Mobile instant messaging service 2go is Nigeria’s biggest social network with 13 million users in the country, according to ‘africapractice’, in their “Social Media Landscape in Nigeria” report.
2go bigger than Facebook in Nigeria
Nigeria’s next biggest social network is Eskimi with 8.8 million, WhatsApp has 6 million users while Facebook is in last place with 6.5 million users in Nigeria. Facebook’s recent acquisition of WhatsApp of course changes all this and actually gives Facebook a reach of over 12 million users.
The report also reveals that mobile chat apps are used as a relationship among civic engagement, accountability, engagement and new age branding. Platforms such as mobile chat apps and micro-blogs, in particular, are gaining traction in Nigeria.
Mobile chat is cheap
Research firm africapractice has attributed the growth and popularity of mobile chat platforms like 2go to the fact that “mobile chat apps perform well on lower bandwidths and use less data, and are a cheaper alternative to SMS”. Despite Facebook having a user base of 6.5 million in the West African country, the social media report has noted that Nigerians prefer to use mobile chat applications as opposed to the social network.
