(Corrects in 6th paragraph to say Twitter (N:TWTR), not Facebook,
recently acquired Periscope)
* Indonesia has Twitter's top Internet user penetration rate
* But number of active users is falling - data
* Younger users see it more as a news feed for older people
...
* ... and are switching to rival, less public, chat apps
* Twitter says Indonesia has great potential, still a top
mkt
By Jeremy Wagstaff
Feb 12 (Reuters) - Indonesia has long been the Twitter
capital of the world, but rival apps and rancorous political
debate are driving users away, illustrating the challenges the
microblogging service faces even in markets once considered
strongholds.
While Twitter TWTR.N doesn't break down country figures,
Global Web Index data shows Indonesia remains joint first with
Mexico in active users among the 34 countries the UK-based
metrics company monitors - and significantly ahead in terms of
penetration, at 74 percent of all Internet users.
But that masks a deeper shift, analysts and users say, as
changing tastes, culture and politics push Indonesians to rival
services. The proportion of active Twitter users in Indonesia
has dipped 10 percentage points in the past two years, to about
one third of Internet users, the Global Web Index data show.
"Unless Twitter makes changes or there's some new exciting
things on Twitter that can't be found on other platforms then I
don't think people are coming back to Twitter," said Enda
Nasution, a blogger and entrepreneur who has nearly 200,000
followers on his Twitter account.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on the data, saying
he had not seen it, but said younger people in major markets
like Indonesia and India were eager users. He said the company
was expanding in Indonesia and working with airlines, banks and
celebrities to add services and content.
He noted Indonesia was one of the top markets for Twitter's
recent acquisition Periscope, which allows users to stream live
video.
Twitter on Wednesday reported its first quarter since going
public with no growth in users, and announced changes to its
global service.
Among younger users - active Twitter users in the 16-24 year
age range - Indonesia lags Spain, Mexico and the UK. JakPat, an
Indonesian survey company, found last month that teenagers were
less likely to use Twitter regularly than those aged 26 and
above, and were switching to other apps such as Facebook FB.O
and its photosharing sibling Instagram.
But there's also a push factor: Indonesians are leery of
Twitter's core appeal; its default public feed, where everything
a user posts is visible to everyone on the network. What was
once an attraction in Indonesia's sociable culture became a
liability in 2014's fractious presidential election.
FISTICUFFS
As politicians saw the power of Twitter to mobilise support,
the network was flooded by digital armies of volunteers and
automated accounts, or bots, spawning what Shafiq Pontoh, chief
strategic officer at Jakarta-based social media consultancy
Provetic, described as a "tsunami" of "black campaigns, hoaxes,
prejudice, racism, spam, harassment, anonymous accounts and
political action to frame topics, issues (and) spin doctoring."
"Twitter," he said, "became an uncomfortable place to be."
This antagonism hit rock bottom when two Twitter users took
a dispute over government car-making policies offline and
slugged it out near a sports stadium. Cellphone footage of their
fist-fight was broadcast on TV.
"After that it felt like that if you don't want to get into
trouble, people would retreat and find a more comfortable space
online," said Nasution, the entrepreneur.
Those online spaces include Facebook's WhatsApp and
Messenger apps, South Korean Kakao's 035720.KQ Path, Japan's
Naver Corp's 035420.KS LINE and BlackBerry's BB.TO
Messenger.
Nasution said students he has spoken to use WhatsApp to
communicate with their lecturer, and LINE to chat with each
other. Or Facebook and Path, says student Jeremiah Mandey, who
joined Twitter in 2010. "I used Twitter to interact with
friends, but now I use it to get news," he said.
MISSING A CULTURAL BEAT
Government departments, companies and even President Joko
Widodo have embraced Twitter as a public announcement service.
The Jakarta police traffic feed, alerting commuters to jams,
accidents, potholes and protests, has over 5 million followers.
This provides a service, but is too passive for younger
people, says Aulia Masna, an editor. "People are on social media
to have fun and be entertained," he says. "Twitter in Indonesia
is better known as the place for news, debate and politics. So
it attracts the more serious, older crowd."
The company spokesman said Twitter opened a Jakarta office
last year and added staff, in part to expand its user base
beyond the capital. The recruits included a government relations
expert. It was also working with local bank BNI BBNI.JK to
allow customers to transact via Twitter.
"We see great potential in Indonesia, it's one of the top
markets," he said, adding Widodo was due to visit Twitter's
headquarters in San Francisco next week.
Simon Kemp, regional managing partner of social media
marketing agency We Are Social, said Twitter should focus more
on understanding how people in places like Indonesia use their
service before tweaking things.
"People are still looking at these things as a technology
base," he said, "while it's the cultural driver that determines
what you use and when you use it."
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