People are seen as silhouettes as they check mobile devices whilst standing against an illuminated wall bearing Facebook Inc.s logo in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015. Facebook Inc.s WhatsApp messaging service, with more than 100 million local users, is the most-used app in Brazil, according to an Ibope poll published on Dec. 15. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

By TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG – ONLINE social media and social networking service, Facebook, has celebrated the achievements and products of its growing African developer and partner ecosystem.
An event has been held under the aegis of the annual F8 developer conference in the United States.
It has concluded in San Jose, California where African developers shared the stage with Facebook and developers from around the world, showcasing innovative products and services they have created for their local communities and the global market.
F8 hosts more than 4 000 people in person and hundreds of thousands of people watching via Facebook Live for two days of new products, tools, interactive demos and speakers to help developers build, grow and monetise their apps.
This year Facebook brought F8 to developers around the world through F8 Meetups hosted with tech hubs around the world. In Africa, it hosted F8 Meetups in Nairobi, Lagos, and Cape Town, where participants watched live streams of the sessions in San Francisco.
Emeka Afigbo, Facebook’s Head of Platform Partnerships for the Middle East and Africa, said they were partnering with many African developers to launch products that not only met the needs of their local markets, but which are also ready for the world stage.
Events like F8 are an opportunity to work partners.
“Importantly, they are a forum for us to get feedback from our ecosystem and to showcase our partners’ work to the world,” said Afigbo.
– Guardian