, Columnist
Expanding the Social Circle Gets Harder
Connecting the rest of the planet to the Internet is a tricky economic, political and social puzzle.
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It took Facebook eight years of fighting tooth and nail to reach its first 1 billion users. Getting to the next 6 billion people in the world is proving far tougher.
The company has been in the news because of controversy about its program in India to offer a selection of Web services (including Facebook) that people can access free on mobile phones, even over slow Internet connections. The idea behind Facebook's "Free Basics" program is to make it easier for lower-income people in India to have their first taste of the Internet by making it affordable to go online. Surfing the rest of the Web costs money.