New Media in Cultures

Indonesia is one of the fastest developing countries right now and they are quickly gaining access to all sorts of new media and resources. For example, over 80 million people in Indonesia use cell phones http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933605.html as opposed to it being almost none existent just ten years before. Part of the reason for this is the sharp drop in cell phone costs after 1999. A text message in Indonesia is 1 rupiah which comes out to .01 cent in dollars.

Indonesians are also gaining access to social networking sites as their country permits. the country officially stated that facebook was ok as long as there was no flirting, or vulgar usage happening on it. http://www.smh.com.au/world/indonesia-gives-facebook-the-nod-but-no-flirting-please-20090522-bi9v.html which seems odd but considering that facebook is the most visited site on the internet in Indonesia even beating google, the clerics in Indonesia really had no other choice but to ok it. Several ISPs in Indonesia have blocked sites like youtube and myspace due to indecent content but the bans usually don't last very long. Indonesia's web population grew ten times over from 2000 to 2007 and they are currently the 5th largest internet using country in Asia with a web population of 25 million http://www.bobmarketing.com/internet-marketing-indonesia/ . there are apparently over a million bloggers in Indonesia although these are unofficial numbers. http://www.earningstep.com/news/are-you-one-of-millions-indonesian-blogger/
even the country as a whole is beginning to use the internet for acedemic purposes and political communication http://www.indo.com/neighbor/ina_web.html.

Although Indonesia is still a developing country in terms of new media they are beginning to use it exactly how I and other Americans use it. We all facebook, and youtube, and blog. with most indonesians being required to pass an english test to pass high school they are more easily integrating themsleves into the english dominated internet. While I was in Indonesia I noticed that just about everyone, regardless of social status, owned a cell phone. their houses could be falling apart but they definitely had a cell phone to text their friends about the roof falling in. I saw people in the rice fields planting rice and making cell phone calls. it was an odd clash of old and new societal norms. I suppose thats what happens when a country advances so fast in a ten year span. my last day in Indonesia i went to an internet ummm... gaming center? to check some email and judging from that experience i would say the indonesian online gaming community is about to explode. when an hour of internet usage is $.80 its easy to understand why these "advanced" technologies are becoming so popular so fast in Indonesia