(Feature) – Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook might not get excited by the numbers but there is a revolution taking place in Burma.
It’s happening in Internet cafes, businesses and in the homes of the few who can afford an Internet connection. And it is leaping to GSM mobile phones for those Burmese citizens who want to stay connected on the move.
Facebook is big for the small group of Internet users in Rangoon and peppered around the country. Whereas Zuckerberg’s social media empire numbers a massive 500 billion users and counting, Burma’s stake in that is less than a measly one-tenth of one per cent. But with a guesstimate of 80 per cent of Burma’s 500,000 Internet users having a Facebook account, Facebook is top dog.Htet Aung, from a Burmese IT company, said, “In the past, the people checked their Gmail accounts first, now they open their Facebook accounts first. About 80 per cent of Internet users use Facebook.”
Out of the remaining 20 per cent, Htet Aung claims at least half would like to use it but can’t because of their employers, and the other half don’t know how to use it.
Use and abuse might be the more apt way to describe Facebook use in a country torn between military dictatorship and an experiment in what the newly elected government calls “disciplined democracy.” If you want to see that fight, check out the rants and raves on Burmese Facebook pages as citizens and activists do battle with Internet-savvy government representatives. The rants can get personal and bitter, but they are open for all those with Internet access to see.
When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February due to “Arab Spring” protests on the streets on Cairo, Burmese Internet users jumped into action with a Facebook campaign—“Just Do It Against Military Dictatorship.” But despite the online rhetoric, Cairo’s Internet-led revolution was not replicated in Rangoon, despite the Facebook campaigners’ best efforts. More than 21 per cent of Egyptians use the Internet compared with about 1 per cent of the Burmese population.
Internet-wise, Burma is close to the bottom of the pile worldwide as far as per capita Internet use and it has appeared slow to open up to the communications revolution that is sweeping much of the world, partly due to citizens’ low incomes and a military-dominated government trying to keep a clamp on how citizens use the Internet.
But the pace of change is picking up and Facebook is on the leading edge of this mini-rrevolution. Even Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi commented on it after her release from house arrest in November 2010—incarceration that included no mobile phone or Internet line. “I found that the IT revolution and communications technology development has reached Burma,” she told Mizzima in an interview after her release. She said she could not be sure about the level of development, because she was unclear on how Burma compared with the rest of the world in terms of the IT revolution.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is trying to take advantage of that revolution. Their party—technically defunct according to the government—has stepped up its online presence after their leader’s release from house arrest and they are active in keeping people informed of their activities through their Facebook account.
Suu Kyi, however, missed out personally—the name “Aung San Suu Kyi” has been snapped up by several Facebook account holders to promote her and her struggle for democracy in Burma.
For those who are connected, Facebook serves a number of functions—dissemination of news, organizing activities, meeting friends, free advertisements for private businesses, and for the exchange of technology.
Viewing and swapping news from home and abroad is one of the reasons for Facebook’s popularity. Exile media Web sites are blocked by the government and the law prohibits Internet cafes from logging into these sites—unless users get around this using a proxy site, the normal practice. But Facebook is open and so news gets passed around.
Htet Aung said his Gtalk status says see his picture at his Facebook account, rather than on Gtalk. Users don’t need to post their photos on Gtalk, he said.
“Facebook is very useful here as almost all Internet users are using it. The social groups can share their knowledge, activities and news on it, for instance, forming charity and donation groups, planting saplings, and even travel and tour companies advertise their businesses on their Facebook accounts. Also, the political parties conduct their canvassing work on this social network too,” Htet Aung said.
This claim was supported by the Peace and Diversity Party which contested in the 2010 general election.
Party chairman Nay Myo Wei said they would not have been able to form a party if not for the Internet. “Our party has no rich people. No one can give party funds. All of our party founders are poor people,” he said, noting that they were disseminating the party policy, ideas and statements through Facebook.
Facebook is popular among the people in Burma because users do not need to use a proxy server to log in to Facebook accounts. Plus there is an added bonus—Internet online games, such as Farm Village, City Village, Empire and Allies, are included in this network, adding to the medium’s popularity.
“For those who are away from home, the games can make us forget our loneliness,” said Ma Seint, who is doing her postgraduate course in Thailand and appears addicted to Facebook. “I log on as soon as I get up and log out only when I go to bed.”
Maung Maung, who is doing his postgraduate course in IT security, said: “Social networks are always improving their Web sites to make them user-friendly. At the same time, the resources for the users are getting easier too.”
He lists the social networks used in Burma as Facebook, Twitter, Friendfinder, Netlog, and the recently launched Google+ and Person.com.
But “only Facebook can be visited easily,” Maung Maung told Mizzima.
Some use these social networks for exchanging views on political affairs at home and abroad and to study political news.
Ma Seint said she could see the competition between pro-democracy activists and pro-government forces. “Some of them are neutral. I like this situation. We can know all the news including gossip here. And also we never miss both foreign and domestic affairs by visiting these social websites. We can also study the views of many people here.”
But there is a downside, according to Ma Seint.
“Everybody included in the friend list can talk to each other when they are online. Then they start indecent talk. As soon as I replied to the call, the caller sent a link but this was a sex link. Then I closed my chat window.”
As one Internet café owner noted, such behaviour was experienced by men as well.
Also, there are disinformation campaigns, personal attacks and attacks on pro-democracy activists. For instance, Aung San Suu Kyi gets hammered, and disinformation campaigns claim environmentalists are foreign-funded and they will stage protests.
Those people who offer false information on Facebook do not provide true personal information on their accounts and some of them are believed to be paid government agents following the motto: “attack media with media.”
Some employers prohibit the use of social networks during business hours because of the online games and time wasted playing and chatting online.
Care has to be taken by Facebook users, according to Maung Maung. Some users are exploited by other users intent on misusing the social network.
Ma Seint, who said she was always on this social network, said she is careful who she befriends and who she accepts when they try to be her friend.
Maung Maung believes the evil things on the network—the bad mouthing, the indecent talk, the political games—will gradually disappear as the educational development level of the country improves.
Facebook seems here to stay. And from the latest announcement of the Myanmar Telecommunication Department, it is beginning to pop up on mobile phones. GSM phone subscribers could use the Internet on their mobiles starting from June 21. About 100,000 people applied for these GSM phones.
Of course, Zuckerberg of Facebook might not be impressed by the numbers in this country of 60 million. But the communications revolution appears unlikely to stop and every little bit counts for this young American multi-billion-dollar entrepreneur with his sights on 1 billion worldwide users.
