Trends in the use of social media by youth in Thailand

Social media

Social media refers to the means of interaction among people in which they create, share and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Social media depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss and modify user-generated content. It introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities and individuals.

Children/Young People & Media in the World Today

Two billion young people under 18 make up approximately one-third of the world’s population.They make up half of the population in the least developed nations and less than a quarter in the most industrialised nations.
Globalisation of media are among the key factors and defined the current generation of young people.Youth can access more multi-media choices than ago such conventional, satellite and cable TV channels; radio stations; newspapers and magazines; the internet and computer and video games.
Today there is greater availability of foreign programming and media, and less official censorship
and control in many parts of the world. Information, email and images flow around the world faster and
more freely than ever.It helps people know each other more than ever.

Usage Patterns

• Total Online Population in 2012: 20,100Thailand.Retrieved 13 August 2013from http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/66-thailand
• Percentage of Population Online in 2012: 30.0%Thailand.Retrieved 13 August 2013from http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/66-thailand

Figure 1 : Percentage of Population OnlineThailand.

Retrieved 13 August 2013 from http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/66-thailand

Demographics

There were 20,100,000 internet users in Thailand (representing 30% of the population) at mid-year 2012 (30 June 2012), according to Internet World Stats.

Thailand’s online population, defined as people aged from 6 onwards that accessed the internet from a home or work computer in the past 30 days, reached nearly 9.8 million in February 2012, according to comScore. Average users spent 27.4 hours online during the month, consuming an average of 2,845 pages of content, in February 2012.

Thailand is home to one of the youngest online markets globally, with younger internet users accounting for a high percentage of the web population and commanding an even greater share of time spent online. In February 2012, 74.7% of all internet users in Thailand were under the age of 35, with users aged 15-24 accounting for 45.2% of visitors and those aged 25-34 representing 29.5%. Users aged 15-24 accounted for more than half of all online minutes (50.9 percent) as visitors in this age group averaged 31.7 hours online in February. Visitors aged 25-34 averaged 26 hours online, while those in the 35-44 age segment averaged 25.4 hours during the month.Thailand.Retrieved 13 August 2013from http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/11-long-haul/66-thailand

Profile of online visitors in Thailand, February 2012 (Total Thailand – Visitors age 15+ Home/Work Locations):

GENDER

– Males: 50.7%

– Females: 49.3%

AGE

– 15-24: 45.2%

– 25-34: 29.5%

– 35-44: 14.3%

– 45-54: 6.9%

– 55+: 4.2%

Search sites

Google Sites (which include Google Search and other Google-owned entities such as YouTube.com) is most popular websit in Thailand with 9.3 million visitors in February 2012, representing 95.7% of the total online population, according to comScore. Microsoft Sites followed with 9.0 million visitors (92.6% reach), followed by Facebook.com with 8.6 million visitors (88.4% reach).com
comScore Data Mine, April 2012 from http://www.comscoredatamine.com/
Figure 2 : Top Properties in Thailand by Unique Visitors

Types of social media

Social Networks

Social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a set of the dyadic ties between these actors.Social networks that allow you to connect with other people of similar interests and background. Usually they consist of a profile, various ways to interact with other users, ability to set up groups, etc. The most popular is Facebook.

Facebook in Thailand

It is the number one most popular user-generated content website and the most used social network as of 13 August 2013 in Thailand. Currently, there are 18 million Facebook users in Thailand. The largest age group is currently 18-24, followed by the users in the age of 25-34. There are 49% male users and 51% female users in Thailand, compared to 52% and 48% in Germany and 52% and 48% in Japan.

In 2010, Facebook gained popularity as it enabled its users to play games online with their friends. This feature is not available on Hi5, which is their main competitor. Hence, over time, Facebook overtook Hi5 in terms of number of users. Some of the Facebook games which are appealing to Thai users include Farmville, Café World and Restaurant City. As time goes by and trends have been changing, the users use Facebook to share many aspects of their lives. The most likely item to be shared is pictures of food. It has become such a trend that before eating, people take some pictures of the appealing dishes and upload them on their ‘wall’. This actually helps restaurants, especially Thai restaurants, to increase their popularity among other people who do not know about the place. Moreover, for those who have foreign friends, the uploads of pictures of Thai food promotes national cuisine and also make foreigners want to try Thai food. Also, the sharing of pictures of places and cultures in Thailand is helping the country to get more international attention and encourages tourists to visit Thailand.The big hit of social Media in Thailand. The majority of Facebook users in Thailand are in the capital, Bangkok.

Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size. Microblogs “allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links”. Services that focus on short updates that are pushed out to anyone subscribed to receive the updates. The most popular is Twitter.

Twittery Thais

Twitter is one of the important social networks that has had a huge impact on Thai culture. Within its 140 character tweets, news spreads fast to people. These days, busy people who do not have time to watch TV prefer to use Twitter to keep themselves up to date. Twitter has changed the behaviour of many Thai people from using TV to using computers or smart phones regularly. Thai people also share their experiences and pictures on Twitter with tags so other people can easily search brief information about Thailand.

There are now two million Thai people on Twitter who tweet on average 5.5 times each day. Like with Facebook, the country’s Twitterers are night owls, tending to post more between 10pm and midnight. 66.7 percent of Twitter posts in Thailand are made on mobiles.

 

Snapping up Instagram

With stellar growth in Thailand in the past year, Instagram is now up to 600,000 users in the country, up from 150,000 this time last year. In the first four months of 2013, users collectively posted 21.38 million photos. One of the most liked users is @aum_patchrapa, the beauty queen turned actress Pachrapa ‘Aum’ Chaichua.

Media Sharing

Services that allow you to upload and share various media such as pictures and video. Most services have additional social features such as profiles, commenting, etc. The most popular are YouTube and Flickr.

YouTube boom

YouTube is still seeing great growth in Thailand, and is now up to 630,000 channels within the nation, adding up to 5.3 million videos uploaded by Thai users. The top video category is music.

Google+

Google+, a social network operated by Google, Inc., launched on June 28th, 2011 with integration across a number of Google products, including Buzz and Profiles.

Google+ is a focus on targeted sharing within subsets of your social group, which are what Google calls Circles. Circles are simply small groups of people that you can share with, each with names like friends, family, classmates and co-workers.

Also within Google+, Google has created a section specifically for viewing, managing and editing multimedia. The photo tab takes a user to all of the photos he or she has shared, as well as the ones he or she is tagged in. It’s not just photo tagging, though: Google+ includes an image editor (complete with Instagram – like photo effects), privacy options and sharing features.

Another feature that’s widely discussed is “Hangouts,” Google’s new group chat feature. Instead of directly asking a friend to join a group chat, users instead click “start a hangout” and they’re instantly in a video chatroom alone. At the same time, a message goes out to their social circles, letting them know that their friend is “hanging out.” Friends can then join the hangout as long as they have been placed in a circle that was invited by the person who created the Hangout.

We chat

Wechat is a mobile text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China , first released in January 2011. The app is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Symbian platforms. Languages supported include traditional/simplified Chinese, English, Indonesian, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Malay, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi and Russian. WeChat is supported on Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, and 4G data networks. WeChat provides multimedia communication with text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, photo/video sharing, location sharing, and contact information exchange.

Line up

There are no Thailand-specific numbers from WeChat for Thailand, so let’s focus on the rival app Line up, which has a pretty spectacular 15 million Thai users. It’s also an important new platform for social marketing and brands outreach, with the top Thai brand on Line up having 4.6 million followers already.

The important risk of social media always happen in Thailand

Internet threats are important , it is. Threat of the use of social or Social Network as a target for criminals to use as tools to create rumors of a propaganda trick. And can also used to steal personal information of users of Social Network is also likely to increase. Noted that Currently, there are approximately 900 million Facebook users in Thailand is ranked 16th , with about 17 million users and is likely to increase steadily.

The Social Network is the main goal of the criminals because users are sharing more and more personal information. The profile picture personal information such as address, date of birth status , personal contacts , etc.

This information can be used to commit crimes such as multiple users may post messages about where they are , or are about to go out. Meanwhile in history is the information that is displayed. The criminals who have access to this information to steal something that they need because they know that person was not as home.

References

Social media.Retrieved 13August 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

WeChat.Retrieved 13 August 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat

Microblogging.Retrived 2 September 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging#cite_note-1

Score Data Mine, April 2012 from http://www.comscoredatamine.com/

Internet World Stats, December 2012 from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm

Children, Youth and Media Around the World: An Overview of Trends & Issues.Retrieved 13 August 2013 from http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/intermedia_revised.pdf

External links

• Digital Media in Thailand (SMU wiki)

Group 1

From the left on top

Ms.Krichakorn Rungseeborirak 53148010178

Ms.Yuwadee Juntrapakorn 5314801020

Mr.Keito Kusaka 56148010275

From the left, second row

Mr.Saswat Kruemanee 53148010314

Ms.Phaniphak Suanmalee 53148010120

Ms.Sutisa Phonsab 53148010214

Photo