The number of Facebook users in the country is about 2 crores 90 lakhs. Of these, 98% are inactive and 2% is active. This virtual space of social network has kept alive by giving status, sharing news, giving likes, comments and participating in debates. Most of the activists are interested in online and daily news. 88 GB bandwidths spend in Facebook from the use of the country's total bandwidth (436 GB). This information is found from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (BTRC), and the Internet service organizations.
Currently, large numbers of Bangladeshi people are associated with Internet service. According to the latest data from BTRC, the number of internet subscribers in the country is more than 7crores 33 lakhs until June this year. Most of them are only connected to the internet for using Facebook.
A survey of social media research institute 'We Are Social' and 'Hot Sweet' shows that Dhaka is the second largest city in the world in terms of Facebook usage. More than 2 crores 20 lakh people are using Facebook actively. The last report of April shows, this figure is now 2 crore 90 lakhs. On the other hand, Internet World Stats reports show that until June 30, 2016, Facebook users in Bangladesh were 2 crores 10 lakhs. At that time the number of internet users of Bangladesh was 6 crores 72 lakhs 45 thousand. According to the BTRC, currently, Bangladesh has 7 crores 33 lakh users.
Munir Hassan, the general secretary of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN), has a personal idea that only 2% of the country's total Facebook users are active. As a result of the working of open software, he watched the matter very intensely. He said, "Only 2% of Facebook users are using Facebook actively. The number will be about 2.5 lakhs. They comment on Facebook, participate in the debate on issues and share them. People associated with the newspaper and online activists are common among them.
Munir Hassan said that 25% of users are active on Facebook. They entered Facebook on average once a week. They are active on a special festival or birthday. And 30% of users do nothing on Facebook. Many of them have opened ID as they have to. Many of them forget that they have a Facebook ID.
On the other hand, 40-43% of Facebook users are absolutely silent. BDOSN general secretary said that they entered Facebook but do nothing. They do not like or comment on anything. Occasionally they might open a link. They log in, so their footprint can be seen. So, the trend of Facebook users of Bangladesh is not understood properly. "
Meanwhile, IAPAB president Aminul Hakim, the organization of internet service providers of the country, gave a statistic of the amount of bandwidth spent on using Facebook in the country. He said, ‘the broadband (high-speed) internet users of different ISPs who enter Facebook, among them, middle-aged people like to read the news in the Facebook news feed. But there is no specific information as there is no research, he said.
Aminul Hakim said, "In the total bandwidth used in the country (Mobile phone operator 110 GB and ISP operator 326 GB), 88 GB is used on Facebook." He said, "Mobile Internet users are almost always logged in to Facebook and Messenger. About 50% of the mobile phone data is used by users of Facebook.
Over the last few days, talks with more than 30 internet users from different categories, came to know that everyone uses the Internet. They spend most of their time on Facebook. Some people are almost all day in the messenger. They spend an average of 3-4 hours on Facebook, but 8-10 hours in messenger.
Meanwhile, for the use of Facebook, they spend an average of tk 300-400 every month for buying the internet. They spend minimum Tk 100 to the maximum of Tk 1,000 for this. If we consider the cost of Wi-Fi connection, the cost will increase. Talking with the users, who do not have access to Wi-Fi; their cost for Facebook use is little high.
However, there is a similarity between all the users mentioned above. They all connect online during their leisure time at the day. The youth are online for almost every day from 11 pm to 1 am. They also spend time on Facebook in their leisure time in daytime. However, the service holders are logged in on Facebook on the way to home from the office. It has been seen that most service holders log in to Facebook from 5:30 pm to 9 pm. And those who do not like to see on the mobile screen, they listen to music using the earphones logging in to YouTube. Some people even watch the movie on Youtube.
For the reason of her use of the Internet, Afrida Zerin Prasa, a third-year student in the Department of Health Economics, University of Dhaka, said, "I am connected to the Net for most of the time of a day. Basically, I use Facebook. I regularly follow the Facebook group to check our class schedule. Almost all the time I stay in the messenger. '
Shahed Hasan, a second-year student of Criminology of the same university, said, "We use a number of social networking sites. I spend most of the time on Facebook. It has become a habit. '
Asked for information, Habib Kazi, marketing officer of Opsonin Pharmaceuticals Limited said, "Basically I use the internet to use Facebook. I like to watch all the fun videos on Facebook. I also spend a lot of time on YouTube. From 10 pm to 12 pm, I stay more in online. '
Regarding the rationality of the use of internet Kalpana Akhter, the headmaster of Udhur Government Primary School, Gazipur, said, ‘I am on the Internet from 8 am to 12 pm. I use Facebook, read the news. I see the collection of new clothes on Facebook pages.
Rowjatul Jannat, a non-government employee, said, ‘I spend much time on Facebook especially in choosing the new designs of costumes. Most of the time I use the messenger.’