Let's stop 'playing the Internet'

Reading that today one year on, I realise I still had a lot to learn, both about the potential of the Internet in Thailand but also about the things that keep that full potential just out of reach.  Even at the grand old age of one, a birthday is a time to reflect and share the lessons we’ve learned over the last year.

The first big lesson is that the Internet in Thailand has exceeded all expectations. It’s grown far faster than we expected. When we helped set up the Thai Business Go Online program, we thought helping 50,000 businesses go online was a huge task. It turned out we underestimated how hungry Thai businesses were for the benefits that only the Internet can bring. More than 100,000 businesses from around the country have gone online in the last year, many of them discovering that something as simple as going online can expand their business and help them reach new and untapped consumers, while generating real revenue. 

Similarly, the growth in mobile use shows that Thais want the Internet in every part of their lives. When we opened our office last year, what we now call the four-screen consumer seemed very far away. Yet now it’s increasingly common for Thai living rooms to have people gathered around the TV while discussing, sharing and searching what they’re watching via tablets, smart phones and laptops. Thai Internet users are spending 17 hours a week on the Internet on average. That’s more time than they spend watching TV, which makes it a mainstream medium and a huge platform for Thai businesses and brands to connect with consumers wherever they are. The Internet is a consumer’s trusted source of information; it’s where they go for new and up-to-date news, both local and worldwide. 

All this incredible growth has led me to another thought: Let’s stop playing the Internet. We use the verb “to play” to describe when we use the Internet but is it more than just wordplay? Does our choice of words keep us from recognising how the Internet now has a serious role to play in our society or even in our economy? This thing is getting way too big to be treated like a game.

Almost 80 per cent of Thais online read the news on the Internet each week, according to Nielsen, yet we would never talk about “playing” the newspaper. All those Thai businesses with websites aren’t “playing” their online sales either. A year ago, I thought it was cool that serious stuff became so easy on the Internet that people considered it play. Now, I’m seeing that we need to change this mindset.

When I arrived at Google I said confidently that every business was an Internet business. The more Thai businesses and consumers who come online everyday, the greater the role the Internet has to play in our country’s future, if we let it. 

The famous proverb of Pho Khun Ram Khamhaeng – “there are fish in the waters and rice in the fields” – is often used to refer to how fortunate we are in our Kingdom of abundance, yet even this ancient wisdom has new meaning in the age of the Internet. There are fish in the sea, there are also fish online, like the inspiring story of Khun Taengmo, who took her love for fresh fish and turned it into a thriving Internet business that makes an average monthly income of Bt40,000 to Bt50,000 by selling and delivering gourmet fish across Bangkok. The same abundance we enjoyed from the land is now possible online, and it’s open to everybody. 

This is especially true as we prepare for an integrated Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Every business can start preparing now by asking how the Internet can help them reach consumers in a more meaningful way, in the online world where they increasingly live, in Thailand and beyond. The Internet is the tool that will enable Thai businesses to be ready, and more competitive in the AEC. While we’re at it: Why shouldn’t Thai artists become the next K-Pop stars? 

This isn’t something that will just happen on its own. It will happen because we decide today that we want it to happen.  This past year has shown the Internet is a medium consumers use to search for information and read news every day, a tool for businesses to reach consumers and generate revenues in Thailand and worldwide, and the Internet is going mobile. 

I said last year the Internet was Thailand’s greatest opportunity. This is still true today. So, let’s not play anymore, let’s get to work building this growth into all our institutions, whether cultural, educational, business or political. Let’s make the Internet a new foundation to secure the things that make this country great, as well as a way to expand our potential to the world. So, what are you waiting for? 

 

Ariya Banomyong is country head of Google Thailand.