What do recent events in Egypt mean for Facebook? - SmartBrief

All Articles Marketing Brands & Campaigns What do recent events in Egypt mean for Facebook?

What do recent events in Egypt mean for Facebook?

2 min read

Brands & Campaigns

The recent events in Egypt have an interesting Facebook angle. The Egyptian Armed forces gave the government a 48-hour ultimatum  and then the Egyptian Armed Forces followed that up with a statement on their Facebook Page . Then-President Morsi also responded on the Egypt President Mohammed Morsi page with a post titled  “The Final Hours.”

Egyptian Armed Forces Page Stats

o   Fans: 2.1 Million

o   People Talking About: 37,746

Egypt President Morsi Facebook Page Stats

o   Fans: 1.8 Million

o   People Taking About: 59,608

According to Facebook, the  “People Talking About This” figure takes into account People Engaged (the number of unique people who have clicked on, liked, commented on, or shared your posts), Page tags and mentions.  Without taking sides, it would seem that more people engaged with the Morsi post even if the number of “likes” are less. Another thought is also that a Facebook “Like” is usually just an acknowledgement that you are accepting the page’s status updates.

Take a look at this map from the World Bank on the Internet penetration in the world. Even though China shows less penetration, the country’s population means that eventually, the number of Chinese Internet users will exceed the total U.S. population. According to Social Bakers, Egypt has the 19th most Facebook users.

In The Wall Street Journal, Rolfe Winkler writes that in the developing world, social networks dominate  more than in the developing world. In 2010, the U.S. and Canada made up more than 30% of the Facebook users. In the first quarter 2013,  this segment is only 18% of Facebook’s user base —  with a growth of 7% in this area compared to 23% of Facebook’s overall growth. The average revenue for Facebook per user in the U.S. and Canada was is $3.50, easily trumping revenues from the rest of the world. While social networks are causing a disruption in the rest of the world, these disruptions are not very useful for generating revenue for these social networks.

How do you think social networks are affecting political events worldwide? How are those events affecting social networks?

This guest post is by Shashi Bellamkonda, vice president of  digital marketing at Bozzuto.com, a company that aspires to be the Best Real Estate Company in America — the community calls him Social Media Swami. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.