sending...With the IPO, Mr Zuckerberg will be under immense pressure to turn facebook into a cash-generating powerhouse. As he has stated publicly before “the thing I really care about is the mission, making the world open.” That strategy includes facebook’s expansion into Africa.
A recent report from oAfrica, compared the total number of Facebook users to the total populations of African countries. The report indicated that the growth rate for facebook across Africa was staggering.
This map on a page from the Facebook social network site displays friendships as lights on a deep blue background. The eastern half of the United States and Europe shine the brightest, while China, Russia and central Africa, where Facebook has little presence, are mainly dark. But data shows Facebook user growth rate is increasing in Africa. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
Below are some notable numbers from the report.
Facebook user growth in selected countries (in the last 20 months):
Ghana: 85 percent increase to 1,146,560 users
Kenya: 50 percent increase to 1,298,560 users
South Africa: 51 percent increase to 4,822,820 users
Nigeria: 154 percent increase to 4,369,740 users
Egypt: 130 percent increase to 9,391,580 users
Facebook users in or outside Africa could expect to now click the “Like” button on the Facebook page of a music concert in South Africa and be offered flights there from around the world. Changing your status from “single” to “engaged” could now generate adverts for wedding dresses, jewellery and photographers.
Furthermore in an article by ICT Works, the article states that “Facebook has three objectives for the platform and these cover its development in Africa. Firstly, it wants to acquire more users. Secondly, it wants to monetize this use by attracting advertising: for example, it already has agents in African countries selling its online advertising space to ad agencies and clients. Thirdly, it wants to have developers write more services for the platform. For example, the latter already includes what it calls Social Widgets like the Top articles shared by friends button on CNN.com. It wants African developers and entrepreneurs who will use tools like its social widgets and APIs to create local products and services based on Facebook.”
Photo Source: Daily Telegraph
