For many people in the world, including in Indonesia, Facebook is more popular than the internet

Accessing Facebook, either via a computer or mobile device, requires an Internet connection. However, there are still many people who perceive that Facebook and the Internet are two "different" things. Based on the results of Helani Galpaya's research in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand, many respondents using Facebook stated that they were not Internet users.

Helani, currently the CEO of LIRNEasia, found that in Indonesia a number of respondents stated that they regularly access Facebook but stated that they did not use the Internet. The respondents had an Internet connection, mainly on their mobile devices, but only used it to access Facebook on a regular basis. "In their minds, the Internet does not exist, only Facebook," he said.

This anomaly encourages Quartz conducted similar research with GeoPoll in Indonesia and Nigeria. With 500 respondents in each country, Quartz found that 11% of respondents in Indonesia, or 36 out of 326 people who accessed Facebook, said they only accessed Facebook and did not access the Internet. In Nigeria, the figure is slightly lower, at 9%.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg last January, on people in developing countries, said, "People will walk into a cell phone shop and say 'I want to (access) Facebook.' People are really confused between Facebook and the Internet in a number of places."

Facebook's Head of Localization and Internationalization Iris Orriss added, "Awareness about (use) of the Internet in developing countries is very limited. In fact, for many users, Facebook is the Internet, because this service is the only application accessed."

For policymakers, businesses, startups, developers, nonprofits, publishers, and people looking to reach and communicate with audiences, it's clear that so many people in the world spend time on Facebook. If they want their mass communication to be effective, they must be able to use Facebook.

However, answering the question of whether communication or marketing strategies in developing countries through Facebook are guaranteed to be successful, it cannot be ascertained. It turns out that some of them have never even clicked on a link on Facebook to access the desired web page.

The survey revealed that for those who said they never clicked on a link shared on Facebook, 56% of those surveyed in Indonesia were people who previously admitted to accessing Facebook but not accessing the Internet. Only 25% of Internet accessors claim to be in this group.

(See also: Discussing "Income" Facebook and Twitter in Indonesia)

With 69 million active users last year, Facebook is the most popular Internet service in Indonesia. It's just that there needs to be education that the Internet is not just Facebook or even try to erode the view that Facebook and the Internet are two completely different things.

Rohan Samarajiva from LIRNEAsia commented, "This has serious implications. (Facebook) is a proprietary platform. It's not the open Internet that we love and value. (Nevertheless) Maybe Facebook will introduce them to the bigger concept of the Internet. on the Internet. They just don't know they're there."