Facebook Hits 1 Billion Users

A billion users are way, way cooler than a million. The world’s population hit eight billion recently so it should come as no surprise that Facebook now has one billion active users. That means 12.5% of the world’s population is on Facebook and uses it at least once a month. According to the folks at Facebook, the number excludes all the fake and bogus profiles people have created. This shows the power of Facebook as the number one social network despite stiff competition.

Zuckerberg’s Words Ring True

A couple of years back, Facebook founder and creator Mark Zuckerberg had stated that he wanted to have a billion active users. He was speaking on the occasion of the company reaching 500 million users. This means it has doubled that number in just over two years, which is nothing short of staggering. In fact, the 900 million mark was only crossed earlier this year, which means that the last 100 million users have signed up in the last six months.

The stakeholders of Facebook should breathe a sigh of relief as this is the first bit of good news for them in a while. Ever since Facebook had its IPO, its stocks are in freefall and there is no way to stop the downward spiral. However, the news was greeted with optimism and had a small yet positive effect on the stock prices.

The Other Stats

One billion active users is no mean feat. It is something Mark Zuckerberg wouldn’t have dared fathom when he was working on making the website just a few years back. Yet, the website has managed to transcend expectations to the point of beggaring belief. Here are some other crunch stats to see just how Facebook connects the world.

• 140.3 billion friend connections and counting
• 1.13 trillion likes and counting
• 219 billion photos with 300 million added on a daily basis
• 62.6 million songs played on the website every day

The numbers show how powerful the social network is. Regardless of what people might say about its declining popularity or poor performance on the stock market, Facebook is here to stay. Who knows, the website might get its next 100 million users before the end of the year.

For now, this is a moment to savor and celebrate for Mark Zuckerberg and co in what has been a tough year for them. After all, Zuckerberg’s net worth has dropped by $8.1 billion. So, expect to hear a lot about Facebook’s latest milestone for the near future at least.

[Image via etech7 & onelouder]