Facebook To Reach 1 Billion Users by August, Says Analyst
Facebook has already cruised past 800 million users worldwide, a mark it just hit about 10 seconds ago, and membership continues to increase as users in nations such as India and Brazil join the party.
Said Lyons in the iCrossing post, “Using a process of linear regression on the data from the end of 2008 onwards we expect Facebook to hit a billion active users around August 2012. Looking at the data from 2006-mid 2008 it looks like Facebook was growing at an exponential rate, however more recent data suggests it’s growing in a linear fashion.”
In other words, although the Facebook boom is over, its growth continues steadily and unabated.
iCrossing statistics
An interesting note on Lyon’s stats is that growth in the U.S. and UK has slowed dramatically or stopped. This isn’t terribly surprising, as both countries are full of early Facebook adopters, and the total population of both countries combined is only about 370 million--not even half of Facebook’s current user base.
As the population of the planet approaches the 7 billion mark, the idea that 1 in 7 of all living human beings is on one social network is staggering, especially considering that the world population total includes children, who can’t (legally) even join Facebook until the age of 13, and untold millions of people without any access whatsoever to computers.
iCrossing statistics for global Facebook usage
More importantly, what does this mean? Is it a good sign that the world is getting smaller as we’re better able to connect to people across the globe? Facebook can be a great benefit on both a grand scale and for individuals. In recent months, we’ve seen how social networking can subvert unjust regimes, and anyone on Facebook knows what a great tools it is to stay in touch with far-flung friends and family.
But in the back of our minds, we know that there’s one guy that’s basically in control of all of it. We’re reminded of this every time Facebook’s format, policies, and options change virtually without warning and with no apologies on the part of its founder. Zuckerberg, whatever you think of him, is a man who turns the screws. Should we be worried about how much power he yields?
Oh, and remember when MySpace was a thing? Yeah, we barely can, either. Facebook has ushered in an era where social networking is no longer just a cool thing for the (English-speaking) 14-30 age group; it’s a ubiquitous part of the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people.
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Myspace lost my membership because everyone's customized profiles were poorly designed and hurt my eyes. Social networking has always been important and made even easier with Facebook, Twitter, etc. |
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I wonder how many people have accounts and don''t go on ?- I know quite a few people, myself included. It would be better to publish how many active accounts they have i.e. posted in past month for example. |
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How many of those accounts are from the same person?? I myself have 4, my bf has 5, a few of my friends have like 5-10 each - all for the games like Yoville. And how many Facebook accounts are inactive? If they are just going by how many accounts have been opened since day one, then it's very likely there will be 1 billion. I wonder what the number of ACTIVE users are? And do you guys think the 1 billionth account opener will get a prize? lol |
Tons. While it is a good social network service to use, the fact that they have systems for other websites that force you to get a Facebook account is a bit unsettling, it makes it seem like you need a Facebook account for nearly everything you do; and I don't have many friends, have much content to share or even any of my life to share on Facebook that I can't do on Twitter... The only thing that seems appealing is the wall and the games and the apps but get past that and it just doesn't seem appealing. It it was gaining those numbers naturally then I would change my mind a bit but as it stands... Facebook isn't as it's hyped to be and the way it's gaining it's users is a bit unsettling. It's surprising how Facebook manages to keep it's reality distortion field up for so long. |
Manduh:
That's an excellent point. A lot of accounts are being made not because people want to, but because they are almost being forced to. And not just with other websites who use FB for logging in or commenting, but also sites who use FB for contests. If someone wants a real chance at winning a prize they have to use Facebook to generate 'fans' or to enter through a Facebook contest app. Of course some prizes are worth it (Like the Rok Box :P). If it wasn't for contests I would have closed my account a long time ago. It's not Facebook's quality, features or customer service that keeps me around, because all of those things are non-existant there!
So, kind of on a side note... One billion users isn't proof of an excellent service or site, it's just proof that 100s of millions of us people in the world don't care about quality, features or customer service! |
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I get the feeling some people are signed up automatically without their knowledge. I've had several barebones profiles pop up on "People You May Know" of family members. I send them a friend request, then when I ask them months later they're like "I'm on facebook??". |
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just one word dangggggggggg |
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