Jon Russell: Social Media In Thailand

There’s been little coverage of a recent BBC World Service poll into internet usage worldwide despite its interesting findings – the main conclusion being “four in five adults questioned regard internet access as their fundamental right”.

From an Asian stand-point the research is interesting. Southeast Asia is well represented, with the 26 countries canvassed including Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

Southeast Asian trends

A few general recurring points from the three Southeast Asian countries are below. Internet users in each are…

– concerned about content

– big users of social networking websites

– comfortable using the internet for dating – particularly in Philippines and Indonesia

– more likely to say they can cope without the internet, opposite of China, Japan, South Korea

The conclusions for each of the three are below in full.

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Thailand

While Thai web users believe very strongly that internet access should be a fundamental right (91%), they emerge as somewhat more wary than average about expressing their opinions online—58 per cent disagree that the internet is a safe place to do this, compared to a little over two in five who agree (42%).

It seems likely that Thailand’s lese-majeste laws (an example of which is here) are the primary cause for Thai concern over expression opinion online, particularly compared to opinions in Indonesia and Philippines.

A higher proportion than average (83%) agrees that the internet has increased their freedom.

This is consistent across all three countries.

Social networking sites are also more popular in Thailand than in many other countries—two-thirds of Thai web users say they enjoy spending their spare time on such sites.

As discussed before social networks rapidly growing in Thailand, and Southeast Asia, so much so that it is Facebook’s second fastest growing country.

Fraud is the main public concern relating to the internet across the 26 countries, violent and explicit content is clearly the greatest worry for Thai respondents (42%).

Concern for web content in Thailand is interesting.

On one hand, it could be argued that lese-majeste and the country ICT ministry’s over-zealous internet controlling has developed this worry, planted the seed. Alternatively, the fact that Thais worry can be said to justify the MICT’s actions.

I tend to go with the former argument given that I don’t know anyone who supports the MICT and its policies.

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Philippines

The main internet-related concern among respondents in all countries surveyed is fraud (32%), followed by violent and explicit content (27%). But the picture among Filipino respondents differs dramatically, with 71 per cent citing violent and explicit content as their main worry: this rate is much higher than in any other country surveyed.

This suggests that Thailand’s concern over content is not as heightened as first assumed.

Users in the Philippines are similar to those in Indonesia in citing the internet’s usefulness for communicating and interacting with others as its most valued aspect (48%).

Again, coupled with Thailand and Indonesia, this conclusion falls in line with the huge growth of social media in Southeast Asia. See below more.

They, like Indonesians, are enthusiastic users of sites like Facebook or MySpace (88%), and—like users in Pakistan, India and Indonesia—are more likely than average to agree that the internet is a good place to meet potential romantic partners (42%), and that it is a safe place to express opinions (65%).

Along with internet users in Pakistan, those in the Philippines are much more likely than others to agree that they could cope without the internet (79% vs the overall average of 55%)

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Indonesia

The ability to connect with others is the most appreciated aspect of the internet among Indonesian users—46 per cent, a larger proportion than in most other Asian countries, say communication and interaction with others is what they value most.

Consistent with this is the above-average popularity of social networking in Indonesia: 85 per cent of Indonesian web users say they enjoy using sites like Facebook or MySpace. In this, they resemble users in the Philippines.

The theme of social networking runs across all three Southeast Asian representatives

Internet users in Indonesia, along with those in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, are more likely than average to agree the internet is a good place to make romantic connections, and that it is a safe place to express opinions.

Indonesian users attribute less-than-average importance to the internet, are more likely to say they could cope without it, and less likely to agree it is a fundamental right.

This is the distinct opposite to East Asian countries where the internet is faster and more reliable.

While fraud is the number one concern overall, Indonesians (44%) are more likely than other nationalities, including other Asian groups, to cite this as their most pressing concern.

A PDF of the BBC report can be downloaded here.