Facebook has 65 mn active users in India

Facebook had a user base of eight mn when it started its office in India in 2010

The number of active Facebook users in India has swelled to 65 million, according to Kirthiga Reddy, director (online operations) at Facebook India. This is an eight-fold jump in a span of two years.

“Facebook had a user base of eight million when it started its office in India in 2010, and 65 million monthly active users is the number that we have today to share and connect,” she told mediapersons in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The social networking platform has key products and innovations for India, both on desktop and mobiles, said Reddy. She added that Facebook was now available in nine languages on phone and 10 languages on desktops. She also announced the company’s new office in Hyderabad, which has a floor space of approximately 66,000 sq. ft. Facebook employs less than 4,000 people globally.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that the company had passed the one-billion user milestone globally, making it the first social network to do so. “Over eight years, we have over one billion people spending time, sharing and connecting on the social network platform globally. Of that, 600 million use it from their mobile devices,” said Reddy. “Our goal is to make sure that we have a fantastic experience not just on smartphones but also on feature phones.”

Stating that Facebook continuously innovates to create products such as ads and ‘sponsored stories’ in news feeds for marketers, Reddy said a clutch of new products such as Facebook Exchange, Sponsored Results and Offers were further driving loyalty. “These are getting 40 per cent conversion via Facebook than any other source,” she said.

Citing the example of Mumbai-based Chumbak.com, she said that 25 per cent of the retailer’s online revenue came from Facebook.

“Chumbak has seen 5X return on investment (RoI) and 40 per cent of its traffic comes from Facebook,” she said.

“We drive results for marketers. A study across 63 campaigns globally (on Facebook) witnessed five times the RoI in 49 per cent of the campaigns.”

Reddy added that the online advertising spend in India is growing at 25 per cent year-on-year and Facebook’s reach can be a strong platform