The last time I counted, there were 7 billion people on the planet. On Monday, a billion of them, yes, a whole billion, logged on to Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the extraordinary milestone on Thursday, telling the world that for the first time ever, “1 in 7 people used Facebook” in a single day.
Sure, it has around 1.5 billion users who hop onto the site at least once a month, but a billion in a single 24-hour period is certainly going some.
The growth of the social networking site has been phenomenal. Launched by Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm room in 2004, the service has been amassing users around the world ever since, passing the billion mark three years ago.
And while the highly ambitious CEO will no doubt be pulling his hair out over the six billion who didn’t log on, make no mistake, Zuck’s planning to get everyone on the planet hooked on Facebook – he said as much in his post, commenting that Monday’s stat is “just the beginning of connecting the whole world.”
He added that the current community of around 1.5 billion members “stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone in the opportunities of our modern world.”
Laying out his vision for global domination, he said, “A more open and connected world is a better world. It brings stronger relationships with those you love, a stronger economy with more opportunities, and a stronger society that reflects all of our values.” It should also help to send Facebook’s revenue through the roof.
As part of his efforts to make the world more connected, Zuckerberg set up Internet.org with several big-name tech firms in 2013. The project aims to bring free or affordable Internet to remote areas and developing nations, though, somewhat conveniently, should also serve to boost Facebook’s user base.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Internet.org, however, with a number of advocacy groups, among others, coming forward to criticize the project, accusing it of threatening net neutrality in emerging markets.
Despite the challenges, we’re betting it won’t be too long before Zuckerberg’s telling us about two billion users hitting the service in a single day.
