{"id":346539,"date":"2017-02-13T16:06:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T16:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/02\/13\/8-2-percent-of-the-worlds-facebook-users-are-in-african-countries\/"},"modified":"2017-02-13T16:06:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T16:06:06","slug":"8-2-percent-of-the-worlds-facebook-users-are-in-african-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/02\/13\/8-2-percent-of-the-worlds-facebook-users-are-in-african-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"8.2 percent of the world\u2019s Facebook users are in African countries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Facebook beat Wall Street expectations for sales and user growth in the fourth quarter of 2016, and it credits Internet.org,\u00a0its free basic\u00a0version of the internet\u00a0in developing countries, for\u00a0helping\u00a0make that happen.<\/p>\n

The three most popular internet-based services or apps in Nigeria alone are Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp\u00a0\u2014 all owned by Facebook. \u201cFacebook is the Internet,\u201d according to up to 65 percent of Nigerians responding to a\u00a02015 survey by Geopoll and World Wide Worx.<\/p>\n

The social network had 1.86 billion monthly active Facebook users at the end of 2016, up from 1.79 billion in the third\u00a0quarter and up from 1.59 billion users at the end of 2015, according to its fourth quarter earnings report released\u00a0Wednesday, CNN reported.<\/p>\n

As of June 2016, Facebook had 146.637\u00a0million users in\u00a0Africa, according to Internet World Stats. If these numbers are accurate, that means about 8.2 percent of the world\u2019s Facebook users are in Africa. Internet World Stats uses data from WorldWideWorx, ITU\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook.<\/p>\n

Facebook added more users world wide in the fourth\u00a0quarter 2016 than any quarter since the company went public in 2012, according to CFO David Wehner.<\/p>\n

Wehner attributed user growth to \u201cpromotional data plans\u201d from third parties in countries like India as well as Internet.org, Facebook\u2019s free stripped-down Internet offering in developing markets, CNN reported.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s sales for the December quarter were\u00a0$8.8 billion, up more than 50\u00a0percent from the same period a year earlier. Overall sales for 2016 grew by about 50\u00a0percent to $27.6 billion.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u00a0warned investors in the fourth\u00a0quarter that it planned\u00a0for \u201caggressive investment\u201d in 2017, even as sales growth was expected to slow down, CNN reported. This point was repeated in\u00a0a recent conference call with analysts. What\u2019s behind the warning?<\/p>\n

\n

Facebook has nearly saturated the number of ads it can put in front of users. Despite that warning, Facebook\u2019s sales have continued to grow at a faster clip than investors expected.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s vision is to get more Africans online. He said in an October 2015 Facebook post\u00a0he wants to \u201cconnect the entire world\u201d because \u201cconnectivity changes lives and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Facebook\u2019s Free Basics app, Internet.org,\u00a0will \u201caccelerate data connectivity for the many users deprived of the economic and social benefits of the Internet.\u201d Free Basics lets\u00a0users explore useful online services and websites such as the news, health information, education, local information, and weather\u00a0for free.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all free. Facebook is a for-profit company\u00a0and it\u00a0can limit access to certain sites, or make users\u00a0pay for other sites that don\u2019t fit into its service. For example, you can get Whatsapp (owned by Facebook) for free, but you might need to pay to use any Google services through their platform,\u00a0CNBC Africa\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a purely altruistic venture,\u201d said Nnamdi Oranye.<\/p>\n

Free Basics, aka Internet.org,\u00a0is available in 53 countries including 23 in Africa through partnerships with mobile operators doing business on the continent:<\/p>\n

Angola (Movicel)
Benin (MTN)
Cape Verde (Unitel & CVMovel)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (Airtel, Tigo)
Gabon (Airtel)
Ghana (Airtel & Tigo)
Guinea (Cellcom)
Guinea-Bissau (MTN)
Kenya (Airtel)
Liberia (Cellcom)
Madagascar (Blueline)
Malawi (Airtel & TNM)
Mauritania (Mauritel)
Mozambique (Mcel)
Niger (Airtel)
Nigeria (Airtel)
Republic of Congo (Airtel)
Rwanda (Airtel)
Senegal (Tigo)
Seychelles (Airtel)
South Africa (Cell C)
Tanzania (Tigo & Airtel)
Zambia (Airtel)<\/p>\n

Facebook survives Africa-related setbacks<\/h2>\n

Free Basics has its critics. It was banned in Egypt and has been accused of discriminating against online content\u00a0and conflicting with\u00a0net neutrality \u2014 the idea that the company that connects you to the internet does not get to control what you do on the internet.<\/p>\n

Facebook says it supports net neutrality, but others argue that Free Basics gives Facebook too much control over access, Fortune\u00a0reported. India banned Free Basics for this reason.<\/p>\n

Facebook suffered a blow\u00a0to its prestige\u00a0in September when the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launchpad during testing in Florida. Its payload was\u00a0the Amos-6 satellite, earmarked to expand African internet access. Zuckerberg said he was \u201cdeeply disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook beat Wall Street expectations for sales and user growth in the fourth quarter of 2016, and it credits Internet.org,\u00a0its free basic\u00a0version of the internet\u00a0in developing countries, for\u00a0helping\u00a0make that happen. The three most popular internet-based services or apps in Nigeria alone are Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp\u00a0\u2014 all owned by Facebook. \u201cFacebook is the Internet,\u201d according […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n8.2 percent of the world\u2019s Facebook users are in African countries - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/02\/13\/8-2-percent-of-the-worlds-facebook-users-are-in-african-countries\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"8.2 percent of the world\u2019s Facebook users are in African countries - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Facebook beat Wall Street expectations for sales and user growth in the fourth quarter of 2016, and it credits Internet.org,\u00a0its free basic\u00a0version of the internet\u00a0in developing countries, for\u00a0helping\u00a0make that happen. 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