At Facebook, our mission is to make the world more open and connected. While we still have a long way to go, today we’re excited to announce one indicator that this mission is moving in the right direction: As of June 2014, there are 100 million people coming to Facebook every month across the African continent, with over 80% on mobile.
As in all corners of the globe, people in African countries use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. With the dramatic shift to mobile happening in high-growth countries, this transition means connectedness — to people, organizations, businesses (and customers) around the world.
For brands, the ability to interact with people on their terms, on mobile, translates to a new opportunity to bring value to both people and advertisers:
In Africa, we are seeing explosive growth and incredible momentum across the region. At the same time, when you look at the staggering cost of connectivity in many countries, mobile services need to deliver maximum utility on the biggest range of devices and consume the smallest amount of data, which is exactly what Facebook provides.” — Rob Norman, Chief Digital Officer of Global Group M
We know that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work when it comes to building products and solutions that address diverse local needs around the world, which is why we’re committed to crafting solutions specifically for high-growth markets. From testing new ad units based on how people connect with each other, to enabling advertisers to customize campaigns for people depending on their device and connection speeds, we’re learning, testing and optimizing to provide the best experience for the next wave of people coming online.
And we know we can’t do it alone. Partners like Unilever, who have continually shown their commitment to global health and well-being, will work with us to test solutions across countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya:
At Unilever we believe in putting people first. It’s our mission to connect our brands with the people we serve in order to help improve people’s health and well-being and enhance livelihoods. And we have found in Africa the best way to engage the people we serve is through mobile.” — Jay Altschuler, Director of Global Media, Unilever
We look forward to sharing more about our work in Africa and other high-growth regions in the coming months.