The other day, a friend and I were in her car, talking about Facebook and social networking. "It's such a great way of communication," she said. "There's no other way I could keep track of over 600 friends and acquaintances." In the rear view mirror, I saw the driver, Mohan Lal, smile ruefully. As our conversation progressed, I noticed the driver's interest in our conversation grow. Eventually, he piped up, "Madam, I don't understand, are Facebook and Twitter really so important in the Indian context?" My friend and I listened while Mohan Lal told us about his own experiences with what seemed to be a fairly anti-social network.
A few months ago, Lal bought a new phone, which had Facebook pre-loaded on it. "My 10-year-old son quickly set up an account for me, and I began searching for friends online. I thought that if the whole world is crazy about this social network, I should not be left behind," he said. As the days went by, Lal realised that a lot of his friends, relatives and acquaintances weren't on Facebook at all. "Some weren't so conversant in English while others didn't own smartphones," he said.
His son showed him how to use Facebook in Hindi, and Lal renewed his efforts to convince more and more in his circle to use it. "But most of my friends didn't quite know what to do with Facebook," he said. Some posted the odd joke once in a while, while most stuck to more pictorial updates of their status by uploading pictures from their smartphone cameras. "I subscribed to the Delhi Traffic Police Facebook page, which updated me regularly about traffic jams across the city. Then I found some Bollywood pages in Hindi that kept me abreast of the new movie releases," he said. But something was lacking. "While I could see other people interacting with their many friends on Facebook, I had hardly a handful of friends. So, even when I updated my status, there was no one to see it, let alone comment on it," he added.
So, Lal sent friend requests to all his employers, past and current. Most of them did not bother to reply. The few who did, gave interesting responses. "One madam wrote reprimanding my impudence at having sent her a friend request. Another wanted to know if I needed my old job back. Only one or two people, mostly the children of my employers, accepted my friend requests," he said. My friend gazed studiously out of the window, later confessing that he had sent her a request too, which she had ignored.
Within three months of using Facebook, Lal was ready to delete his account. "I had come to realise that maybe online social networks were for busy, Western-educated people. For people like us, sitting outside one's home on a charpai afforded better social interactions than Facebook did," he said. He also realised why his children would probably take to using online social networks more easily: "Not only do the young adapt more easily to new technology," said the thirty-something man, "they also have a greater need to communicate and connect with one another." More importantly, while the idea of a shared online space was great, one needed to have a community to share it with. "I found that even in the virtual world, people here have managed to build imaginary walls everywhere," he said.
As we neared our destination, he added that his children had told him that Facebook was now passe. "Everyone is now using Instagram and Twitter and my son's going to help me set up accounts in both," he said. "Maybe, I'll have better luck there."
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
