Internet in Brazil

I have listened podcast from BBC Radio Brazil Program.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p006h6q7

This podcast is about the use of the internet in Brazil and whether or not it makes people richer there. When I listened to it for the first time I understood almost everything, but I had to listen to it for the second time to understand it better. Some of the words and the proper names were hard to understand, but most of them were pretty much easy to understand, because I have learned them at my English lessons.

Let me say some words about the podcast. Brazil is a partly rich, mainly poor country. The internet connection is not very expensive there, but still not all of the Brazilians have an opportunity to buy a computer to connect to the internet. Buying a computer is one of the life`s defining moments for Brazilians. An internet connection is not only seen as a useful tool for getting some information, but it is also a symbol that you have some wealth. It is a reason for pride and it is normal when people place their computers in the living room to show off.

A lot of developed countries in Europe and the USA have reached a “maturity” level in a growing rate in the use of the internet, while Brazil has the fast growing rate right now. That is because they have cheap computers there, which stimulate people to buy them and they got more broadband offer. Now an average Brazilian internet user spends 70 hours a month online. It is more than anywhere in the world. They pay the bills, investigate some information and find jobs online.

The Brazilian`s “online revolution” has created the opportunities to make some small business, which simply did not exist before. Mark Gregory has met one of the Brazilian entrepreneurs, which has a creative way of selling T-shirts. The point of his business is that he lets the customers do the work. The designs for the T-shirts are placed on a special web-site where people vote for which they like the most. Internet helps his business to increase sales every year.

This task of the podcast seems very interesting to me, because the use of the internet nowadays is very necessary to develop in different fields.