Zuckerberg Speaks About Bringing Connectivity from the Dais of Internet.org

Oct 10, 2014 Tushita Blogging & Social Media 0

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Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of the social networking giant – Facebook, who aims to improve availability of internet for the commonest and the most aloof areas across the world, today laid emphasis on how he plans to get there in near future.

Zuckerberg addressed the first ever Internet.org summit today, which took place in India. At the event he put forward a few immediate steps that can be taken in the country to involve and encourage more users.

He laid stress on the following points during at the dais:

• The cost of gaining internet access needs to be brought down.
•  There’s also the need of “localising” the language and the content, so that local people in an area can relate with the material that is available online.

Quotes from his speech:

• Everybody should be able to connect with everybody and should be able to access the same opportunities as everyone else. For example, education, jobs and technology. Not only those who are missing out on these opportunities are robbed of something, but even we are being kept unaware of their ideas and creativity
• Connectivity is a human right. Let’s build an internet that works for everyone.

The need to follow the drive according to him:

• When people are connected, accomplishments are easy.

Zuckerberg also highlighted the barriers that stop people from getting online:

• Infrastructure:

He explained that there are many remote areas that lack basic amnesties like roads, electricity, etc. These places are out of range for the 2g or 3g networks to reach there, and are hence, technically backwards also.

He further hopes that his meeting with Prime Minister Modi will bring some hope for intenet.org to pursue these areas, as the PM himself believes in connecting people from the remotest part to the best facilities.

• Economic reasons:

Among the 85% of people across the world do have access to network there are those who earn $2 a day. There are people from whom internet would be just an extra financial burden and they simply can’t afford regular internet usage.

However, since lowering the cost won’t be the best sustainable way, the founder believes that the quantity of data associated with apps, should be reduced so that such people can have cost efficient internet.

• Social:

Lack of relevant local language is not the only social impedance. The CEO threw light upon some of the cultures where having online presence it is not socially acceptable. In fact, in the third world nations, 25% fewer women than men are using the internet.

Then, he goes on to elaborate that they are people who have never used internet in their lives, they don’t what it is or how it can be change their life or be useful for them. These people don’t think that it can add any difference to them, and hence don’t mind missing out on the internet.

• Language:

It is important for the people to be able to use the internet in their language of comfort. That is the only way that people can be actually well represented.

The central ambition of the Internet.org is to lend a helping hand to the “next five billion people” join the internet.

Reducing the costs however, is not sustainable for the operators, who also have to maintain the basic infrastructure to provide quality services to the users. Therefore, the CEO rightly holds that shrinking the data usage of various apps can be act as an equally good way to make internet more cost effective.

Making the data usage more efficient would help those who have lower bandwidths or costlier internet connections.

“The goal of Internet.org is to make internet access available to the two thirds of the world who are not yet connected, and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today,” said Mark Zuckerberg at the Internet.org summit held in New Delhi.

Indicating at the relevant business models to bring about desired results, he announced that he’s up for infusing funding worth $ 1 million to aid developers come up with apps that make use of local content in developing countries.

“We’ve got a fund of $1 million (Rs. 6 crores approximately) to help developers build and scale apps that will help farmers and migrant workers and students and women, and we’re going to fund top apps in each of these categories.”

Referring to the collaboration between Airtel and internet.org in Zambia, he elucidated that people are getting basic services free of cost on the internet. These services include tools and apps for education, jobs, health, etc.

60% of Indians remain inactive online for the lack of availability of content and services in local languages, said the Facebook founder.

Not only has Facebook successfully brought around 3 million of those people online, who earlier had no access to the internet but its app also allows people to extract useful information about employment, health, education and local information services absolutely free.

“Free basic internet access should be like dialling 911 in US or 100 here in India,” Zuckerberg said.

Some of the awards that he introduced during the event:

He also launched the Internet.org Innovation challenge yesterday. According to which, a sum of $250,000 will be awarded to the best developed app, service or website that the judges declare efficient to meet at least one of these population categories – students, women, farmers, and migrant workers.

Apart from that the winners of this challenge will win a package of services and tools, figuring nearly $60,000, under the Facebook’s FbStart program.

In addition, a developer of two apps in any of the above mentioned domains, will also win an Impact Award, amounting to $25,000.

Zuckerberg also looks forward to meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that a well laid-out plan can be developed to digitise and connect India.

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• facebook, Internet.org, Zuckerberg

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