Facebook in the developing world
Susan P. Wyche, Cliff A.C. Lampe, Nimmi Rangaswamy, Anicia Nicola Peters, Andrés Monroy‐Hernández, Judd Antin · 2014
The BBC, New York Times and other media channels are abuzz with reports about Mark Zuckerberg's desire to connect everyone on the planet through social media. Missing from these online articles are reports of the realities "bottom of the pyramid" users in developing countries encounter when trying to access Facebook. This panel brings together researchers who have studied use of the popular social media site in Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, India, Mexico and the United States to discuss the opportunities and challenges that accompany adding 4 billion new users to Facebook. Our primary goal is to provide the CSCW community with an understanding of obstacles, such as persistent poverty and lack of electricity, low-income users encounter when attempting to use the site. This knowledge will help CSCW researchers think more broadly and realistically about the contexts for which they are studying and designing collaborative systems.