New Delhi:
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is the world's second most popular politician, with over 18 million Facebook friends, says Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. US president Obama is the first with over 40 million friends.
Ms Sandberg is visiting India and will meet the Prime Minister on Thursday.
"The (Facebook) post with the picture of Prime Minister Modi seeking his mother's blessings is incredible and my personal favourite," Ms Sandberg told NDTV, adding that she is very excited to see how Indian politicians are now understanding the importance of social media. (
Highlights of her interview)
"It's fascinating that they understand this is an opportunity to speak directly to your constituents. What happened in the Indian elections was absolutely exciting," the Facebook COO said.
Ms Sandberg said India, with more than a 100 million Facebook users - the highest after the United States - is all set to become the social networking site's largest market. "India is a very promising market with very active Facebook users. It should become Facebook's largest market. There are a billion people in India who haven't connected and will connect. It's an endless opportunity to grow with very active Facebook users", she said.
The challenge, she said, was "to bring the next billion Indians on Facebook."
On a recent incident where a 28-year old IT professional was beaten to death in Pune allegedly over an offensive Facebook post, Ms Sandberg said, "There is no tolerance for inciting violence on Facebook."