Facebook hit a milestone on Monday when 1 billion people were active on the platform in just one day. Though this is great, it can be viewed from opposite sides: “half glass full or half glass empty.”
Much more left to do
On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post that the company had hit a new “milestone,” when “1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family.”
No doubt it’s a remarkable achievement, but it also suggests that over 6 billion are still uninterested in using Facebook even after almost 11 years of existence. It can be seen as a massive opportunity for the social network as 6 in 7 are still using other methods for connecting with family and friends. Though Zuckerberg is happy with the milestone, he accepts that it is “just the beginning of connecting the whole world.”
Zuckerberg, who is just 31, acknowledges this, and therefore is investing money for developing Internet.org to attract the rest of the world’s population. Internet.org or Facebooknet as named by the technologist, is designed for people who are unable to access the internet because of where they live and allows them to access Facebook- endorsed content online and create a Facebook profile for free.
Zuckerberg is also investing money in building drones to beam Wi-Fi down to poorly connected regions like Africa. The continent has over 1 billion people and presents a potential market for the U.S. firm.
Facebook growing steadily
Almost 1.5 billion people are using Facebook worldwide, while rival Twitter just has 316 million monthly active users. Last month, the social network claimed that over half of the world’s online users visited the platform at least once a month. Facebook hit the 1 billion user mark in October 2012.
Facebook has been growing steadily, with mobile contributing majorly to its success. Of all the users who log in daily, 87% do so from a smartphone or tablet, the social network said. Also last month, the company said that in the second quarter, 76% of its advertising revenue came from mobile.Though Facebook does not reveal its advertising figures, the number is believed to really big. In 2014, more than 18% of the global advertising spend came to Facebook.
