The number of Facebook users in India has grown by 5 per cent in April-June to 82 million from 78 million users in the January- March quarter. The growth is being driven by increasing use of social networking on mobile phones.
Out of the 82 million, 62 million are using the social networking platform on mobile devices, Kevin D'souza, Country Growth Manager, Facebook India, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
India has been at the forefront of several growth stories for Facebook, he said, adding that the company has paid over $1 million in the past two years to security researchers who report bugs on its Web site, with India accounting for the second highest portion of the amount paid.
India is now its second largest market after the US. At the centre of the India gameplan is the ‘mobile first’ strategy that the company announced globally a year ago.
For instance, it launched a programme called “Facebook for Every Phone” app, which delivers smartphone-like Facebook experience on feature phones in various Indian languages.
Facebook is also aggressively looking at operator partnerships to drive up usage. ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in