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Of those 100 million people, 80 percent are
accessing the platform via mobiles on a continent with very low
internet penetration and smartphone ownership, it said.
Facebook's global mobile advertising revenue jumped more than
150 percent in the second quarter, accounting for about 62
percent of overall ad revenue.
"There is a fantastic opportunity for business as well if you
are local or a global business. Knowing that there is all these
people now in Africa that you can connect with, that is exciting
as well," said Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for
Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Seven in 10 African consumers access the internet through their
mobile phones, compared with 6 percent who use desktop
computers, according to an Ericsson study earlier this year.
Facebook would be pouring more resources into Africa to
understand how consumers use its product and was considering
opening an office on the continent in 2015, Mendelsohn said,
without saying where the office might be.
The company is customizing products to fit the needs of
individual countries, she added. For example, it can now target
users based on their internet speeds.
Facebook has more than 1.5 million active advertisers and more
than 1.3 billion active users globally.
Mendelsohn could not say how much Africa contributes to
advertising revenues but said the Europe, Middle East and Africa
region makes up 30 percent of global revenue.
(Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Mark Potter)
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