THE profile of Nigerians on the Internet and indeed social media platform is on the upward swing.

Facebook executives, in an interview with The Guardian, yesterday in Lagos, revealed that there are now 16 million Nigerians on the social networking platform, the highest in Africa.

Interestingly, Vice President for Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Nicola Mendelson and Head of Africa's operations, Nunu Nthingila, disclosed that out of the 16 million, 54 per cent of Nigerian users use the platform to do businesses.

According to them, 44 per cent of the 16 million (7.2 million) access Facebook daily. They further revealed that 97 per cent (6.9 million) of daily active people access the platform using their mobile devices.

Indeed, current statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that while there are over 150 million mobile subscribers, 98 million Nigerians are Internet users, majorly on the narrow band.

Facebook revealed that 84 per cent online users browse the network; 78 per cent use mobile messenger; 58 per cent watch online videos; 94 million access Facebook; 88 per cent are on WhatApp and 71 per cent accesses YouTube.

The platform said 49 per cent of Nigerians chose it as their favourite platform because they consider it the best to discover new content and products, while 59 per cent have given or shared product or service recommendations.

On business platforms that Facebook has enabled in Nigeria, the executives said technology accounted for the highest with 61 per cent growth followed by fashion and entertainment, which is 45 per cent and 39 per cent on travels.

More discoveries included that 65 per cent of Nigerians use two or more devices to access the Internet, while 75 per cent of the populace still access the Internet via fixed devices (desktop and laptop).

Meanwhile, at a rountable with Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) from Nigeria and Ghana, earlier in the week, the platform revealed that more than 50 million SMEs around the world actively use Facebook pages because they are free, easy to use and they work well on mobile. It stressed that 2.5 million SMEs worldwide actively invest their resources with the platform monthly, 'a number that doubled in the past two years."

Ntshingila said Africa is home to some of the world's most vibrant and exciting small businesses, and that these enterprises are the backbone of the economy.

"These smaller businesses drive economic growth and create jobs that lift people to prosperity. The number one reason they succeed or fail is their ability to attract customers. As more and more people turn to smartphones and the web to discover and connect with businesses, Facebook is the best platform for African SMEs to promote their brands", she stated.

Mendelsohn, said: "Technology is driving real progress. When I visit Africa, this comes to life in every conversation and with every story I hear about entrepreneurs creating jobs and solving problems with technology's help. We're invigorated by how Ghanaian and Nigerian SMEs are using Facebook to grow brand awareness and boost engagement with their customers. We look forward to doing more to support entrepreneurs as they build their businesses."

Meanwhile, Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg has become the fourth richest person in the world.

Zuckerberg, propelled by Facebook (FB, Tech30)'s stock performance, shoved Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) CEO Jeff Bezos aside on Tuesday to claim the fourth highest ranking on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201602050799.html

Cc: Seun, Lalasticlala, Obinoscopy, Ishilove