Social media report

Tech blog

»A new report provides an interesting snapshot of where social media currently stands in India. As you may expect, different social networks have grown impressively in the country.

In April 2013, Facebook had 78 million Indian users and LinkedIn subscribers stood at 20 million. No official figures seem to be available for Twitter, though industry estimates put the number at 33 million. The surprise of the season is Instagram. Starting from a thin base of 1,34,000 in August 12, it jumped to 5.5 million in April 13. The data is not comprehensive and it is hard to track the year-on-year trends. But the growth has been explosive and by 2017 Indian users of Facebook may overtake their US counterparts, according to reports.

Despite all this, social media remains a small play in India. Just 5.4% of the total population is on Facebook; in the US the number is over 50%. Twitter penetration is even less (2.65 %), and LinkedIn lesser (1.72%).  So much for the talk of social media shaping up to decide the outcome of the elections in the country. In a few urban pockets it may exercise some influence, but country wide, it does not count.

The report also has interesting bits on mobile devices, which are being increasingly used to access social networks. In February 2013, Samsung had 41% of the smartphone share in India. With 19% share, Nokia is down but not yet out. Its alliance with Microsoft will decide if it sinks or sails. Blackberry hangs in at 12% and Apple has just 9% share of the market. The operating system (OS) share: Android 62%, Symbian 21%, Windows 8%, iOS 1% and Blackberry 11%. There is an obvious discrepancy in the report - between Apple’s handset and OS share of the market.  In tablets, Android dominates with 88% of the slice, iOS follows with 10%, Windows and Blackberry with 1% each. Tablet devices market is fragmented: Samsung (19 %), Micromax (12%), Karbonn (10%) and Apple (9%) are ahead.

The report by Ethinos Digital is a compilation of various studies. It is
obviously not an authoritative account. Nevertheless, the insights it provides are useful.