Facebook Target Zambia in Africa Expansion Plans

Facebook has today unveiled its plan to get millions of people in Zambia online and of course using Facebook in the process!

Internet.org explained to he BBC that 85% of people in Africa who aren’t connected to the internet are actually in places with mobile phone coverage.

So why aren’t they logging on? Well two main reasons – “affordability and awareness”.  The plan with the Zambia initiative is to solve both those issues.

The local mobile operator Airtel  has been offering a simple Facebook experience for free on mobile phones. Now in Zambia it will offer an Internet.org app which will supply Facebook but also a number of other web services. Users will get access to Wikipedia, job sites, weather forecasts, and information about health, all without paying any data charges.

Only 15% of the 15 million people in Zambia have used the internet so far – now it is hoped that many more will try it. If the pilot is successful, the same method will be used with other mobile operators in other parts of Africa.

Exciting times for Africa’s social media landscape….and hopefully local languages!