Twitter and the digital divide

Although blogging has become so popular that the word has made it into the Oxford Dictionary, only a few privileged Africans have a blog. This is related to fact that computer access is very limited and of the few computers available, even fewer have Internet connectivity.

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So the launching of Twitter provides a good alternative considering that the use of mobile phones is much higher than that of computers. In Malawi for example, there are about 50,000 Internet users against about 700,000 mobile phone users out of a population of about 12 million.

Soyapi Mumba via Chris Messina

Comments

[Bob H]

At the educational establishment where I work it has just been suggested that we start using Twitter for keeping students up-to-date about changes to the schedule. So if a member of staff is stuck in traffic they can notify Twitter and twitter will tell the cohort.

However, thinking about this, I am wary, do I risk using it more comprehensively for student notifications? Could it be used as a stick with which to beat me? Could management judge me based on what I 'Twitter'? Oh dear! And it doesn't help when you have a management which talks about digital futures and then manages the staff with a Victorian attitude.

[Lars Plougmann]

On street corners in Lilongwe you can buy top-up cards for your mobile phone. The sales people are easy to recognise, draped in the colours of the mobile phone company.

[Stuart Bruce]

Inclusivity is one of the reasons why I introduced Twitter to Alan Johnson's Labour Party deputy leadership campaign. Just under 70% of UK households have internet access, mobile ownership is much nearer 100%.

[Alex Antener]

It's good to have guys like Soyapi Mumba in Malawi. So many western Satellite providers keep to much political power in developping countries and prevent that guys like Soyapi have a voice like a blog.

Twittering is what the rich guys of the world economic forum do every year in Davos when they talk about information technology in africa.

Regards, Alex Antener

[Nigel]

Inclusivity is one of the reasons why I introduced Twitter to Alan Johnson's Labour Party deputy leadership campaign.

Yawn.

97% of people in urban areas have a mobile phone
Source: Metro

[Stuart Bruce]

Nigel, not sure what your point it is. Mine is that lots of social media/web 2.0 stuff is great, except for the fact that millions of people can't or find it hard to take part. Twitter on mobiles is much easier for people.

[Marko Tusar]

I think you're mixing up inclusivity with ownership. You don't necessary have to own a connection to participate. In Madagascar for example all the post offices in the towns and cities double up as cybercafes, giving people increasingly reliable communal access.

[Bob H]

Alex Antener,

Having worked for one of the relative giants in satellite communications and dealt with the rest of them at some point I can assure you that in my experience most providers are running satellite connections at tight margins. It is a difficult business to be in, another company goes bankrupt every couple of years trying to offer a competitive service.

One of the greatest challenges for satellite providers in Europe who deliver connectivity packages to emerging markets is revenue collection. With shaky currency and difficulties in securing payment the risks are high for someone entering the emerging markets. In my experience there are just as many, if not more, people trying to screw you as there are genuine customers.

All in all the economics of providing connectivity in growth markets are substantially different to the economics of providing an ADSL line in somewhere like western Europe.

A satellite costs approx $400 million to build & launch, an earth station costs £3-5 million to build for scalable internet connectivity. Staff costs about £500,000 a year. I can't remember the sums for how much it costs per Mbit to transmit, but believe me this kind of service needs an engineer there 24/7 to look after it.

Not to mention the fact that when you look after clients who have some disagreement with another country or ethnic group you have to deal with the occasional or regular DDoS. Filtering those is not a trivial task when a few GB of traffic is hitting your gateway.

All in the world of connectivity in rural areas and emerging markets is a cut throat environment with tight margins and very limited profit.

[ploop]

Can i thank you for putting forward the first compelling reason why there should be so much hype about twitter. The figures of mobile phones versus computers have convinced me this clearly can step outside the realms of blogging bores letting us know they are going to bed.

[Bernie Goldbach]

It's not hard to find people who are using Twitter for more than banal proclamations. I think it offers good potential as a nanoblogging technology.