Facebook For All

[Commentary] Increasing Internet access around the world was one of the hot stories of the week. Observers wondered, however, if all the smoke really indicates there's a fire to connect everyone to the Internet. On August 21, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of Internet.org, a partnership with the goal of making Internet access available to the next 5 billion people. Today, just over one-third of the world’s population (2.7 billion people) have access to the Internet and Internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year. Internet.org aims to make access available to the two-thirds of the world population who are not yet connected. Internet.org members include Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung. They’ve pledged to develop joint projects, share knowledge, and mobilize industry and governments to bring the world online. Down the line, the partnership is expected to expand to include nonprofit organizations, academics and other experts. They will focus on three challenges: Making access affordable, using data more efficiently, and helping business drive access. The proof of Internet.org, and other efforts of course, will be if they can address Internet adoption from soup to nuts: technical and financial challenges that limit access to the Internet, yes, but helping motivate new consumers to adopt services they never thought they needed. Is a free Facebook account enough to motivate someone to take on a mobile data plan? We’ll be waiting to see.