14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has over 100 million monthly active users in Africa, and the number keeps on growing, which makes it easier to understand why Internet.org’s first market is Zambia.
The company has released an interesting infographic about Africa, trying to highlight just how big of a market it is and how tech companies could expand in this area.
The company says that over 80 percent of its monthly active users in Africa are now accessing the social network from a mobile device, whether a smartphone or a tablet, which makes for a very high rate.
Facebook says that from the about one billion people living in Africa, 70 percent are younger than 25 years of age and that every year 5 million people graduate from university. By 2015, it will have 7 of the 10 fastest growing economies, which means that it should be more than perfect for companies to start expanding in the many countries on the continent.
“We know that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work when it comes to building products and solutions that address diverse local needs around the world, which is why we’re committed to crafting solutions specifically for high-growth markets,” Facebook says.
Facebook grows by leaps and bounds
Overall, there are now 1.317 billion users that log into the platform every month. 410 million of them come from Asia, 282 million from Europe and 204 million from the United States and Canada. The rest of 411 million users come from the rest of the world, section that obviously includes Africa.
The news comes just a few weeks after Facebook announced a partnership to bring Internet to the billions of people that are still not connected. The Internet.org app debuted in Zambia, Africa, which is the first step of many to follow. The app allows users to get free mobile access to a set of services like Facebook’s own platform, Wikipedia, Google search, and more sites related to health issues.
Telecom company Airtel subsidizes the data charges through this app in the hopes that the solution will actually help people see the value in being connected to the Internet. There’s also the hope that people would eventually decide to pay fully for Internet access.
Even so, Facebook sees the number of new people on the Internet as an encouraging statistic, mostly because it’s a great opportunity for businesses, advertisers and Facebook itself.
While the social network is unlikely to actually generate much ad money from African users at this point in time, the numbers could rapidly grow.
