘reasonable price’ :)
Not to mention the plethora of free games people play day in day out.
There are many reason for this phenomenon. There are 3 I could think of now.
1.) Indonesian, or everyone in general, oftentimes need attention from people. That’s why we often saw FB status like “Ihh…sebel banget!” or something like that. Lol This kind of post is only to ask his/her FB friends to reply…”Kamu kenapa??? Cerita donk” so FB can meet someone’s need for attention.
2.) We like to share with people, whether it is news, idea, question, or anger sometimes. ex: “Jakarta…Jakarta….jam segini masih aja macet kyk gini.” Again, FB made it easier for us to do that INSTANTLY for FREE.
3.) Facebook offers a great image gallery. As Connie Panjenengan said, a lot of Indonesian people are narcissistic, so where else in the world can someone take a cute picture in front of a mirror at the mall’s restroom and suddenly thousand of people can see it and like it ? Only in Facebook.
Ok…that’s just my 2 cents. Thank you, Budi, for bringing up this topic.
Conclusion: Indonesia could top off US in Facebook usage very soon :)
I got many experience with facebook. Facebook is not only change the way of communication with colleague. It’s opportunity !!
game, dont forget about it, even some game require premium items (its mean buy using real money) they still playable for free.