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In Indonesia, there is a growing trend to open businesses through social media, especially by women. There are many reasons that account for this trend, the main reason being the flexibility that it affords businesses, allowing transactions to be done from anywhere, including one's own home. This paper argues that online business has great potential in empowering women by assisting them to become entrepreneurs. Online businesses can also be seen as a solution to the dilemma faced by women who must manage and balance their career and family life. Ultimately, social media entrepreneurship works well for women in Indonesia due to its unique characteristics that include: mobility and flexibility, social capital gained through social media interactions, the unequal distribution of products in Indonesian cities, the lack of time on the part of customers to visit physical shops and the confidence and satisfaction experienced by women as a result of this enterprise.

This notes aims to highlight results of a research conducted on the use of social media by women entrepreneurs in managing micro businesses in Indonesian urban areas.The outputs of this study identify the perceptions, beliefs, opinions, and lived experiences of women entrepreneurs on the use of social media as a business tool and the benefits that these businesses bring to their personal, social, and professional lives.This information is insightful in understanding the opportunities given by this type of business and the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs to open and manage such business.At the same time, the study is also able to provide business strategies for other women who want to start social media business as a mode of empowerment.

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One group that has the potential to boost entrepreneurship, but is often undervalued is women. Although they consist of approximately sixty per cent of all entrepreneurs in Indonesia, they often face more challenges in comparison to male entrepreneurs in conducting their business ventures. These challenges include limited access to funding, multiple roles and responsibilities in the family and society, limited knowledge of information and communication technologies, and inadequate support system. Many women turn to social media to enable them opening a business that they can manage from home. While generally social media bring positive consequences to these woman entrepreneurs, the dynamic of the social media environment means that these women have to face obstacles to keep up with the technological developments and the changes of interactions that they bring to the business conducts and sellers-consumer interactions. This community service program aimed to provide capacity building training which focuses on women who own online micro businesses. Through this community service program, we introduced participants to the potential challenges that are brought by the changes in the social media environment. At the same time, we also assisted them in planning an effective social media communication plan that can help them to overcome these challenges. This workshop also allowed participants to network with other woman entrepreneurs that can potentially increase their social capital.