How many internet users are there in Indonesia? 30 million? 40 million? We might never know the exact number of it, but the newest survey done by MarkPlus Insight stated that the internet users in Indonesia in 2011 reached 55 million people. Compared to the population of the country which is about 240 million people, that means 23% Indonesia has a 23% Internet penetration rate and it is dominated by big cities—only 4.1% located in rural area. Last year, MarkPlus Insight noted that internet users in Indonesia reached 42 million.

It is mentioned in the survey that the number of people who use mobile devices reached 29 million people. It means that more than 50% internet users in Indonesia use mobile devices to browse on the internet. Since Indonesia is an archipelago with non-flat contour, mobile internet is more commonly found than landline connections.

To get this data, MarkPlus Insight did a survey on 2,161 Internet users in 11 major cities. The respondents were people around 15-64 years old from various social and economics background. Each of them accesses the Internet more than 3 hours each day.

As a comparison, based on data from many media, Indonesia has 40.8 million Facebook accounts and regarded as the second largest number or users after the USA. With “only” 23% (almost a quarter) penetration of total population, there are still many potentials waiting to be developed. China has the largest number of Internet users in the world where Internet penetration has reached one third of the population. However, for me, the most important thing is how to use internet as positive media to improve the life quality and information distribution in Indonesia.