~Nigerian Population On Facebook Grows By 100% —: The population of Nigerians on the social network, Facebook, grew by more than 100 per cent as it rose from 2,180,900 on December 31, 2010 to 4.369, 740 as at December 31, 2011. This shows that a total of 2,188,840 Nigerians logged to the social network within a period of one year. Precisely, Nigerians within the Facebook loop grew by 100.36 per cent between 2010 and 2011. On a population estimate of 156,062,142, the Facebook penetration rate is put at 2.8 per cent. This means that for every 100 Nigerians, 2.8 persons are within the Facebook network. Although the population of Nigerians on other social networks such as tweeter and linkedin has been growing, Facebook remains the largest virtual community that Nigerians are hooked to. The growth of Nigerians on the Facebook might not be unconnected with the increasing penetration of mobile communications networks as well as that of Third Generation platforms and devices. Globally, Facebook and other social networks have been recording phenomenal increase in subscription. As at December 31, 2010, a total of 799.09 million had signed on to the Facebook network. With the world population put at 6,930,055,154, Facebook has achieved a penetration rate of 11.5 per cent. This means that out of every 100 persons in the world, 11.5 of them have Facebook account. With 233 million subscribers, Europe has the largest number of Facebook users in the world. The region has a penetration rate of 27.4 per cent. Northern America has the largest Facebook penetration rate, 50.3 per cent, indicating that one out of every two persons in America has a Facebook account. Africa with 37,376,640 Facebook subscribers and a population estimate of 1,037,740,877, the continent has the least penetration rate of 3.6 per cent. Nigeria penetration rate of 2.8 per cent is less than Africa’s penetration rate even though its Facebook population is among the largest in the continent. The rise in the importance of Facebook to Nigerians could be seen in the last protests against fuel subsidy removal as they resorted to the social network to vent their anger and mobilise participants. The network has also become important to Nigerian politics. President Goodluck had first officially announced his ambition to contest the presidential election on the Facebook network.