DESPITE attempts by local web developers, users continue to shun Myanmar-language websites in favour of international social networking sites and chatting software.

The most popular sites among young people include Friendster, Hi5, Zorpia and video-sharing site Metacafe, according to Ko Thet Ko Ko Myat, an IT administrator at Sky Net internet café in Dagon Center.

“It is really rare to see young people using Myanmar-language websites. Most of them prefer G-talk or VZO for chatting and browse English-language social networking sites,” agreed Ko Kyaw Khaing Oo, the online division manager for Myanmar Inforithm-Maze, one of the country’s leading web developers. “As far as I know, more than half of the total internet users in Myanmar are using the internet for these purposes, rather than as a research tool or to find information.”

Myanmar Inforithm-Maze, which is owned by Thaung Su Nyein has launched some of the more well-known Myanmar-language websites, including Planet, People and Mysuboo, as well as some journal websites.

“We first introduced Planet.com in 2002 with many features, such as a book corner, forums, news, music, cyber friends, dictionary, movie reviews, horoscopes, and e-cards,” Ko Kyaw Khaing Oo said. “We normally receive about 10,000 hits per day and most of them are coming from Myanmar, Singapore and America.”

The fashion- and beauty-related People website was introduced in 2003. It includes news and information relating to entertainment, beauty, fashion, health, lifestyle, arts and relationships.

“But these Myanmar-language websites are still remote from most users in Myanmar. Mysuboo, a social networking site that we launched in 2007, only has about 2000 users per day,” he said.

They might not be reaping instant rewards but a few companies can see the potential in Myanmar-language websites.

Ideal Technology Company launched a Myanmar-language football news website, Soccer Myanmar, in January this year. General manager Ko Moe Wai said the number of hits had increased from 1500-2000 per day in March to about 3000 in May, largely because of the launch of the Myanmar National League Cup competition.

“The number of visitors to our site is still small and I agree that most local internet users prefer foreign websites to local ones. But I think we may get more hits and attention from local users when there are more Myanmar-language websites being created and also when the number of internet users in Myanmar increases,” Ko Moe Wai said.

It is hard to gauge exactly how many people have access to the internet here, but it is generally accepted to be less than 1 percent of the population. Estimates vary from as little as 40,000 to 200,000 – slightly lower than neighbouring Laos and far behind Thailand, India and China.

But low internet penetration is only part of the problem Myanmar-language websites face, said Ko Zin Min Soe, the director of Creative Web Studio, which is linked to Myanmar Info-Tech. His company recently introduced a website called Myanmar Training (www.myanmartraining.com) that provides information about further study abroad, local education centres and scholarship opportunities.

“The language of the World Wide Web is English – this seems to be accepted by just about everyone [including users in Myanmar],” Ko Zin Min Soe said. “And also there is a problem searching Myanmar language websites using a search engine, because we don’t have a standard Unicode font for the Myanmar language.”

Ko Kyaw Khaing Oo agreed the lack of a standard Unicode font was a problem for Myanmar-language websites. Most Myanmar-language websites are now using the non-Unicode font Zawgyi, which is developed by the Alpha Myanmar company and is available as a free download.

There is also a lack of interest from the business community in advertising on Myanmar-language websites, which makes it difficult for them to generate income.

Not all sites are created to make money though. Some, including the popular Toilet Wall, have been developed using the free, open-source web development tools available at www.ning.com. These tools allow users to easily create their own social networking site, rather than go through the costly and time consuming process of developing a site from scratch.

“[But] if the website is famous and widely used, businesspeople will consider advertising on it,” said Ko Maung Maung Myint Win, the marketing director from Myanmar.net. “In the future, we need to develop more useful, informative and interesting Myanmar-language websites if we are going to attract local internet users.”