We’ve focused on that last data point – i.e. the growth in mobile social users – as the key theme in our reports for the past two years, and it seems clear that it’s the stand-out number again in this year’s report too. However, the story this year is slightly different, and perhaps more significant, as we’ll see a bit later in this document (see the Mobile Social section).
There have been a few drops in the numbers too, though; a number of individual countries have registered lower mobile connections, possibly because of device and connection consolidation as people upgrade to data-connected smartphones that allow them to use mobile messaging, thus freeing them from the need to operate multiple mobile subscriptions in order to benefit from cheaper intra-network calls and SMSs.
A few countries have also registered falls in Facebook usage, especially in Africa. Notable drops include the Central African Republic, where Facebook monthly active users are down 30% year-on-year, Western Sahara (down 24%), and Zimbabwe (down 16%). Outside of Africa, Monaco’s active Facebook user base is down 15%, whilst Serbia lost 10% of its Facebook audience since last year’s report.