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Facebook is used differently outside the US. When I worked at a telco in Afghanistan in 2014, Facebook was basically its own utility - SMBs and individuals use

Facebook is used differently outside the US. When I worked at a telco in Afghanistan in 2014, Facebook was basically its own utility - SMBs and individuals used Facebook (and their precious cellular data) almost exclusively to message each other and conduct business. So much so that the most popular consumer/retail plans for Afghans were "Facebook usage plans" giving you X amount of data per month to be spent exclusively on Facebook. Amazon/google have little to no power over there, facebook has a ton. Ditto whatsapp. I think you'll find this is true for almost any country where social ties are stronger than the US, and biz is newer, or built around mobile/face-to-face transactions - fbook is much more important than it is here as a photo feed and news consumption hangout. That said I agree for the US case and deleted my facebook ~2 years ago :)

wyclif 9y ago
I've seen the effect you describe also in the Philippines and other developing countries I've visited. Some Filipinos don't seem to realise that FB is just a walled garden on the internet, not the internet itself. Also, I think your second point contributes to this: mobile is huge in the Philippines, they send more texts than any other country. And on top of that, social ties are a lot stronger than those in America, especially familial ties, with many siblings, cousins, etc.
- dannyr 9y ago
  This is because of Facebook's Internet.org. Facebook has zero-rating on mobile in the Philippines.
toomanybeersies 9y ago
It's not even just in developing countries that this happens. You could substitute New Zealand and you wouldn't be far off the truth. When I used to work in the restaurant industry, my boss would order wine from one of the wineries using Facebook messenger. There are also social data plans that give you cheaper rates for Facebook, Snapchat, and some other services. I'd also say that a lot of people I know exclusively get their news from Facebook and it's also very important as a photo sharing application.

wyclif 9y ago

I've seen the effect you describe also in the Philippines and other developing countries I've visited. Some Filipinos don't seem to realise that FB is just a walled garden on the internet, not the internet itself. Also, I think your second point contributes to this: mobile is huge in the Philippines, they send more texts than any other country. And on top of that, social ties are a lot stronger than those in America, especially familial ties, with many siblings, cousins, etc.

dannyr 9y ago
This is because of Facebook's Internet.org. Facebook has zero-rating on mobile in the Philippines.

toomanybeersies 9y ago

It's not even just in developing countries that this happens. You could substitute New Zealand and you wouldn't be far off the truth. When I used to work in the restaurant industry, my boss would order wine from one of the wineries using Facebook messenger. There are also social data plans that give you cheaper rates for Facebook, Snapchat, and some other services. I'd also say that a lot of people I know exclusively get their news from Facebook and it's also very important as a photo sharing application.