How can social media transform rural India's landscape over the next 10 years

The rise of social media and its tremendous effect on society is remarkable phenomenon of our age. Its potential is great in India, which even with just 11% Internet penetration is already world’s third largest Internet population. Only 5% of Indians use Facebook, but this is third largest Facebook population in the world.

The user base is however largely urban (72% of the users). Several challenges inhibit expansion into rural areas. These include data limitations, slow speeds, unreliable power, computer illiteracy, English illiteracy, lack of adequate hardware and broadband infrastructure.

Despite these challenges, the rural Internet user growth rates are in excess of 50%. This growth is expected to sustain itself in the near future. Social media will benefit from this expansion. Its expansion into India’s rural hinterlands will be aided by four factors

1)   Increasing broadband penetration: The Government of India (GoI) has launched a INR 20,000 crore project to build National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN), also known as Bharat Broadband. This project is expected to connect 2,50,000 gram panchayats (covering more than 90%) and provide ‘last mile’ broadband connectivity to rural areas.

2)   Falling hardware prices: Falling computer hardware prices, along with rising incomes, has put computers within purchasing power of rural population. Small towns now drive the sales of PCs[1].

3)   Mobile devices: Mobile devices (feature phones, smart phones & tablets) have emerged as the game changer in bringing Internet to rural areas. Availability of smartphones and tablets in the sub-INR 5000 will ensure widespread availability of devices that can connect to Internet. Low cost tablets provided to students will also drive usage. Aakash 3 is expected to have SIM card slot[2]. In 2012, the number of mobile Internet users in rural areas grew 7.2 times.

4)   Mobile networks in rural areas: The penetration will depend upon the capacity of the rural telecom networks to handle additional data demands created by new users. Telecom companies are slowly rolling out 3G and 4G services across country. The data plans offered should be affordable for people. The 2G data rates are already the lowest in world but do not provide high speeds and capacity.

Other principle societal reasons driving the penetration of social media are increasing literacy & aspirational levels. As the number of people using Internet and social media rise, a number of changes will transform rural India.

At the most fundamental level, a social network is a virtual Habermasian public sphere; a virtual place where individuals united by a common concern or interest can come together for discussion or action irrespective of their social status. Once included in the network nobody can exclude them from it. This form of free, egalitarian, non-exclusive and unregulated public sphere will strengthen the sub-altern voices in rural areas.

The flow of information has been unidirectional till now. Radio, television and newspapers, the major traditional sources of information, have provided information to citizens. But there was little reverse flow of information. Social media will bring earthshaking changes, as people will discover a convenient medium to broadcast the information that they want. Aiding the process would be cheaper hardware, which will reduce the cost and effort of recording, processing and storing information. 

This can either be problematic or create opportunities to deliver better governance, services and products to rural areas. Following trends will need attention in order to avoid problems:

1)   Visibility to conflicts and violence: Issues related to land, environment, communal tensions, human rights violations, illegal mining and logging, which would take long time to reach traditional media (from far away regions) will now get more exposure. People can take pictures, videos and testimonies using cheap phones. They can quickly upload them online so that it gets quick coverage. They will also become more vocal against any law that is unpopular. As they discover newer interconnections, they will find it easier to mobilize, find common cause and disrupt traditional power balances.

2)   Rumors and intolerance: Social media is also a site for unsubstantiated news, rumors, and false claims. It provides platform to people irrespective of their views and attitudes. These might not always be positive. Potential for negative outbursts against societal groups, global media reports getting magnified/misrepresented and false rumors is high.

3)   Marginalization of traditional media: As the rural population discovers social media, it will lead to marginalization of mainstream media. It would be forced to cover issues garnering maximum visibility on social media sites. The erstwhile-disempowered users will, thus dictate the content. This content, however, would be uncontrolled and will reflect the ethos and prejudices of users. It would be unyielding to any benign outside pressures, which was not the case with the traditional media.

4)   Increased piracy: Users will discover mediums to share content amongst themselves using social media sites.

Positive benefits are many. These include

1)   Creation of content in local language: User generated content on social networks will solve the long-standing problem of unavailability of local language content on Internet. Users will create enormous amount of content through blogs, micro-blogs, social news and content sites like 9gag, Reddit and Delicious.

2)   Potential for micro-networks: Users will form micro-networks based on common interests and reasons. These micro-networks can be used to target welfare schemes, awareness campaigns, products and services.

3)   Women empowerment: Women, largely restricted to homes, are more likely to be exposed to this medium. They will use it for entertainment primarily and hopefully for education too.  Usage patterns will differ from men. The medium provides a fertile ground for new struggles between genders, as men might try to control women’s exposure to medium.

4)   Reduced violence: Cheap hardware and connectivity will make it easier to record, document and publicize any violence. This will deter potential criminals and trouble mongers. But at the same time there are chances of violence fuelled by rumors as mentioned before.

5)   Greater voice in medium: Currently, social media perceived weakly within mainstream politics. But if large numbers of rural populace embraces the medium, political parties will need effective social media strategies. They will have to guard themselves from potentially explosive false rumors and campaigns.

6)   Responsive Governance: Social media will provide a platform to various govt. departments to directly interact with the masses. Delhi police has a Facebook page on which it provides regular updates useful to public. Local govt. officials on social platforms can set up similar pages to provide more responsive governance at a minimal cost.

7)   Ease of sharing content and commercializing creativity: People can set up pages/profiles to display their creativity and commercialize it rather than setting up websites.

The expansion of Social media will throw up new opportunities:

1)   Platforms with features in local languages/concepts: First time users are ideal target for capture by newer players. Several features in social media are culture specific (Example: relationship status on Facebook). These will have to be modified and redesigned to reflect cultural tastes. Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam have big homegrown social networks. Newer players can develop similar sites to capture new users.

2)   Hardware and software needs: The social, cultural and geographical diversity of rural India will create demand for different kind of hardware and software packages. Devices will have to be robust, with easy input methods (voice to text services will reduce the effort required to type).

3)   Applications ecosystem: An ecosystem of applications catering to the needs of rural users will flourish. These applications will need to keep cultural sensitivities in mind.

In a cost conscious culture, hardware and other costs are often shared. People will do this with social networking devices too. However, they will not settle for low quality. They will use their ingenuity to get access to best quality social media sites. Their usage will reflect aspirational and functional needs: entertainment, lifestyle, commerce, education and empowerment. But it will largely be driven by hedonism.

India has parallels in past of expansion of such technologies into hinterlands like the arrival of satellite TV.  The exposure will take place in stages. Aspirational people, already exposed to urban lifestyles, will adopt it fastest. These pioneering users will bring in their families and friends. The pace will become slower and challenging as it percolates to the most backward sections in rural India. 

Sources: User and usage related data: Internet in Rural India by IAMAI, June 2012

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[1] http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/pc-sales-to-grow-15-percent-in-fy2013-mait-263318. Accessed on 13th January, 5:30 pm.

[2] http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-01-01/news/36094253_1_aakash-tablet-aakash-project-datawind. Accessed on 13th January, 6:30 pm.