The year 2012 is coming to an end, and Nigeria is getting close to the 6.8 million Facebook users forecast. At the time of writing, there are 6,794,860 Nigerians on Facebook, making it the 31st largest country to be on the social network. The Facebook penetration on the population, 4.41% is still less than 1/3 of the online penetration standing at 15.09%, but with the mobile Facebook experience getting better, one can only except an increase over a short time.
One cannot but notice how brands leverage on Facebook, and it has become somewhat of a competition to see who comes out on top. Looking at just pages, the top 5 include: Pastor E. A. Adeboye, GTBank, MTN LoadedNG, TB Joshua Ministries, and Don Jazzy. That gives an insight into top interest of Facebook users in Nigeria, i.e., Religion (Church), Money (Bank), Communication (Telecom), and Entertainment (Music). Perhaps it’s safe to say with Pastor E.A. Adeboye having the page with the largest fan base of close to 1 million, one can say Nigeria is one country with God-factor on the top of the list; money is not too far off though.
Closing down on Brands, it becomes a very interesting space. Q1-Q3 saw particular brands dominating the top 5 spots, but in Q4, the space welcomed new players that rose right to top spots, displacing others. New comer Airtel climbed to #3, displacing Always Nigeria, and perhaps most interesting, GTBank grew by 100% in Q4 alone to displace MTN LoadedNG from the #1 spot – no surprise if it becomes the first brand to hit 1 million Facebook fans, especially with its plans for Social Banking by Jan 15, 2013.
In the celebrity space, 2 Mavens – Don Jazzy and Wande Coal, and 2 Choc Boiz – MI and Ice Prince, share the top 5 spots with Pastor E.A. Adeboye. Chocolate City (incl. Brymo), and new comer My Naija take top 3 spots under entertainment category. Another Naija page take #1 spot under media, followed by Beat 99.9 FM and MTV Base, with VConnect and DSTV following to complete top 5 spots.
Muhammud Buhari seem to be the only politician to reckon with on Facebook, as compared to the many of Twitter, as his page experience a growth of +10,000 fans per month.
The Nigerian Facebook landscape for 2012 has been a pretty interesting one. Not sure there would be any surprises to cause an upset in the current rankings – except MTN decides to give out free airtime via Facebook as Christmas gift to its users, as it only trails behind GTBank with +40,000 fans. Time to look forward 2013, when online penetration increases, and in turn Facebook penetration, and hoping to see more Facebook driven social activity like Wema Bank’s Advergame – Sharp Sule.
Interested in the Age and Gender distribution – see below
[Stats via SocialBakers]
