Zuckerberg and his engagement with India

India is Facebook’s largest market outside of the US. No wonder Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who had earlier posted on his page that 130 million of the social networking site’s users were based in India, sees opportunities in the country and is making a push here.

Facebook’s aggressive strategy for India had started about a year ago, when it began pushing in the country its package of basic internet services, Free Basics (earlier known as Internet.org), billing it as an initiative to bring internet access to people in developing countries who cannot afford to pay for data.

Here are four key things to know about Facebook and its engagement with India:

 

1. Over 130 million users

Facebook has an Indian user base of more than 130 million, the biggest after the US’ 193 million. More than 90 per cent of Indian users access the social network through mobile phones. According to an Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) report, more than half the internet users in India use Facebook.

In April this year, news agency PTI had quoted a Facebook official as saying that the company, the world’s largest social networking site with over one billion users globally, had more than 40 million active small and medium business (SMB) pages on its platform. “India has more than 1.5 million SMB Pages and is growing at over 70 per cent year-on-year.”

2. Free Basics, or Internet.org

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook has faced criticism over its Internet.org initiative — available in 19 countries, including India — which aims to increase internet access in hard-to-reach areas.

Campaigners say the way Internet.org partners with telecom companies is at odds with the principle of net neutrality, which is for the idea that web providers should not control which sites users can access.

The Internet.org app typically provides a simplified, low-data version of Facebook, its messenger service and select local websites offering services like jobs, health information and sports updates.

3. Earnings from advertisers

According to a report by Reuters , Facebook earns 15 cents per user in India every quarter, compared with the $7-8 it makes on each American user. Facebook does not give a break-up of its revenues in India. But according to a Hindustan Times  report quoting Neil Shah, an analyst at Hong Kong-based technology consulting firm Counterpoint Research, Facebook is estimated to earn $15 million a quarter in India, much less than the $350 million estimated earning for Google in the country per quarter.

Facebook is trying to lure sceptical advertisers in India with features like free email support for questions about advertising and advice on increasing sales to boost revenue from its second-biggest market.

4. The spiritual connection

At a recent event with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Facebook headquarters, Zuckerberg narrated a story that he saida few people had heard earlier. “India is personally very important to the history of our company,” he told an audience watching the townhall at Facebook headquarters in California.

Before Facebook entered the stratosphere of internet success and while he was considering whether or not to sell the social-media company, Zuckerberg said that Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs recommended he visit a temple in India “in order to reconnect with what I believed was the mission of the company”.