Guess which country leads in Facebook usage

Toronto: Toronto has become the first city in North America to have more than a million Facebook users.

An online survey released Wednesday also showed that seven million Canadians of a total population of 32 million use Facebook as of today.

"Facebook started just over a year ago and has already stormed Canada. It has become a phenomenon here," Brian Singh, managing director of ZINC Research that carried out the survey, told IANS.

He said only London was ahead of Toronto in Facebook use worldwide.

"But per capita or whatever you call it, Toronto is way ahead of the British capital because London's population is much bigger than Toronto's," Singh said.

The survey of 1,200 Canadians aged above 18 years, which was carried out in November and December 2007, revealed that every fifth Toronto resident used Facebook.

"Overall, 51 percent online Canadians are members of social network sites. And 80 percent of them are with Facebook. This shows how pervasive Facebook is in Canada. User numbers are galloping like nowhere else in the world," said Singh.

Asked why Canadians preferred Facebook to other social networking sites, he said: "You might as well ask why Americans prefer Myspace. The use of networking sites is contagious...just like all teenagers using the same cell phone brand. X tells Y and Y tells Z, and that's how Facebook has expanded in Canada."

Another reason for the growth of Facebook in Canada, he said, is its mobile immigrant population.

"When people move from one place to another, networking sites like Facebook come in handy for them to stay in touch or find old contacts and make new contacts. We miss the human touch in our daily life and Facebook fulfils that need," Singh added.

Drawing an analogy with cricket, he said: "Facebook is like cricket. You may not be watching the match whole day but you tune in once in a while to know the score.

"Facebook appears to be bridging the gap with our online and real lives. We see people who have connected with people from their past and, given how mobile we have become, being able to stay in touch with friends and family from across the country and around the world."

Warning companies who frown upon Facebook use by their employees, Singh said: "When corporations grow bigger, there develops an obvious disconnect within the organisation. So you better leverage this new technology to let your employees stay connected. Proctor and Gamble and others have used social networking sites smartly."

Started by Mark Zuckerberg, a 23-year-old Harvard University student in 2004, Facebook has more than 58 million users today.

"Over 250,000 join it every day worldwide. In Canada, the admission rate has more than doubled in the last three months," Singh said.