Facebook is not just the most popular social media networking platform in the world but also a company which has larger than life dreams of connecting people from every corner of the globe. While some of the company’s on-going projects have great potential to help keep the world connected, its Free Basics programme was definitely not one of them.
So why did it fall flat on its face in India? Was it because of TRAI’s verdict on net neutrality laws or the inexorable protests conducted by a vast number of Internet activists and start-ups against Zuckerberg’s dream of making cheap Internet available to the country’s rural populace?
Well, maybe, but all these reasons were definitely not the major factors that fuelled the failure of the Internet giant’s campaign in the country. The root problem goes far beyond the superficial protests that were assumed to be the main reasons for the platform’s withdrawal from the country.
In reality, Facebook’s Free Basics, from the very beginning, went off beam while determining the steps needed to make an impact on the country’s rural customers.
While considerable amount of time has passed since the initial saga, lets have a deeper look why Free Basics was a flawed campaign and would not have succeeded in any case.
Ambiguous assumptions
As we all know, Facebook builds on its user base by tracking, monitoring, and analysing customer/ user preferences. This process might work out for most major countries across the world and even in India, however, the grass-root consumers have a different approach, which is highly influenced by physical sales and distribution channels via local providers.
Apart from concentrating on its core Free Basics’s platform, Facebook did nothing to mend the platform for the country’s rural masses. In a layman’s term, Facebook tried to push its platform in India without analysing the real problems faced by rural people.
Too much spotlight on the core platform
For example, they did not speak of any local third party product inside the platform that might have triggered the curiosity of villagers. Instead, they were busy promoting what they felt was the main requirement in India’s backyards.
Also, the villagers have always been using local physical commodities and moving to an online platform suddenly is rather difficult for them. The company should have partnered with local third party firms to explain the functionality of the platform and also to gain the trust of the villagers.
Earlier, other large companies such as Uber, FedEx, and Amazon had to drastically change their approach while making their mark in the Indian market.
We hope that the Facebook must have learned that adoption and affection towards a product takes much more time in rural parts as compared to other developed parts where they can just monitor and analyse the trends.
Absence of physical distribution channels
Other than that, another thing that went amiss was the presence of physical sales channel distributors who have significant influence over the preference of local consumers. Yes, it maybe difficult and expensive to manage local distributors but it is a must for any foreign country trying to focus on rural India.
In India—especially the rural parts—people will always go to trusted physical local stores for selecting any plan rather than opting for Facebook’s Free Basics service, which was being promoted, at that time, by sales agents over the phone.
So one of the most important factors that was ignored by Facebook was the absence of physical sales distribution channels.
Not everything free is good
While Facebook left no stone unturned in promoting the Free Basics platform, their own promotion might have been a big reason for the failure of the programme in India.
Westerners have a very clichéd idea about low-income groups or under developed countries around the globe. They feel that all of them want free stuff, irrespective of how it is quality-wise.
In fact, Facebook also made its assumptions on similar grounds and that’s where they faltered. In India, even in rural areas, people always seek something that will be beneficial for them in the long run, even though it comes with a price tag. People are more inclined towards value-sensitive products rather than free ones.
Companies such as Facebook should be looking forward to change this ideology and provide services that can offer immediate benefits to the rural masses, even if it comes at a cost.
Internet growth slow but steady
Coming towards the conclusion, the point I would like to focus on is that Internet adoption is gaining traction in the rural parts of India, but it will still take some time to attain Urban-like online facilities.
Currently, the remote parts of the country need Internet connectivity for “useful online service” rather than staying socially connected. With the on-set of fast connections, low cost smartphones, and numerous government services, Internet connectivity in rural parts seems to be making steady progress.
And now that the Government is running the race for connecting the rural parts of India digitally, online services are improving slowly but surely.
