Opera reaches 200M active users; Facebook tops Africa sites | Internet & Media. The combined number of mobile users around the world using the Opera Mini mobile Web browser has hit 200 million users per month for the first time, the Norway-based company said today. At the same time, users in Africa are leading the uptake in mobile browsing thanks to Facebook, despite the social network's monthly active users remaining mostly flat month-on-month in the past quarter at 955 million .
The makers of the Opera browser have released their monthly State of the Mobile Web report, which looks at its product usage across more than 50 countries. Out of the 200 million users, Opera Mini -- for non-smart devices or "feature" phones -- has 92 percent of all users at 183 million, while Opera Mobile -- designed for smartphones -- has the minority 8 percent at 17 million.
Opera Mini users alone accounted for more than 115 billion pageviews in 2012, an increase of more than 55 percent year over year. Opera said it reached its milestone in June, thanks to a surge in users in Africa. Kevin Rose: Digg Failed Because 'Social Media Grew Up' - Digits. WSJ: Sinking social news site Digg bought by NYC firm Betaworks (updated)
CircleMe Is a Social Network That Connects You to Yourself [INVITES] The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: CircleMe Quick Pitch: CircleMe is a new social platform to track, engage with and share all your true likes in one place. Genius Idea: Helping web users get more out of their digital lives. Who are you? CircleMe, a newly launched social site from UK-based startup Cascaad, is the inverse of the typical social network. “We wanted to provide a place for people to able to engage more than themselves,” Cascaad founder Erik Lumer says. The CircleMe user can pull in a selection of favorite people, places, movies and things from their Facebook “likes,” Foursquare checkins and Netflix streaming activity.
And why might this be important? “The only value of having those likes is for advertisers,” he adds. CircleMe launched into private beta last week. Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark. Home Depot's Social-Media Strategy Pays Off | Special: Social Media Guide.