According to a new eMarketer report, “Worldwide Social Network Users: 2013
Forecast and Comparative Estimates,” the number of social network users in
India is expected to cross 100 million users and reach more than 127 million
users by end of 2013. The total numbers of social media users will more than
double and reach close to 283 million users by 2017. But the interesting fact
is that the number of users has already started to see slower growth from 2013
and the decline in the YoY growth is expected to continue which also highlights
the maturing numbers for the social networks in India which is also a global
trend. There has been a strong social media adoption in India since past few
years as the business organizations, government organizations and even
political parties are actively utilizing the various social media platforms and
social network sites to reach the people. 75% of Indians who are active
internet users use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Pinterest etc. and interaction with friends, relatives, colleagues and
community, live chat, status updates, image- as well as video-sharing are some
of the major activities by Indians that spend close to 30 minutes every day
online on the different social networks.
According to Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of social media
users in Urban India reached 66 million by June 2013 and by mid-2014 expected
to cross 80 million users. Some
97 per cent of them are on Facebook. And they are spread beyond the big metros.
One-third of social media users live in towns with a population of less than 5
million; 25 per cent of the total users live in towns with less than 2 million
inhabitants. Social media usage is also fast
catching up with mobile internet users. According to the report, 77 percent of
the users use mobile for social media. Email, social media, search, app store
and chat / IM are used every day by those accessing internet through mobile. Facebook has 78
million monthly active users (MAUs) in India for the quarter ending March 31, 2013, registering a 50%
increase from the Q1 2012. LinkedIn has 20 million users, Twitter has 33
million users, Pinterest has 5.5 million users in India at the end of March
2013. Indians are very active on different social networks and are also
actively increasing the amount of time they spend on the various social
networking sites.
