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Facebook, the social networking giant founded by Harvard University dropout Mark Zuckerberg 10 years ago, may be showing signs of fatigue, in terms of expanding its user base globally, but in India, the company is growing in areas it strategically wants to.
For instance, within four years of starting operations in India, FB has crossed the 90-million user mark and is slowly inching towards 100 million, more than a third of the country's internet population.
More importantly, of its 93 million users in India (as of December 2013), about 80 per cent access FB through mobile devices; this segment has been the company's focus area to expand user base and revenues. Taking this as a cue, FB is using India as a test bed for features unique to emerging markets, where internet penetration is quite low.
Rajiv Dhingra, founder and chief executive of social media agency WATConsult, said: "FB may be 10 globally, but the platform was opened to Indians only in 2008 or so. Of the 93 million users in India, almost half has become active over a year. So, from the India standpoint, it certainly is not old. Therefore, there will be no fatigue among India users, at least for the next two-three years." Using its reach, the company is now trying to position itself as a mass media platform in India; to grow its advertising revenues, it wants to compete with other mass media segments such as television and newspapers.
"The very fact that FB is now approaching the 100-million users mark in India is an opportunity for the company to position as a mass media player. There are only 110 million television sets in India. Therefore, as a publisher, FB is larger than most TV channels. No print media has a reach of that size. So, by those metrics, it is certainly mass media," said Mahesh Murthy, founder of digital strategy firm Pinstorm. "Though it hasn't fully utilised the reach to monetise the platform yet, it is only for a short time. Just like Google, FB will also be able to take money away from television and you will see TV advertisement budgets migrating to these companies more and more."
Companies such as Airtel, ICICI, Nestle, Coca Cola (India) and Cadbury India are already using FB as an advertisement medium. However, the company will have to win the confidence of advertisers before aggressively pitching for clients, say industry watchers.
Harish Bijoor, brand expert and chief executive of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, said: "The platform is certainly ready for the marketer. In India, FB suffers the imagery of an ageing Madonna. India is likely to be its most ruthless critic."
Analysts said globally, users may have begun moving away from FB, something they dub a "teen problem". In its earnings call in October last year, FB made a surprise admission that younger teens, especially in the US, were using the site less, something the California-based firm had been denying so far.
According to the findings of a survey released by financial firm Piper Jaffray in October 2013, FB was no longer the most important social networking website for teens in the US. The survey found only 23 per cent of 8,650 teenagers in that country preferred FB. Experts claim FB is losing its sheen due to two main reasons - the emergence of other online social networking formats and FB's inability to develop a strong mobile platform. Globally, youngsters seem to be taking to micro-blogging website Twitter and photo-sharing networks Instagram and Flickr, among others.
"FB at 10 is certainly a milestone to celebrate. A total of 93 million out of a base of 263 million net users in India is an achievement for sure. However, this is an achievement of the past. Today, FB is being redefined in the minds of its most passionate users. FB needs a reinvention of product. Fatigue has set in and this fatigue will cascade," said Bijoor.
So far, the social networking giant launched on February 4 2004 has maintained its supremacy in the online world, with about 1.2 billion using it on a monthly basis; this includes 945 million who use it on mobile devices. Analysts say while the user base is becoming matured in social media usage habits, Facebook will have to constantly scout for new mechanisms to keep it engaged, amid the emergence of companies such as Pinterest, Twitter, SnapChat and Instagram.
FACEBOOK FACTS
- Before creating the social networking website, in October 2003, Mark Zuckerberg created Facemash.com, in which he used photos of Harvard students with the question 'hot or not'. He was forced to close the website after a few days when the students complained they didn't like the idea
- Zuckerberg was sued by Winklevoss twins who claimed that he stole their idea to create Facebook
- Zuckerberg turned down job offers from AOL and Microsoft before going to Harvard
- Zuckerberg was named the youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 23
- Zuckerberg has a Twitter account (the website considered to be the biggest competitor to FB) with about 300,000 followers, but he hasn't tweeted since January 2012
- Zuckerberg's dog Beast, a Hungarian sheepdog, has a Facebook page with 1.7 million fans
- Revenues in 2013: $7.87 billion
- Number of active users 1.23 billion (monthly); this includes 945 million who access FB on mobile devices
- Number of employees: 6,337 (As of Dec 2013)
- 93 million active monthly users of which 73 million use FB from mobile devices
- Adds 2 million new users every month in India
