My recent post on Africa Facebook Statistics illustrates the improbable. Nigeria comes a distant 5th position out of the 7 countries listed despite the fact that it has ~150 million people (CIA Fact Book) and has the second highest internet penetration rate in Africa (11%, Internet World Stats).

An analysis of the statistics illustrate that about 5% of South Africans and about 3% of Egyptians use Facebook. However, only 0.6% of Nigerians use Facebook! Why the disparity? My hypothesis:

1. Facebook launched in Egypt & South Africa’s colleges before it launched in Nigeria (hence, the Nigeria “catch up/lag” effect)

2. Facebook is just catching on, (but increasingly so) among Nigerian internet users.  As such, expect high growth rates as the Facebook buzz continues to spread.

3. Poor connectivity issues. However, the introduction of Facebook Lite last August, will most likely ameliorate this problem

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