The Facebook-Loving Farmers of Myanmar
theatlantic.comHow people actually use technology, part XXXIV:
> But Facebook is most popular? Yes. Everyone wants? Everyone. Do people have email addresses? No. He makes the email addresses. Has a stack of pre-made Facebook accounts at the ready. He pre-installs the app and pre-loads friends. Facebook is for news, he says. Popular now but maybe not popular in six months. But for now, he installs it on every phone.
Furthermore:
> The Farmers don’t use their real names (“I used my son’s name,” Farmer fourteen told us. Why? “Because it’s a good name!” he said smiling and patting his 1-year-old son on the head.) They don’t have email addresses and so often don’t know their logins. If they get logged out they have someone—often the village Facebook guru—make them a new account.
:-O
I am from Myanmar and my mom still lives there. My mom, in her late 50s, uses facebook everyday and I actually set up an account for her a few years back (opened a gmail for that, but my mom never checks her gmail, so she's entirely reliant on me to retrieve her account info if she changes/loses her phone).
Facebook certainly is the king of mobile and social in Myanmar at the moment (another popular app is Viber). All my friends from high school and older people of my relatives have fb accounts. That got me thinking how in the world they set up or use facebook whereas a majority of them don't even use/have emails. Now, this article explains it all. :) It's fascinating that people in my country (at least in my social circle) care very little about securing their account because for them, facebook accounts are dispensable/replaceable.
"My mom, in her late 50s, uses facebook everyday and I actually set up an account for her a few years back (opened a gmail for that, but my mom never checks her gmail, so she's entirely reliant on me to retrieve her account info if she changes/loses her phone)."
heh... I do the same exact thing for my mom, except she doesn't live in Myanmar, she's in Flordia.
A better registration system for a global company would be one with a phone number(instead of email) + generated code(instead of a password).
They buy data in 25MB packages and we put a 3x icon in the app that is like 2MB! I'm feeling guilty for ignoring people with such limited access to data when I make apps and websites! :(
You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me. Bonne chance, Elaine. You there on the motorbike! Sell me one of your melons!