India sees a record 37% growth in the number of people using social networking sites during 2013.
According to a study by eMarketer, India has seen a record growth of 37% in social networking during 2013. India is expected to have more than 80 million Facebook and Twitter users by the end of the year.
A report published by eMarketer, provides insights and trends in digital marketing, media and commerce stated, "Indians are increasingly logging into Facebook and Twitter accounts, with the country recording the highest social networking growth of 37.4 per cent in 2013."
"With the second largest Facebook user-base outside the US, India is expected to have the largest Facebook population in the world by 2016," says the study, findings of which were released on Friday at a conference in Bangalore on 'Social Media Marketing in Emerging Markets'.
A recent survey by IMAI has found that 78 million netizens across the country were active users of Facebook in early 2013, registering a 50% growth over the same period in 2012, followed by 33 million users on Twitter and 20 million users on LinkedIn.
Institute group director Uday Salunkhe stated that social media is a powerful medium. "The boom has established social media as an imperative part of a holistic marketing strategy as it proved to be hugely beneficial for businesses to reduce costs, improve customer services and create an online personality," Salunkhe told about 200 participants from management and marketing fields.
Though psychologists and medical experts have been highlighting the increasing addiction to social media among youngsters, Nishant Rao, country manager (India), LinkedIn, feels social media can help too. "Older generation may feel it's bad, but a lot of meaningful interaction is taking place over social media. People now don't want to work for money. They are finding a purpose for working, and networking helps them to find the right kind of job," said Rao.
According to a recent study India will become the largest Facebook nation by 2016. According to a new Digitisation and Mobility study, India is also expected to have more than 9 billion app downloads by 2015, a growth of 75 percent CAGR. A study highlighted that the change has been brought by increasing social media campaigns during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, where more than 29 million people made 227 million exchanges on Facebook. The report added that about 60 million tweets were posted from the day the polls were announced to the day balloting ended.
Source: TOI
Follow Us
Silky Malhotra
Silky Malhotra loves learning about new technology, gadgets, and more. When she isn’t writing, she is usually found reading, watching Netflix, gardening, travelling, or trying out new cuisines. View Full Profile
