What’s left for Facebook to Conquer in Asia?

Facebook is the number one social network in the world. With presence in more than 200 countries which adds up to more than 600 million users, Facebook is head to head with Google in terms of reach and popularity. If you think Facebook is top in every country, think again. There are many countries where Facebook has yet to conquer, especially in Asia.

Without a doubt, Facebook is the leader in most countries. But still the world largest social networking site is constantly eyeing the red colored countries to connect the world. Asia houses more than 800 million users, approximately 41% of the world’s Internet population. Out of these, 500 million Internet users are from China and Japan where Facebook has weak presence in.

800 million users in Asia is a big deal. Facebook usually captures at least 50% Internet users in a country if it managed to be the top social network. If we go by the same logic, Facebook could potentially connect more than 400 million Asian users if it were the number one social network in Asia. That said, the 1 billion figure doesn’t seem too far away. So, how is Facebook doing in Asia? Here’s a snapshot:

• Currently, more than 143 million Facebook users are from Asia
• Indonesia is the second largest Facebook nation with over 34 million users
• India has more than 21 million Facebook users and has added about 3 million new users last month
• Facebook has the highest penetration in HongKong at 51.98% (penetration for total population)
• Number of Chinese Facebook users reached 700,000
• There are currently more than 2 million Japanese Facebook users. About 600,000 new users joined last month

Facebook’s penetration rate in Asia (17.10%) is low compared to North America’s (64.44%). We are seeing a lot of effort in place to push Facebook in Asia. Will Asia’s diverse culture eventually accept Facebook? Will China lift the ban? Only time will tell. I’m betting on a yes, though.

Statistics and data: Pingdom, Social Bakers and Internet World Stats.