90% of social network users in Mexico on Facebook

When it comes to studying social networks in emerging market countries, Mexico occasionally gets pushed aside by the BRICS. It shouldn’t be.

The country looks set to overtake the UK for fifth place in Facebook user numbers, despite the fact that only 30% of the population uses it. Those 36.5-million or so Facebook users also account for 90% of Mexico’s social network users.

It’s growth in the country isn’t about to slow down either. According to online research company eMarketer, Facebook will continue to expand in Mexico at double-digit rates through 2014.

As has been the case in a number of countries, Facebook growth has come at the expense of other social network. Myspace’s collapse was pretty much as dramatic in Mexico as it was in the rest of the world.

According to eMarketer, the number of active hi5 users has also fallen drastically.The social network, founded in 2003, was particularly popular in Mexico because of its dedicated Spanish interface.

There is however a core group of gamers who reportedly remain dedicated to hi5. A number of people in the country’s relatively small music scene meanwhile remain loyal to Myspace.

Underlining Facebook’s dominance, a survey conducted by Interactive Bureau México (IAB México) and Millward Brown in 2011, found that only 45% of the country’s social media on users are on Twitter, compared to the 94% who were on Facebook at the time.