Why is Path so Popular in Indonesia?
One social network that has many in the tech industry scratching their heads is Path. From the looks of it few outside of the company itself understand Path, the seemingly Facebook clone that’s native to mobile devices. There had been questions about Path’s existence. Practically nobody in the United States are on it, with roughly six million members and around half live outside of the US. With such low numbers relative to other big name American-based social networks, why is it so popular in Jakarta? Why does it appear on random people’s Android and iOS devices in public places in Indonesia?
Pathはテック業界の多くの人が頭をかしげているソーシャルネットワークだ。見たところ、Path以外に同サービス ーーモバイル機器専用のFacebook風のサービスーーを理解している人はほとんどいない。これまでにも、Pathの存在についての問いかけがあった。実質的には、アメリカで同サービスを利用している人はいない。同サービスにはおよそ600万人のユーザーがいるが、その約半数はアメリカ以外の国に住んでいる。アメリカ発のその他の有名なソーシャルネットワークサービスと比べると、同サービスのユーザー数はかなり少ないのに、どうしてそれがジャカルタでそんなに人気なのだろう？PathがインドネシアのAndroid/iOSユーザーの多くに利用されているその理由とは何なのだろうか？
テクノロジー業界の多くの人々がPathに関しては頭をかかえている。モバイルデバイス用として生まれたFacebookを真似たよう見えるPathを、社外の人ほとんどは理解してない様子だ。Pathが存在できるかどうかに関する疑念があったこともある。ユーザー数はおよそ600万人で約半数が米国以外に居住しており、米国に住んでいる人はいないも同然だ。米国を拠点とした他の有名なソーシャルネットワークと比べあまりにも少数なのになぜジャカルタではそれほど人気が高いのだろうか？インドネシアの街なかにいる様々な人々が持つAndroidやiOSデバイスにこのアプリがインストールされているのはなぜなのだろうか？
[This was written before the release of Path 3.0 which adds personal and group messaging with stickers and an in-app store.]
We wrote a bit about Path back in June last year when it introduced a number of languages and we noted that Path users love the service because it’s mobile, simple, and it’s personal. The ability to share with a limited number of people really resonates with a lot of Path users in Indonesia, something that is not attractive to a lot of Americans because that’s exactly how they use Facebook.
私達は昨年6月にPathに関する記事を書いている。それは、Pathが数々の新しい対応言語を導入した時で、私達はPathのユーザーが同サービスを好なのは、それがモバイルでシンプル、そしてパーソナルだからだと指摘した。限られた数の人とだけシェアができるという特徴に、インドネシアの多くのPathユーザーが共鳴を示した。だが、そのことには多くのアメリカ人が魅力を感じていない。なぜなら、アメリカ人はそれをFacebookで行っているからだ。
昨年の6月にPathが数カ国語に対応した時に短い記事を書いた。その中でユーザーはPathがモバイル対応で、シンプル、パーソナルな点が気に入っていると述べた。限られた人数の人との共有ができることが多数のインドネシアのPathユーザーの共感を呼んでいる。これはアメリカ人の多くにとって魅力にはならない。彼らはまさにそういうふうにFacebookを使っているからだ。
Speaking to Nir Eyal who is a Management lecturer at Stanford Graduate School who also specializes in psychology and consumer behavior, he said that he doesn’t understand why anyone would use Path. The app is simply unheard of outside of Silicon Valley and even then, it’s not that popular among the tech community, relative to the likes of Twitter, Yelp, and Foursquare.
According to Eyal, Facebook already serves people’s need to share among a limited circle, although it is beginning to get abused and Facebook’s increasing disregard to privacy is affecting people’s behavior on Facebook. However, people who are already on Facebook are comfortable with the environment and are unlikely to switch away due to the connections that have made on the network.
It seems that the key to Path’s wide adoption in Indonesia is how roughly abused Facebook has become. For a lot of people in the United States, Facebook is that persistent connection people have with their friends and relatives. They leave messages there, post their thoughts and discoveries, share news and photos, play games together, communicate, and generally keep in touch with their closest friends and relatives through the network.
In Indonesia Facebook is a marketplace. Yes it’s a social network but it’s a highly abused social network in which people take advantage of their connectedness and use their personal pages to promote and sell products and services. Large numbers of Indonesians use their Facebook pages to upload photos of the things they sell and tag everyone and their dog to announce that they have a new item available for sale. On top of that, there’s the game invitations. Oh the horror when these wretched things come around.
Facebook may well be the top social network with the most number of members in Indonesia but its activity rate is questionable, arguably plateauing if not on the way down. People are moving towards other apps and networks for a number of different reasons. Recently it opened up a vacancy in its Singapore office to help prop its usage among Indonesians back up.
Facebook is losing its shine among a lot of Indonesians and Path came up at the right time to replace that intimate atmosphere and private environment in which people can more freely share their activities to their closest friends and relatives. While the hard limit of 150 friends is considered too small among Indonesians who would like to be as connected as possible to everyone, once they realize the significance of this limit, it becomes liberating.
Ario Pratomo, co-founder of Jakarta co-working space Comma said that the curated 150 is why he loves Path. He shared his wedding photos and stories about his newly married life on Path as well as updates on his daily activities and travels.
ジャカルタにあるコワーキングスペースCommaの共同設立者Ario Pratoma氏は、同氏がPathを気に入っている理由はこの150人という制限があることだと語った。同氏は、Path上に自身の結婚式の写真や新婚生活に関する話を共有しただけでなく、日常生活や旅行についての話もアップデートしている。
ジャカルタのシェアオフィスCommaの共同創始者の一人であるArio Oratomoはその150人という制限がPathの大好きな所だと言う。日々の活動や旅行などのアップデートはもちろんのこと新婚生活について様子や結婚式の写真などをPathにおいて共有できるからだ。
Evan Hindra, an Indonesian UX designer and consultant who lives in Canada loves Path because he says it’s where rich Indonesians hang out and it’s a great source for observation. “They’re interesting people to say the least. They behave unlike any other group I know. The rich kids expose their lives on Path. Their social platform is ever changing but easy to deduce, Ultimately it’s my ego booster whenever I feel like I’m going nowhere”.
「控えめに言っても、彼らには興味をそそられるよ。私が知っている他のグループとは違った行動をしている。金持ちの子供は自分たちの生活をPath上でさらけ出している。彼らのソーシャルプラットフォームは絶え間なく変化しているけれど推論するのは難しくない。最終的には、行き詰まったと感じた時に自分を励ましてくれるものさ」
Many others cite privacy as their biggest reason to stay active on Path. While the obvious response to that is an advice to share more responsibly on Facebook and be more aware of Facebook’s privacy options, there is no such option on Path. Either you share or you don’t and if you share, everybody who are your friends can see them. You decide who your closest friends are and you don’t even have to use up all 150 slots.
