Facebook is undoubtedly the biggest social networking site in Kenya due to the fact that it was launched relatively earlier than the rest and its ability to let you connect with your friends. You can bet someone you know has a Facebook account and you will be shocked if they didn’t.
Last year, it was estimated that we have around 4.5 million Kenyans who use Facebook every month out of 1.49 billion active users worldwide. Now that number has risen to 5.2 million people from a figure of 1.59 billion users worldwide. Facebook was right to continue focusing on mobile since most people login to the site through that channel. In Kenya, 5 million people login on Facebook via mobile which translates to a massive 96% of the active user base in the country. As shown with previous data, Nairobi should still be the leader the country in terms of number of active users on Facebook with other bigger towns following in line.
As Facebook is one of the biggest social network in the country, it would be a good source of data for governments and law enforcement agencies to look for information about a person. This is why the company announced a while back a new feature that will allow you to know your account was being targeted of these ‘attacks from state sponsored actors’ as they termed it. According to the global government requests report they announced last year, it was revealed that Facebook only honoured only 1 of the surveillance requests they received from government agencies. These requests will only increase if more and more people keep signing up for the service.
There is room for growth since there are over 29 million internet users in the country. Since they also own Instagram and WhatsApp, the company’s dominance in the social media will still be felt for long.
