Facebook usage in Ireland soars 150%

FACEBOOK usage in Ireland has soared 150% in the last year, with more than half a million people now using the social networking site.

This news comes as thousands of Irish users ready themselves to start voting today on controversial changes to the way Facebook plans to use their information and photographs.

Facebook changed its policy in February to give itself the right to use this information after a user closed their site.

However, this has caused concern at European level, with the EU Information Society saying people must have the right to control how their personal information is used.

Despite its popularity, Facebook is not the number one social networking site in Ireland, pipped to the top spot by Bebo, which has about one million users.

In Ireland, 512,000 people used Facebook in February, compared with 203,000 a year earlier, according to figures compiled by digital analysts, comScore.

The figures show that Facebook has catapulted to the number six-ranked website worldwide, with 275 million visitors in February, a 175% increase over the previous year.

In Europe, the site has seen a 314% increase to nearly 100m visitors.

The average user spends an average of three hours per month on the site.

Managing director of comScore, Mike Read, said: “Facebook has very quickly taken a leading position across most of the European social networking market having a strong foothold in just a few European countries one year ago.

“Over the course of the past year, it has climbed the rankings in virtually every market and taken over the top position in several. Most recently, Facebook grabbed the top position in Spain after nipping at the heels of a leading local player for the past several months.”

Across Europe the site’s audience is largest in Britain with 22.7m visitors, up 75% from a year ago, followed by France with 13.7m visitors (up 518%) and Turkey with 12.4m visitors.

The only countries in Europe in which Facebook does not hold the number one or two positions in the social networking category are Germany, where it ranks fourth, Russia and Portugal.

Last year Facebook announced it was creating 70 jobs in Dublin with the opening of its international headquarters.

The new centre will provide online technical, sales and operations support to its users across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Facebook joined firms such as Google, Amazon and eBay which have headquarters in Dublin.