Facebook’s 6.5 crore accounts in India

Facebook has a billion users today — a chunk less than the number of Indians on Mother Earth. But the second-most populous nation has ratcheted up 6.5 crore Facebook accounts, mostly aggregated over the last two years, as the social networking frenzy draws followers thick and fast, riding the mobile and internet revolution.

That’s the third-fastest increase in users after the US and Brazil in the last six months, and may very well make the country the No 2 in terms of users after the US. New users from India have increased 16% in the last two weeks alone, according to website Socialbakers. Facebook, thus, finds itself sitting on a potential goldmine because the socially unconnected population is nearly 20 times the Indian accounts it now has (only 5.06% of population is covered, per Socialbakers, as of last week).

That presents a compelling business model — of connecting brands and services with users in an economy where more than half the people are young and whose smartphone usage is rocketing — and gain big bucks. To leverage its significant current reach to phenomenal proportions, Facebook has also readied a very versatile platform.

“We are offering it in nine languages in mobile and 10 on desktops,” said Kirthiga Reddy, director, online operations and head of office, Facebook India. So those who use it, she claims, are homing in true. “Businesses are finding about 90% accuracy in Facebook campaigns, while the average accuracy in online campaigns is about 35%,” she claims. If the trend continues, she says, “a few years from now, you will not go to a website to see the same content I see. It would be more personalised”.

Facebook is bracing to be the overarching, preferred platform, when that happens.