7 things to know about Facebook's India journey

For Facebook @ 10, India is set to become home to its biggest user base this year

The world’s favourite social network – Facebook, founded on the grounds of Harvard University by a maverick college dropout (Mark Zuckerberg, who is yet to turn 30) celebrates its 10th birthday today. The dorm room website turned global social networking hotspot has already inspired a Hollywood blockbuster and revolutionized the way we connect, communicate, advertise and do business. Its impressive vital stats can send one into a tizzy.  

 

Facebook boasts of 1.23 billion users – or about a sixth of the world’s human population. It generated profits of $1.5 billion last year and is valued at $135 billion, setting out to become the fastest company ever to reach the $150 billion mark according to the Independent. Its ‘like’ button has -- hold your breath -- been clicked a whopping 3.4 trillion times!

 

This incredible journey of 10 years has also been marked by several sets of challenges – privacy issues, growing competition from rivals like Twitter & SnapChat, concerns about being unable to retain its original base of youngsters, user fatigue and apocalyptic projections of 80% of its user base being lost by 2017. As the company confronts these challenges, in India, the Facebook story is going strong and is expected to fuel growth for the company in the coming decade. 

 

Here are 7 things you need to know about Facebook’s India journey so far - 

 

#1 India is Facebook’s 2nd largest market in terms of user base after the US and Canada, even though it is far behind in terms of monetisation of revenues given the small size of India’s advertising market.

 

#2 Within 4 years of starting operations in India, Facebook is set to hit the 100 million user mark, having already crossed 90 million users or more than 1/3rd of India’s internet population. 80% of these users access Facebook through mobile – Facebook’s new focus area. 

 

#3 2013 has been an important year from the India standpoint. Half of its 93 million users have become active only over the last year, so fears about user fatigue that have gripped certain other geographies are not valid here. More so because India's social network penetration currently stands at only 7.7%, below the average of 22.7% worldwide according to zdnet.

 

#4 Facebook is adding 2 million new users every month in India. According to eMarketer, India will reach 152.4 million Facebook users this year, surpassing the 151.1 million forecast for the US becoming home to the world’s largest Facebook population. 

 

#5 The growing user base means Facebook’s reach in India now surpasses traditional mass media and is now seven times greater than the largest English daily newspaper, and the largest radio channel - Kirthiga Reddy, head of Facebook India told the Hindu Businessline 

 

#6 Facebook recently acquired an Indian start up company, Little Eye Labs that builds mobile app analysis tools for app developers for $15 million – this is the first Indian firm to be bought by the Menlo Park headquartered company. 

 

#7 Facebook is focusing on localizing the user experience in India as a key part of its growth strategy. It has partnered with device makers such as Nokia and Samsung to offer services in regional languages. It is also cashing in on the mobile revolution by introducing applications on low-cost mobiles, launching pre-installed services on devices such as Nokia's Asha line of phones.  In fact Nokia Asha 205 is the first Nokia phone that includes a dedicated Facebook button, ensuring that a high end smart phone is not necessary for users to engage with Facebook.