A total of 2.99 million Nigerians are currently on Facebook, a revolutionary online social networking platform, information available from a website, Internet World Stats, on Wednesday has shown.
The statistics showed that as at March 31, 2011, the total population of Facebook subscribers from 233 countries and territories was 664.03 million.
With the global Internet population put at about two billion, this means that one third of the entire Internet users in the universe are Facebook users or subscribers.
With an estimated population of 155,215,573, Nigeria has a Facebook penetration rate of 1.9 per cent as at March 31, 2011.
The number of Nigerians within the Facebook loop has been growing tremendously. As at December 31, 2010, the number stood at 2,180,900.
This shows that within a period of three months, 810,300 persons have joined the network. It also shows a growth rate of 37.15 per cent within the period.
The rising number of Nigerians on Facebook may not be unconnected with the increasing penetration of mobile communications networks and third generation platforms and devices.
On regional basis, Africa has a population of 27.41 million subscribers to Facebook. This means that 10.91 per cent of Africans on the social network platform are Nigerians.
Despite the huge population of Nigeria citizens on the network, the country’s penetration rate is less than Africa’s average penetration rate of 2.6 per cent.
Africa has one of the least penetration rates. Europe has a penetration rate of 30.2 per cent; North America, 26.1 per cent; South America, 14.7 per cent and Asia, 19.8 per cent.
The Middle East, on the other hand, has a penetration rate of 4.1 per cent; Oceanic/Australia, 1.9 per cent, while the Caribbean has a rate of 0.8 per cent.
On territorial basis, Monaco has the perfect penetration rate of 100 per cent. The United States, where Internet and Facebook originated, from has a penetration rate of 49.5 per cent. It has the highest Facebook population of 154.97 million users.
Other territories with high penetration rates include Gibraltar, 59.7 per cent; Cayman land, 59.7 per cent; Qatar, 56.8 per cent; Canada, 54.7 per cent; Norway, 54.4 per cent; Singapore, 52.3 per cent; the Bahamas, 49.7 per cent and Denmark, 48.5 per cent.
Many countries in Africa are among the territories with the least penetration rates. These include Chad, 0.1 per cent; Niger, 0.2 per cent; Somalia, 0.2 per cent; and Burundi, 0.2 per cent.
Others are Equatorial Guinea, 0.3 per cent; Ethiopia, 0.3 per cent; Burkina Faso, 0.4 per cent; Papa New Guinea, 0.5 per cent; Mozambique, 0.5 per cent and Sierra Leone, 0.6 per cent.
Some factors account for the rate of digital penetration in a territory. These include literacy rate, digital literacy, penetration of digital devices, Internet service provision and welfare of the people.
Prominent Nigerians on the social network include President Goodluck Jonathan, who announced his presidential ambition on the network, and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.
Presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, are also on the loop.
Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was voted the New York Times’ Man of the Year for 2010 for his work in social web revolution.
The social web network has grown phenomenally within a short period of six years.
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2.99 million Nigerians now on Facebook – Website