The Korean Internet service industry analyzed that U.S. new media service companies entered into Korean market late, and they failed to localize in Korea.  Because most U.S. new media services such as MySpace, Second Life, and Google provide the same services in Korea, Koreans who are accustomed to using Korean services, find it difficult to easily adopt the U.S. services.

However, Twitter, a mirco-blogging and social networking service, entered the Korean market before me2Day, a Korean micro-blogging serviced by NHN, the largest Internet content service operator, has not settled. Compared to other U.S. new media services, Twitter has attempted to localize in Korea by entering into inter-connection service with cyworld, the largest Korean social networking service in Korea, and SK telecom, the largest Korean cell phone company. Also, Twitter made a name for itself by marketing Korean celebrities. For instance, Twitter became popular in Korea after it became known that the famous ice skater Yu-na Kim was using the site. Also, as Koreans learned that novelist Weosee Leest talked about his daily life and his novel through Twitter, more people have been interested in the social networking site.

Last September, Neilson KoreaClick, the professional group for Internet media research, reported that me2Day has overtaken Twitter in terms of numbers of monthly visitors. The Korean Internet Industry analyzed that Twitter is the first U.S. new media product to succeed in settling in Korea since its users also continuously increase. However, me2day is pursuing Twitter with an aggressive strategy.

Twitter and me2Day are both micro-blogging sites, which provide Short Message Service (SMS). There is little difference in the numbers of characters that can be posted per message: Twitter is 140characters, and me2Day is 150 characters. There is also not much difference in how to post characters on the website.  Suman Park, who developed me2Day, says, “Although me2Day was born by adopting Twitter’s micro-blogging system, me2Day has different goals and targets from Twitter. For instance, me2Day tries to provide service that allows people to strengthen their existing relationship through me2Day instead of following strange people.” In fact, according to the KoreaClick’s research, main Korean users for Twitter are sales people in early thirties who are interested in economy or politics, early adopters, and experts in the IT industry. On the other hand, main users for me2Day are teenagers or those in their early twenties. 

Koreans like Twitter for several reasons. Sung-Jun Kim, who works at an IT company in Korea says, “Twitter has very easy to use service. Therefore, I didn’t have to study how to use the program differently from other services. In addition, since the reply of my Tweet is so fast, I feel so interactive and I spent much time checking replies without recognition.”  Ji-yeon Lee, who works at Hana Bank says, “I like Twitter because much information is shared through Twitter. Also, since the information is posted by people who have an experience about the article or people who work at the field which are related to the information, I think the information is more reliable than news articles.”

Twitter and me2Day are closely connected to the mobile application. Twitter provides web-services based on the smart phone. This is reflective of U.S. culture in that there are many kinds of smart phones, and there are various applications for Twitter in the U.S.  On the other hand, me2Day is connected to the cell phone, reflecting the Korean culture of using cell phones.  However, ever since the iPhone finally emerged on the Korean market on November 28, 2009, Twitter has even more opportunities to enlarge their Korean consumer base.

It all started in a tweet. After Mexican President Felipe Calderón announced his tax package proposal for 2010 last month, which among other things suggested taxing telecommunications with a 4 percent tax for considering them “a luxury,” Alejandro Pisanty, a professor of UNAM in sabbatical leave and Chair of the Mexican chapter of the Internet Society, decided to write a statement against it and posted on his blog. On it, Pisanty raised the rejection of the tax and suggested using the phrase “Internet Necesario” (Necessary Internet) in all further assertions that were related to this concern.

“Alejandro came to me and ask me to support him and to help him spreading this initiative,” says León Felipe Sánchez, Intellectual Property attorney who also drafted a bill for the Protection of the Rights of Internet Users that is currently in the Senate. And so he did. On October 19 Sánchez wrote the first tweet that was marked under the #internetnecesario hash tag and “it turned out to spread like wildfire because the malaise pushed people to identify themselves immediately with the rejection and began using the label.” He did not think on doing it through Facebook only because he uses Twitter more often but apparently the immediacy of this platform resulted very effective.

In two weeks, 12 thousand users participated in the protest and sent more than 100 thousand tweets with the hash tag, which for Mexico’s Internet users –around 21 per cent of the total population according to gapminder.org- was quite an achievement. Interestingly enough, although there were several thousands of tweets on the subject, #internetnecesario didn’t become a Tweeter Trend, which was understood by many as reflect of the anglocentrism of the platform.

Two days after Sánchez´s tweet on October 21, the Commission on Science and Technology of the Senate, for which he is a consultant in Intellectual Property, hosted a round table debate with some of the members of the Internet user’s community to hear their arguments about the disadvantages that would have taxing telecommunications.

“I found it very interesting to see how concerned citizens were able to attract the attention of the Senate in a matter of days to address an issue that concerned us,” says Francisco Alanis, a radio anchor and one of Mexico´s most “followed” people on Twitter. “We are normally accustomed to seeing politicians only speaking to other politicians and citizen proposals being ignored unless streets are closed, more drastic measures are taken or represent a big chunk for their parties.”

The debate showed the importance of the Internet Necesario movement, which in Sánchez opinion lies in that it went from a virtual to the real protest in an orderly manner, with reasoning and foundations, without blocking streets, excesses, anything.

But the movement did not stopped there. On November 1 some of the organizers called for Internet users to gather at Parque Hundido in Mexico City and some other spots around the country to take a massive picture to continue stressing the importance of the Internet. “I don’t usually complain but this was peaceful demonstration against a tax that would take away people’s opportunity to take part of their education in their own hands. And even worse in a country where formal education is so bad,” says Federico Casas, one of the participants.

The Internet Necesario movement not only caught the attention of legislators and other political actors who realized that “things are not like they used to and that there are sectors of civil society, without any political tags or parties, and a plethora of opinions and positions that are watching and demanding accountability. They cannot continue to do things at their discretion,” states Sanchez.

But also, and most importantly for the purpose of the movement itself, it achieved to curb the tax Internet services when purchased independently. In the case of Internet packages that include cable and telephone services it succeeded on exempting up to 30% per cent of the total bill.

However, the implications of this initiative that according to its organizers was meant to remain among friends, go far beyond. “In Mexico we’re used to being a passive society,” says Alanis, “we always complain but hardly take the initiative to act in the way that was done in this case. That´s the greatest lesson of Internet Needed, that we understood that it was time to stop waiting for a great messiah who will work for people before for his party, because he simply does not exist!”

It is estimated that there are around 32 thousand Twitter users in Mexico of which about 8 thousand are active members who made the #internetnecesario movement a success. People’s reaction toward this initiative that according to Sánchez was meant to remain among friends, caught everyone by surprise. For the first time in Mexico, civil society and politicians realized that there is a virtual sphere in which people can organize without needing a political leader, and that goes beyond their jurisdiction.  It seems very likely that from now on things will never be as they used to.

More for less

According to some of the members of Internet Necesario, Mexico is one of the countries with the most expensive Internet service relative to the speed offered.

On September 4, people in 98 cities around the world rallied against him. The protest, called “No más Chávez”—which means No More Chávez is Spanish—was organized entirely through Facebook and Twitter.

The idea of the protest first occurred to Alejandro Gutierrez, a 28-year-old Colombian who on August 24th decided he had had enough with Chávez. The day before, during his weekly television program, the Venezuelan leader had accused the Colombian government of treason because, in his opinion, “it’s disrespecting the dignity of the people in South America” and invited Colombians “to join his Bolivarian doctrine” and spread it through the neighbor country.

“Chávez words were the last straw,” says Sergio Prieto, one of the co-founders of the movement and Gutierrez’s childhood friend, while he explains that Gutierrez and other eight Colombians created three Facebook groups against the Venezuelan president.

“We decided to merge the groups and call for a massive march against Chávez injustices and interferences in Colombia and Latin America,” he says.

The No More Chávez group‘s followers grow beyond their expectations. On its first day they had around 300 followers. But in the second day the number increased to almost 3,000 and by the day of the event it gathered more than 377,000 followers around the world.

“We established a two week time period the held a symbolic and pacifist anti-Chávez rally on September 4th and to see what we could accomplish in Colombia, but in less than two days the project had crossed national frontiers and it became a global event,” says Prieto.

It was then when No More Chávez received the support and logistical advice of Un Millon de Voces Contra las FARC, a Colombian non-profit that in 2008 organized a worldwide protest against the largest guerrilla group in Colombia.

The Facebook group was followed by the creation of NoMoreChavez.org website and a Twitter account, which currently has almost 5,000 followers.

In United States, the Venezuelan community started to work on the organization “right away” and designated local coordinators in 14 cities. They also contacted radio and television stations to promote the rally. In Venezuela, the No More Chavez group partnered with opposition parties and the student movement.

Coordinators received a nomaschavez.org email, which allow them to stay in touch and “make them feel a part of the organization,” Prieto says.  The email list was initially made public. But when the coordinators and organizes started to receive death threats, they decided to take it out and installed a comments and contact space in the website.

On September 4th, people in 46 countries—distributed along four of the five continents—held protests. According to media reports and data provided by No More Chávez, there were rallies in 98 cities, from Sydney, Australia passing by Madrid, Spain and all the way to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Thousands turned out for the protests in Colombia and Venezuela. But one of the biggest rallies was held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where de facto president Roberto Micheletti joined the protest.

But the rally is not the end of this social movement. Prieto says that the American branch of No More Chavez has already started the proceedings to create a non-profit called Movimiento No Más. In Colombia, similar organizations are popping out.

“We always saw this protest as a seed so people could generate their organizations to continue protesting and create channels of communication against Chávez’ politics,” he says.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) is currently having a photography contest, which will end on October 31st. The winner photos will be displayed in major Latin American cities and they will also be use for a 2010 calendar.

Although the Facebook group has decreased to 245,000 followers since the global rally, the movement continues to use it to promote and organizes protests similar to the initial cause. For instance, they helped to organize a march held today in Miami because of the  situation in Honduras, where Chavez is supporting the comeback of ex president Manuel Zelaya.

As for Twitter, Prieto explains that they use it as a channel to show their followers “the real news” of Venezuela. Through the 140 characters, they support Venezuelan journalists and retweet news that do not come from governmental media.

Regardless of their success, not all the co-founders of the No More Chávez know each other. “I talk to them but, besides Alejandro, I’ve never met the other seven organizers because I’m the only one who lives in the US,” says Prieto. It just happened to be random Colombians who were against Chávez.

Nonetheless, the network established remains active and it’s put into use every time Chávez travels abroad. During the United Nations General Assembly, the New York branch of No More Chávez organized a rally in front of the UN headquarters.

“It was small but meaningful, we were there,” the co-founder says. For now, the movement will continue to exist as long as Chávez is in power and his influence is spread in Latin America.

After hanging around for a few more minutes, one might notice the constant circulation of women who come in and out throughout the day.  The women sit down with the two staff-members, Executive Director Ana Moraga and Program Coordinator Wendy Rosales, spilling the recent news and gossip and chatting away about their lives.  They have ups and downs like any other woman I know.  They might bring up concerns about their children not attending school, or anxieties they’re having about their family members’ financial troubles.  So what’s special about this organization?  The women come from one of most marginalized groups of women in Guatemala (not to mention the rest of the world).  The women are sex workers.

MuJER, which stands for Mujeres por la Justicia, Educación, y Reconocimiento (Women for Justice, Education, and Awareness), is a small non-profit organization dedicated to assisting women sex workers in Guatemala City in empowering themselves through classes ranging from literacy courses to beauty certification courses.  MuJER also advocates for the human rights of sex workers.  Fundraising, as for many non-profit organizations, is a key ingredient in MuJER’s success.  But the serious challenges inherent in trying to raise donations with such a tiny full-time staff, a challenging and unique mission, and a clientele of low-income, and often socially rejected women are undeniable. 

The question, then, is how does such a small, under-resourced organization raise enough funds and make enough of an impression on potential donors to sustainably achieve its objectives and provide its services to the women?  The answer lies in the Internet. 

MuJER is merely four years old.  It has 501(c)3 status in the United States so that Americans can make tax-deductible donations to the organization.  One of MuJER’s main fundraising goals is to market itself to American donors, as there are many US donors who are interested in global human rights issues (not to mention that there are significantly larger numbers of donors ready and willing to donate to non-profit organizations in the US than there are in Guatemala).  But how would someone in the US even learn of MuJER?  And why would anyone from the US contribute to MuJER over other organizations? 

These were some of the important questions Ana Moraga, the co-founder and Executive Director of MuJER, had to grapple with over the past few years so that this past summer, when I arrived as an intern, the first task on my list was to assist in the redesigning of the website.  MuJER’s original website was not especially inviting, interactive, or informative.  Donating was not really possible through the site and there were no profiles of the women, very few pictures, and only a brief summary of how the organization was founded and what its goals were. 

Throughout the summer, the web-designer Walter Aguilar, Ana Moraga, and I set out to recreate MuJER as an internationally connected, socially networked, interactive, and trailblazing organization that would inspire donors to donate, volunteers to volunteer, and others to simply read, discover, and get to know the organization.  We completely redesigned the website (mujerguatemala.org) adding pictures, personal and inspirational stories from the women, information on the challenges facing sex workers in Guatemala, and an online store selling the jewelry the women make in their jewelry workshop (jewelry is bought through PayPal or Google Checkout).  The site was built on WordPress, a free, open source web design system that makes it easy for non-techies to contribute to changes on the site.  

“Through the website, people actually know about us in the States,” says Moraga.  “We just got a volunteer who is going to be with us for a year and she found out about us through the website,” she cheerfully remarks. 

With the new website up and running, we realized that MuJER could potentially connect with many more people if it diversified its use of social networking tools.  Thus, we created a facebook page and a twitter account and invited friends from near and far to join the group. 

While these are all important accomplishments for an organization like MuJER, there are countless more steps the organization can take to increase its online readership, self-advocacy, and fundraising potential.  When I left in August, I couldn’t help but feel anxious about the fate of the organization’s Internet connectedness.   I was leaving, Moraga was planning on moving to the States in October, and we were both concerned about who would keep the website, facebook page, and twitter account active and up to date. 

The problem many small non-profits face lies in the lack of staff time available to make full use of all of the good the Internet can bring to an organization.  Without updates, tweets, wall posts, and blog entries, potential supporters in the US might lose interest and forget about an organization as geographically distant and unknown to the US public as MuJER.  As a former intern, I have an immense amount of respect and appreciation for the incredible work MuJER has done and is still doing with and for sex workers in Guatemala, but I worry about it not accomplishing as much as it can if it doesn’t find a way to keep up with the pack.  Hopefully this won’t be the case.