For Facebook, India growing faster than US

New Delhi, October 20

Social networking giant Facebook today said it is witnessing strong growth in the Indian market, adding users at a faster pace than in the US, and the country could become its largest base in coming years.

Adam Mosseri, VP of Product at Facebook, said the Indian market saw a 22 per cent growth last year, while the same in the US was "much slower than India".

He, however, did not disclose the growth rate numbers for the American market.

"India could become larger than the US. By when, that is something I can't say right now," Mosseri added.

India has the second largest userbase of Facebook with 155 million monthly active users. Of this, 77 million logged in every day at the end of June quarter.

At the end of the second quarter, daily actives on Facebook in India had grown 22 per cent year-on-year, compared with a 17 per cent increase in daily actives globally.

Interestingly, about 147 million Indians use their mobile devices to browse through Facebook.

Mosseri said the company is focussing its efforts on improving news feed on its platform for users, regardless of device or network connection.

"We are now launching a new architecture so you can see less grey boxes, regardless of your network connection. We have also worked on optimising stories in News Feed for each session, so users can see the most relevant stories even if they're on slow internet connections," he said.

Mosseri said "reactions" -- introduced to allow users options to express feelings like anger, sadness and surprise to posts on Facebook -- have also found huge uptake in the Indian market.

"Not including Likes, more than 50 per cent of the reactions used in India are Love, and more than 30 per cent of Reactions used in India are Haha," he added.

He, however, did not comment on whether the company would launch the "dislike" button as has been demanded by many users worldwide. — PTI