Facebook announced yesterday that their feature phone app ‘Facebook For Every Phone’ has received 100 million downloads.
Facebook described emerging economies such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines as hotspots for the app where feature phones are popular with users due to lower costs, with handsets costing as little as $20 US.
The app is less heavy on data than the full smartphone version with stripped down functionality but still includes key features such as News feed, Messenger and Photos.
Facebook’s expansion into emerging markets may be motivated by stagnant or dropping traffic in the locations such as the UK and US. While ad revenues from their feature phone platform are still low, Facebook For Every Phone will allow the social media giant to gain a powerful presence in these markets which are pegged to grow rapidly over the next few years.
