Facebook’s 2000% Growth in Argentina Helped by Translation and Mobile Penetration
Facebook’s international numbers are growing larger every day, and Argentina is one of the countries leading the charge. At the beginning of 2008, less than 100,000 people in Argentina (with a population of 40 million) had accounts on Facebook. Now – just one year later – about 2 million Argentines, or 5.3% of Argentina’s population, are on Faceboook. That’s an annual growth rate of over 2000% for the year.
This growth hasn’t been limited to Argentina – other South American countries like Chile, Venezuela, and Peru have also had remarkable growth at rates of 3768%, 1277%, and 328%, respectively.
The growth spur in Argentina and its neighboring countries has likely been caused by the inherent value that Facebook offers as a new communication tool. In addition, a Spanish language version of the site was launched in February. But luckily for Facebook and its users, there is another dynamic that’s lending a helping hand to Facebook’s popularity and adding to its utility — mobile phone usage.
This past October, Telefonica, a leading mobile service provider in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, signed an agreement with Facebook to add direct access from its mobile portals. Deals like this, combined with the high mobile phone penetration rates in the Southern cone of South America (nearly 60%), are a major reason Facebook has exploded in the region during the second half of 2008.
Facebook usage in South America is only going to incerase in 2009. The real question is whether we’ll see increased adoption of Facebook for mobile in the region over the coming year.
December 28th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I don’t think that we’ll see a BIG increase of Facebook usage through mobile phones in South America. I always have the impression that, as well as the UK and the US are leading the way, countries like Spain still have a long way to go when it comes to mobile usage, and South American an even longer way.
2009 is going to be a revealing year. We’ll see if users adopt mobile tools as usual interaction tools with their friends on Facebook. It’ll all depend on some communication companies (such as Telefonica) and on big media groups spreading the word of social networking sites.
December 28th, 2008 at 9:40 am
The braking point in Argentina came when facebook was launched in Spanish. Mobile accessibility has nothing to do with its grow as most of the population of the country does not have third generation mobiles.
December 28th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Facebook is on the “WAP Portal” of some carriers… this is the necessary way to achieve penetration without 3G or modern cellphones
December 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
[...] feed in a feed reader or by e-mail and you’ll never miss a single post. Thanks for visiting!Sahana Mysore at Inside Facebook says that Facebook’s growth in South America is driven by its Spanish translation and its [...]
December 29th, 2008 at 3:30 am
[...] Facebook’s release of a Spanish language version in Feburary is leading to a massive increase in membership throughout South America. [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 5:37 am
[...] Cause: Facebook battles Lactivists, Growth in Argentina Mothers who want to show pictures of them breastfeeding in Facebook were denied –the battle ensues. The line between ‘indecency’ and nature isn’t clearly drawn/. Mobile adoption and recently translated site versions has spurred growth in Argentina for Facebook. [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Argentine growth also driven by desire for generic global community connections such as the Tango.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:34 am
[...] nuestro país Facebook creció un 2000% (si, dos mil) aproximadamente, llegando a superar los 2 millones de usuarios, cuando a principio de años sólo [...]
June 1st, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Yeah, facebook suits perfect with the argentine psyche. Ego is everything.
June 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
[...] Inside Facebook – El Economista « Los mejores servicios para almacenar y compartir [...]
January 19th, 2010 at 7:12 am
Now Argentina has 7.395.140!!!