Social media usage in rural India up by 100 percent: Report

New Delhi, June 17: Usage of social media in rural India has grown by 100 percent during the last one year with 25 million users residing in that belt, a report said on Wednesday.

However, urban India registered a relatively lower growth of 35 percent with the total number of users at 118 million as on April 2015, says the 'Social Media in India 2014' report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) International.

There are 143 million social media users in India as on April 2015. The report stated that the top four metros continue to account for almost half of the social media users in urban India.

The report said the largest segment accessing social media consists of the college going students with 34 percent followed by young men at 27 percent.

School-going children constitute 12 percent of the social media users. College-going students and young men still form the 60 percent of the social media users in urban India.

The report further stated that 61 percent of these users access social media on their mobile device.

"The fact that almost two-thirds of the users are already accessing social media through their mobile is a promising sign. With the expected increase in mobile traffic the number of users accessing social media on mobile is only bound to increase," the report added.

IANS