Global Head of Diversity for Facebook Maxine Williams, said Montserrat is smart to leverage the platform as a way to build connections and gain input.
Williams, a national of Trinidad & Tobago presented a lecture on “Social Media and the Creation of Global Communities” at the University of the West Indies St Augustine campus in early April.
During her presentation in which she outlined the social media platform’s mandate of “thinking globally, acting locally” she asked the audience which country they thought had the most international friends on Facebook.
The crowd was genuinely surprised and so were we to learn that users from Montserrat have the most international connections on the platform which has more than a billion users worldwide.
The head of diversity said “Montserrat pops up in our literature. They are smart to be connected to other places, getting that input and creativity. Despite all the water surrounding them and the volcano in the middle, they are part of a global community and getting the benefit of that for free.”
She makes this comment around the 50 minute mark in the Facebook Live talk. (Video below)
Williams also shared that for every 10 people connected to the internet, one rises out of poverty, according to data. She lauded the island for its ability to access the benefits of Facebook in its redevelopment.
“We all do better when we have the benefit of different perspectives,” she said.
According to economywatch.com there are 2,862 internet users on Montserrat, according to 2015 data. There are 2,300 Facebook accounts with a penetration rate of 43.88% of the population.
