As recently highlighted by Goldman Sachs, Facebook is rapidly approaching 600 million users, placing it second only to Google in terms of global web traffic.
Facebook user stats (Dec 31 2009 – Dec 31 2010)
Following an amazing 2009, which saw Facebook mark itself as a truly global social media platform, the world’s biggest social media site continued to set records in 2010.
Facebook user stats 2009 – 2010 (as of 31 Dec 2010)
|
Rank
|
Country
|
2010
|
2009
|
12 Month Growth
|
24 Month Growth
|
|
1
|
USA
|
145,749,580
|
101,303,240
|
43.9%
|
246.4%
|
|
2
|
Indonesia
|
32,129,460
|
14,681,580
|
118.8%
|
3481.7%
|
|
3
|
UK
|
28,661,600
|
22,625,300
|
26.7%
|
91.9%
|
|
4
|
Turkey
|
24,163,600
|
16,943,780
|
42.6%
|
204.5%
|
|
5
|
France
|
20,469,420
|
14,290,700
|
43.2%
|
210.7%
|
|
6
|
Philippines
|
18,901,900
|
8,387,560
|
125.4%
|
4738%
|
|
7
|
Mexico
|
18,488,700
|
6,505,040
|
184.2%
|
1183.4%
|
|
8
|
Italy
|
17,812,800
|
13,272,760
|
34.2%
|
218.9%
|
|
9
|
India
|
17,288,900
|
5,397,480
|
220.3%
|
1513.9%
|
|
10
|
Canada
|
17,288,620
|
14,228,460
|
21.5%
|
59.2%
|
|
17
|
Brazil
|
8,821,880
|
2,413,900
|
265.5%
|
4111.7%
|
|
18
|
Taiwan
|
8,752,640
|
5,490,300
|
59.4%
|
7652.6%
|
|
21
|
Thailand
|
6,732,780
|
1,963,560
|
242.9%
|
3890.5%
|
|
22
|
Egypt
|
4,634,300
|
2,341,880
|
97.9%
|
463.4%
|
|
28
|
South Africa
|
3,422,920
|
2,434,500
|
40.6%
|
272%
|
For the latest available stats on Facebook visit CheckFacebook.com
USA continues to dominate
The USA further underlined its status as the world’s largest Facebook community in 2010, growing from 101 million users in 2009 to 145.7 million by the end of 2010 (25% of global community); a growth rate of 43.9%.
2010 also proved to be a historic year for Facebook in the U. S. as it overtook Google as the most visited website, highlighting a global shift towards social media.
Growth of third world destinations
Despite the growth of Facebook in traditional destinations like the U.S., the real growth of Facebook was not driven by the expansion of Western destinations, but rather the growth of the third world online community.
In 2010 Asia continued to expand its usage of Facebook, with Indonesia (2nd), Philippines (6th) and India (9th) all featuring amongst the top 10 user destinations.
South America also made significant strides, accounting for 5 countries in the world’s top 20; Argentina (12th), Colombia (14th), Brazil (17th), Chile (19th) and Venezuela rounding off the top 20.
Africa another poor showing
Africa continues to be limited by poor telecoms infrastructure and high bandwidth costs. As a result, Egypt (22nd) and South Africa (28th) were the sole African representatives in this year’s top 30.
Despite growing from 2,434,500 to 3,422,920 users, South Africa still dropped 5 places over the past year. This lack of real growth further underlines that internet is still too slow and expensive for the majority of South Africans.
New era for Facebook
“2010 will be remembered as a special year for Facebook, with significant user growth being experienced outside of the traditional English speaking market. This development bodes well for the future of Facebook and in 2011, one can expect continued growth from the likes of India, the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, ushering in a new age for Facebook driven by the developing world,” says DUO Marketing + Communication’s Online Manager Patrick Gordon. |
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