FaceBook India
According to social media analysts, by 2015 India will be the biggest Facebook market in terms of total users.
The social media giant had 1.19 billion monthly active users globally (as of October 2013), 146.8 million of which are in the USA, followed by India which has 114.8 million users. However, India with its explosive user growth rate of 37.4% between 2012 and 2013 is expected to surpass the USA. Note that China, the world’s most populous country does not currently permit Facebook to operate.
Due to its expertise on India, Amritt was interviewed by First Post on the subject of Facebook’s expansion in India some time ago. https://amritt.com/news/facebook-expands-in-india-amritt-interviewed-about-process/
Factors that have contributed to this upsurge in Facebook users in India include –
- Rapidly growing internet penetration levels, with India expected to overtake the US as the second largest internet base in the world by 2014
- Greater smartphone affordability, with basic smartphones costing as less as $80 in India
- Low mobile data usage costs resulting from a highly competitive mobile service provider market. Not surprisingly, 62 million users in India access Facebook through their mobile.
- A young demographic base that is only too eager to sign up. .About 76% of Indian Facebook members are in the young age group of 18 to 34.
- Facebook India has an office in Hyderabad’s IT hub and this helps the company reach out to advertisers and cell-phone companies to generate revenue.
However, Mark Zuckerberg may not necessarily be jumping with joy just yet, since like many other emerging Asian markets, the Indian internet advertising industry is in its nascent stages. As of 2012, Facebook earned a per user revenue of $1.79 in Asia, versus $9.51 in North America.
