Is Facebook becoming the internet?

Millions of Facebook users in developing countries do not realise that they are using the internet, suggesting that, in many people's minds, the two are one and the same, according to a report by Quartz.

In a survey of Indonesians by think tank LIRNEasia in 2012, many of the respondents talked enthusiastically about how much time they spent on Facebook, but said that they did not use the internet.

An unrelated survey by Research ICT Africa discovered a similar trend, with the number of respondents saying they used Facebook much higher than those who said they used the internet.

In an attempt to replicate the observations, Quartz commissioned its own surveys in Indonesia and Nigeria from Geopoll, each of which asked 500 respondents the same questions.

Although, overall, more people said they used the internet than used Facebook, 11pc of Facebook users in Indonesia and 9pc in Nigeria said they did not use the internet.

The findings have far-reaching implications for the evolution of society and the internet, according to Quartz.

If large numbers of first-time adopters come online via Facebook's proprietary network, rather than via the open web, their whole understanding the internet will be distorted.

Meanwhile, policymakers, businesses, startups, developers, nonprofits and publishers will need to adopt Facebook as their primary communication platform, and play by the company's rules.

"In both countries, more than half of those who don’t know they’re using the internet say they 'never' follow links out of Facebook, compared with a quarter or less of respondents who say they use both Facebook and the internet," said Quartz.

"If people stay on one service, it follows that content, advertisers, and associated services also will flow to that service, possibly to the exclusion of other venues."

The findings are perhaps less surprising when you consider that many people in developing countries access Facebook via an app on their mobile phone rather than via a browser.

In some places, it is the the only accessible application, according to Iris Orriss, Facebook’s head of localisation and internationalisation, who made the claim at Davos this year.

Quartz points out that this is because Facebook has worked to ensure that it is the easiest and cheapest to access.

The company backs Internet.org initiative, which aims to “bring the Internet to the two thirds of the world’s population that doesn’t have it.”

Internet.org offers free access to Facebook and Facebook Messenger, as well as a handful of other social welfare services such as MAMA (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action) and WRAPP (Women’s Rights App).

It also offers free access to Google Search and Wikipedia, although these require the user to have a full data plan, whereas some mobile networks offer Facebook-only data plans that are substantially cheaper.

Quartz itself admits that its research is incomplete. However, the findings raise important questions about how the internet should be delivered to the developing world.