Spread of the Internet into rural areas is a GAME-CHANGER
AS MORE UPCOUNTRY THAIS MOVE ONLINE, A MAJOR BUSINESS RETHINK IS INEVITABLE
There are two related ways to tell if a “tipping point” in lifestyle has arrived. The first, albeit conventional, is when a technological innovation becomes cheap enough to trigger mass production, which leads to competition and ever-cheaper products. The other is when users of a technology don’t even realise this idea was considered absolutely brilliant not so long ago. These unaware users just go with the gathering flow, simply because it’s within their power to do so.
A recent survey on Internet “newcomers” in Thailand, commissioned by GroupM Thailand, produced interesting results. Many of those surveyed are using cheap mobile phones to access news and other information online – without ever having used the Web before. Many still aren’t sure what the Internet is. They have never used a computer, a laptop or a tablet. Now they’re reading the news on mobile phones simply because they’ve learned it’s possible.
These “Net newbies” are growing in number in the less-developed areas of the country and are having a big influence on where wi-fi is made available. Just as urban coffee shops once did, more and more food shops and grooming salons upcountry are installing routers to service customers who are anything but teenagers in trendy clothes. The customers arrive with mobile phones costing between Bt1,000 and Bt2,000 and want to plug into the news or find ways to promote their own businesses through Facebook or the Line application.
The survey’s key findings are intriguing. Many respondents said they’d “lost their Internet virginity” via smartphones, meaning that, before they bought the gadgets, they’d never surfed the World Wide Web. They’d never communicated by email. And, although they’d heard of Facebook, they didn’t understand what it had to do with the Internet.
They did not know what made Facebook or Line possible.
The newbies don’t own smartphones to show off. They buy only what serves their needs. Brand names don’t influence them. Anything that’s cheap and enables them to talk to friends, read the news or watch videos is fine. Second-hand phones are popular. In a way, they are the real “smart users” of smartphones, because they don’t pay for extras or add-ons that are of no use to them.
These people were kept away from the Internet because buying a computer and setting up a router at home was too expensive or too difficult. A linked-in phone and simple applications provided the obvious solution. And their phones don’t require a router or wi-fi subscription.
They still watch TV a lot, but they increasingly get their news content from Facebook or other sites that have become familiar. Asked why, they reply that the news on their phones is more up to date than what’s offered in the newspapers and on TV.
Another big reason the newbies are hooking up via smartphones is economic. They say they can “meet” old friends without spending much or anything at all, stay apprised of current affairs without buying newspapers, and listen to music or watch music videos without having to pay for them.
This phenomenon is bound to prompt a large-scale business rethink when it comes to online content, analysts say. When Internet utilisation goes beyond urban areas and reaches a great number of people who never used the technology before, policies that have largely catered to young urbanites will have to be significantly adjusted. This is a good thing about a “tipping point”, because it can put an end to the “top-down” business strategy, which will have to give way to what truly comes up from the bottom.
