Reader Response Draft 3

In the article “Where ISN’T social media ubiquitous?”, Levi (2012) suggests that the lack of support for certain languages by social networks is one of the reasons why social media is not widely used in certain jurisdictions. Nevertheless, where the primary language of users is not supported, the users are able to access the networks using their second language.Even so, there are places where certain languages may be intentionally omitted by social networks due to political sensitivities. 

While the above-mentioned reasons are valid, I find that the article would have been more complete had the author addressed the more fundamental issue of the curtailment on the use of social media in jurisdictions which do not have the requisite Internet infrastructure for widespread infrastructure usage. Apart from this, the use of social networks may be curtailed when certain governments intentionally block certain networks from its people or limit public access only to a government-controlled network. 

Accessing social media requires the Internet and an Internet-enabled gadget such as a computer or a smart phone. Less developed and poorer countries like Congo and Burundi, both struggling with providing its people with basic necessities like food and clean water, currently do not have the resources to build and construct the necessary telecoms infrastructure to enable widespread and cost-efficient Internet usage. Indeed, these countries are amongst the countries with the least percentage of individuals using the Internet, with Internet penetration rates amongst adults in those countries currently as low as less than 2%.

Aside from infrastructural-related issues, the author highlighted that while language could be a barrier to access social media, this might be alleviated by way of a second language used by the users. My view is that it is only a matter of time for which social media will gradually move to include new languages to serve more communities. Take Myanmar for instance. Most of the Burmese have little or no online and therefore social media experience given that there are more than 100 ethnic minority languages.  Efforts were made to progressively include the Burmese into the online community. Squar, a local-language social media site created by Rita Nguyen, aimed specifically at connecting the long-isolated country’s youth, was launched in 2014. With the help of international technology investors who are looking for opportunities to invest in pioneer digital platforms in the countries with less developed infrastructure or using a less influential language, it may be just a matter of time that more and more people who are adept at only certain minority languages become connected to social media platforms. 

Notwithstanding the infrastructural and language barrier issues discussed above, the limitation of language is no longer the barrier when governments deliberately blocks social media sites from their people. One such example is North Korea, where the Internet is not made generally available to the public in the country. The citizens of North Korea are only allowed access to the country’s own intranet. This has no doubt deprived the users from accessing popular social media platforms, which have already reached millions of people at an unprecedented speed, despite the fact that infrastructure networks in the country may actually allow the citizens to do so. 

There are also other countries, including Iran and China, that monitor and block social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus in their countries. However, it appears that given technological advancement, millions of people are able to resort to proxy servers to bypass the restrictions and gain access to such social sites.With available resources and  technological know-how, it seems that it may be jus a matter of time that social media can reach everyone and be ubiquitous everywhere. Infrastructure, language and government policies, while barriers to the widespread use of social media, can seemingly be circumvented as countries develop and prosper and while technology improves.
 (638 words) 

References:

Levi, D. (Jul 24, 2012). Where ISN’T social media ubiquitous? [Web log post]. Retreive from: http://www.etondigital.com/where-isnt-social-media-ubiquitous/

International Telecommunications Union (Geneva). (Jun, 2013). Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012. Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/en/itu-d/statistics/documents/statistics/2013/individualsinternet_2000-2012.xls 

Scott, M. (Feb 23, 2014). Entrepreneur's Social-Media Site Tailor-Made for Myanmar. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2014/02/23/entrepreneur-creates-social-media-site-tailor-made-for-myanmar/

Myers, C. (Feb 11, 2013). Google and Facebook remain tentative in Myanmar. Myanmar Times. Retrieved from: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/special-features/159-digital-communications/4094-google-and-facebook-remain-tentative-in-myanmar.html

Sedaghat, N. (March 17, 2014). North Korea exposed: Censorship in the world’s most secretive state. Canadian Journalist For Free Expression. Retrieved from: https://cjfe.org/resources/features/north-korea-exposed-censorship-world’s-most-secretive-state.