#Asia There is social media and then there is Facebook; company releases data of dominance

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Additionally, Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram is also finding success, with 22 million users in Indonesia

FACEBOOK

Facebook has released Southeast Asian regional internal data for the first time ever and while the numbers are impressive, for anyone living in the region the results are not overly surprising.

The data in large part confirms what our eyes tell us; surfing Facebook is commonplace on public transportation, in some circles it is a useful networking tool and oftentimes a simple handshake during the day will lead to a ‘friend request’ a few hours later.

But, it is interesting to put numbers to common sense, and in some cases marvel at just how integral Facebook has become in our everyday life.

So, let’s dive in.

The numbers

The big number the social media giant revealed is it has 241 million users in the region — roughly equivalent to the entire population of the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar combined.

Additionally, the mobile penetration rate for Facebook is extraordinary. The company says 94 per cent of Facebook users in Southeast Asia access their accounts via their phones or tablets.

“Southeast Asia is a dynamic mobile first region, and the fastest growing for Facebook. Connecting the more than 241 million people in Southeast Asia to the friends and family, businesses and moments that matter to them is at the core of everything we do,” said Kenneth Bishop, Facebook Managing Director, Southeast Asia in an official statement.

Also Read: Facebook Instant Articles allow publishers to open their restrooms

Facebook also included findings from two separate studies conducted in 2014 and 2015. The 2014 study covered people aged 16 and over in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand and the other was targeted towards Singaporeans and Vietnamese above the age of 18.

It found that respondents commonly discovered breaking news, games, products, brands and services through Facebook.

Furthermore, it is an interconnected environment, as a McKinsey study found that half of Facebook users are connected to someone outside of their home country, which is triple the amount from a year ago.

The same is true for business as an analysis of 50 million SMEs using Facebook found that 30 per cent had followers from outside their home country.

When Facebook crossed the global number of 3 million active advertisers, it said 70 per cent of the companies operated outside of the United States. In today’s report, Facebook attributed a “large part” of the growth to Southeast Asian companies adopting modern forms of advertising.

“We are committed to investing in resources and expertise to help our partners in Southeast Asia grow and achieve measurable business results,” said Bishop.

An SME hoping for direct communication with its customers may want to operate out of Thailand or Singapore. The local population in each of those countries sends twice as many messages to businesses per month than the global average. Malaysia is 50 per cent above the global average.

Also Read: Should Facebook create Safety Checks for every city?

Facebook used Lazada as an example of a company that leveraged Facebook outreach to build its business.

It explained that by growing its Facebook fan-base by a factor of 60, the e-commerce company was able to reach 90 per cent of the online population in the Philippines and 80 per cent in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. That is an impressive ad reach.

Facebook also took a sentence to mention Instagram, saying it is seeing strong growth in the region and Indonesia is leading the way with 22 million users.

Photo courtesy of GoRaydar

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