Final Blog Post

Over the course of the semester, I was surprised to learn as much as what I found out about the social media and overall media in Indonesia. Even though the country wasn’t my first or second choice as far as blog topic assignment goes, it was enlightening and interesting to see the countries form of media as far as news broadcasting, journalism standards, and societies acceptance of journalism. From research on the freedomhouse.org, I learned that Indonesia attained a total freedom press index of 117 of 178 countries.

In 2009, there was a large offset to journalism due to violence against various journalists. Soon after laws were created and violent acts were declined. After resolving many of these conflicts through various laws and acts, journalism has been much more free and resembles many of the news in the United States as far as how the news is written and what is being published to the masses.

With the use of The Jakarta Post and The Jakarta Globe as my primary news outlets for this blog assignment, as well as the international portion of the New York Times specialized for Indonesia, I was able to follow up on important/breaking/current news in the country. I’ve learned that many Indonesians get most of their news from the Internet itself. Many in the country rely on the Internet as its source to the headline news.

In a recent article posted on the Jakarta Globe just this week, it was found that Facebook is considered how many Indonesians are getting a majority of their news. From wall posts and the convenience of linking certain articles to pages, it is found that Facebook is what garners a majority of “hits” on news websites such as the Jakarta Globe and the Jakarta Post. Even though it is minimal compared to sites such as Indonesia Google, it is still is a big number of people who find out a majority of their news solely through social media.

I have also learned that many Indonesians are well up to date with American social media as well, attaining accounts in popular mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and even 4shared.

Originally, I thought Indonesia was still a small nearly third-world country with minimal news media and social media in general but after learning of their news and seeing what many Indonesians are seeing on a day to day basis, as what I would see when logging into the Los Angeles Times, I now see that they are far more advanced than I previously thought.

Technological Effects in Indonesia

The impacts and effects of the internet, mobile phones and other digital technology for global are immense especially with this day and ages growth of websites, social media options, and interactive websites that many users have become highly dependent on. The internet allows individuals to surf the web, chat with a friend, look up certain facts online or even reconnect with high school friends, and with the growth of the internet and the growth of social media, Indonesians can easily do all of these things and more through a computer or a even a smart phone. But along with the positives in the growth of technology and social media, there are also cons and downs to the rapidly heightening medium.

According to Alexa, The Web Information Company, Indonesia's top 10 websites are:

1. Facebook
2. Google.co.id
3. Google
4. Blogger.com
5. Yahoo!
6. Kaskus
7. Youtube
8. Wordpress
9. Twitter
10. 4shared

Nearly half of the top 10 websites are all social networking/social media websites. With the internet being such a strong medium for Indonesians, networking and connecting through these websites is fairly easy to do. With the rise of the internet, Indonesia also jumps up 14 places in Global Communications Rankings, according to the The Jakarta Globe. Indonesia went from 67 to 53 out of 138 economies with the help of websites such as Facebook, Kaskus, Twitter and 4shared, all social media websites.

Another impact of the growing internet medium would be how much Indonesian and Southeast Asian entrepreneurs take advantage of the growing internet audience. With Facebook, according to the another article from The Jakarta Globe, the country and it's economy is looking towards more internet based businesses.

As far as the effects of technology and the widespread growth of the internet, there are multiple pros such as the ease of communication, the numerous options of websites and social media options, and even the expanse of knowledge throughout the World Wide Web. The cons include but are not limited to faulty information, the difficulty in finding credible sources, and though finding things are easier, you never know if what you're reading is true or not.

Technology as well as the internet is a double edged sword. You have your pros and your cons but neither outweighs the other so to speak. In order to use it to one's advantage, society has to use it smartly taking the necessary precautions against censorship or false information but at the same time enjoying it as a media of entertainment and not taking it far too seriously.