In yet another milestone, the social media giant Facebook has crossed an astounding 9,000,000 members from Pakistan.

As the primary social media platform in the country, Facebook is consolidating its strength with no local or international challenger in sight. Defying the calls from several right wing sectors and despite several crackdowns by judiciary, the Pakistani audience has taken to facebook like a moth to a flame.

The breakdown of the age groups shows some interesting however not too shocking statistics. The age group of 13-19 constitute 2,600,000 (29%) of the total. More than half of all facebook users in Pakistan fall in the age group of 20-30, adding up to more than 5,000,000 users.

The more ignored 31-40 age group is not small by any means contributing about a million users while the surprise comes in the form of people above 40, yes they are there too, 500,000 of them.

This uninhibited passion from the land of pure has forced everyone from the brands to political parties to take notice. In a desperate attempt to conquer this medium, social media cells have sprung up to give brands a winning formula to win the battle. Political parties have set up teams not only to spread their political ideologies but also to malign the competitor. It’s an all out war with no winners.

However, we see that those who have gained most from the rise of social media in Pakistan are small and home businesses. Their conversations are gimmick free, there are no fancy games or apps, they talk straight and remain humble, they take criticism and turn it around to delight their customers and if they don’t they are in for the ride.

Small businesses are the only businesses that can assign their sales to their social media investments while big corporations are busy accumulating “likes” on their fan page. Maybe because small businesses understand that social media is about people, not about the brands.

Check below infographic – with highlights – prepared by our friend Ameer Aftab:

Facebook gained the last Million users in 175 days.
Over 70% users, or 6.3 Million users are 25 yrs old or younger.
Almost 174,000 users have a birthday within next week.
Over 2 Million users are College graduates
5 Million users have accessed Facebook through a Mobile phone in the last 30 days, more than half of them were NOT smartphones.
Android is the dominant smartphone OS, with 67% market share.
Women & age 30+ audience prefers Apple iOS, while Android is more popular among male youth.
Apple is popular among teens, while Nokia & HTC appeal more to 18+ audience.
Dell computers are popular among teens, while HP computers & products are very popular among young professionals.
Ufone is significantly more popular on Facebook, and is also comparatively more popular among females.

Source: ProPakistani.pk