Facebook cracks 1 million users in Kenya.
Its no coincidence that I am doing a post on Facebook in Kenya today. No. Not at all. In fact, unless you have been off the news this week, and under a fairly large rock, the biggest news of the week is that Mark Zuckerburg, that 6.5 Billion Dollar “Techie” behind 550+ million user Facebook won the Time Person of Year for 2010.
I have to admit I was a little surprised but then again when a 12th of Humanity uses your web site and spend over 500 billion minutes on it per month, you do have that sort of once-in-a-lifetime significance. I really really thought that Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame (and now a sex scandal for which he was recently arrested) would win it, if not the Chilean Miners.
So, back to the topic at hand. Just how popular is Facebook in Kenya, lately? In July 2010, I did a post on this blog when Facebook had reached around 800,000 users in Kenya, which was quite a monumental feat, at the time. However, since then, four months on, Facebook now has just over 1 million users in Kenya, and firmly growing.
Yes, Facebook is certainly becoming Kenya’s fastest growing virtual city, full of pokes, farms, status updates and mafia wars. If anyone ever said that Facebook was trivial and a waste of time, even Kenyans are now proving you are more than slightly wrong, if not seriously misinformed. Its a big deal, by any measure offline and online.
As in the last post I did on Facebook’s popularity in Kenya back in July 2010, the numbers do paint an interesting picture for all to see. Some of the key highlights for Kenya on Facebook that should make any marketer salivate are as follows:
- Total Facebook Users: 1,005,400
- Penetration of population: 2.51%
- Position in the global country ranking: 67.
- Penetration of online population in Kenya: 25.16%
- Average CPC (Cost Per Click): US$ 0.33
- Average CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions): US$0.15
The statistics as usual may be slightly off but consider that the cost of reaching 1000 user impressions is less than Kes. 10.00 and each click per ad is less than Kes. 20.00. Very few media, online or offline, can give you this kind of reach which can be super targetted using all sorts of variables. Other additional statistics for Facebook in Kenya are as follows:
Facebook Kenya Usage By Age Distribution.
- 13-15: 2%
- 16-17: 4%
- 18-24: 43%
- 25-34: 36%
- 35-44: 9%
- 45-54: 2%
- 55-64: 1%
- 65+: 2%
In addition to the above spread across the age groups, the gender split in Kenya is Male 63% and Female 37%. As for age growth, the group of 18-24 accounted for the bulk of the over 200,000 users who joined between July and December 2010 followed by the 25-34 and then the 35-44 groups. For the full report on Facebook in Kenya including graphs go to Socialbakers here>
The Author
11 Comments
I really have been living under a rock, for missing the news about Mark Zuckerberg, being elected TIME man of the Year. I follow each year for persons chosen to that vital position.
FB is growing in a wild manner, such that more tech farms, long established in early 80’s are now envying its growth and dominance in the 21st Century.
So, kenya being caught up in the mix, is a good idea, coz it has helped many pple connect, get jobs, outsource, find JVs and many others.
Facebook really connects, and every Kenyan should be there.
Interesting trends. However the most important aspect for me is the age distribution, almost 50% of users are below 24. My point: as a marketer i know that disposable income is in the pockets of Kenyans above 30 years and the figures above are grim. This might give an idea as to why Facebook marketing though cheaper and easier to set-up makes little significance for Kenyan businesses. (in terms of solid leads, conversion etc). On the other hand, if you are holding a party or providing a service or product for the younger chaps then you can’t afford to ignore Facebook. But then again, in Kenya having a Facebook page, more “fans” and “Likes” is considered a marketing success, trivial but actually true.
[…] other day #Muthaura. Facebook just netted 1million users in Kenya as noted by @Moseskemibaro here. Na […]
[…] Facebook cracks 1 million users in Kenya – Moses Kemibaro …Just how popular is Facebook in Kenya, lately? In July 2010, I did a post on this blog when Facebook had reached around 800,000 users in Kenya, which was quite a monumental feat, at the time. However, since then, four months on, Facebook now has just over 1 million users in Kenya, and firmly growing…. […]
The problem with facebook ads is their poor conversion. Few people go to FB to buy stuff, CTR is in the low 0.03. Worse still, with a large percentage of kenyans accessing FB on phones, they never see Ads.
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[…] Kemibaro last year wrote a piece on the growth of Kenya’s Facebook population.There have been conflicting claims concerning the actual number of Kenyans on Facebook, Moses […]
[…] Kemibaro last year wrote a piece on the growth of Kenya’s Facebook population.There have been conflicting claims concerning the actual number of Kenyans on Facebook, Moses […]
Thanks for this info.Can you kindly email me a list of business using social media in kenya and their contacts.
Regards
@daniel that would take quite a bit of time unfortunately. However, the flag bearers include Bata Kenya, Safaricom and Nivea.
[…] Kemibaro last year wrote a piece on the growth of Kenya’s Facebook population.There have been conflicting claims concerning the actual number of Kenyans on Facebook, Moses […]
[…] In the post Afrinnovator also alluded to the TNS Research International’s DigitalLife Survey results on Kenya’s urban population, also worth checking out. Moses Kemibaro, back in December, wrote about Facebook in Kenya and its 1 million users. […]