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Facebook Crosses 2 Billion Monthly Users (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the unprecedented-scale dept.

Facebook has announced that it now has over 2 billion monthly active users. From a report: That's up from the 1.94 billion total that the company cited as part of its most recent earnings report in May. Mark Zuckerberg shared the news directly, and Fast Company has a story on Facebook's constant efforts to keep pushing growth upward. "It's an honor to be on this journey with you," Zuckerberg wrote. Facebook's other apps are faring well, too: Messenger has over 1.2 billion monthly users and Facebook-owned WhatsApp tallies a similar figure. Twitter, by comparison, has 328 million monthly active users. Instagram has over 700 million.

60 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Really? by BitterOak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Facebook has over 2 billion users and manages to cross each and every one of them? I'm actually not surprised.

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    1. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Facebook has over 2 billion users and manages to cross each and every one of them?

      Their Indian users get dotted.

    2. Re:Really? by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Facebook has over 2 billion users and manages to cross each and every one of them? I'm actually not surprised.

      Not me!!!

      Never had an account on FB...never will.

      I would, however, possibly consider a business only account if they had it, since FB *is* a good way to reach people, but they seem to insist you create a person account first, before you can create a company/corporate account there.

      I don't want to give any personal info to them, but I would consider a business only account if they offered one.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    3. Re:Really? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I would, however, possibly consider a business only account if they had it, since FB *is* a good way to reach people, but they seem to insist you create a person account first, before you can create a company/corporate account there.

      I don't want to give any personal info to them, but I would consider a business only account if they offered one.
      Are you somehow retarded?
      Either make a personal account with no info, or ask a professional to host you a business account ... facepalm.

      No one requires you to have a personal account with personal telephone etc. p.p.

      If your name is Andrew Proper, then make a personals account "CEO Andrew Proper" or "Andrew, CEO, Propper" use a company email address as log in "ceo.andre.proper@my-company.com".

      And then make the business account you want ... can't be so hard.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re: Really? by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      its because they dont know any better. they are the general public.

    5. Re:Really? by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Either make a personal account with no info, or ask a professional to host you a business account ... facepalm.

      No can do. Per the TOS...if they find out you gave false personal info, they will yank your business account and you will be banned, so it isn't good for your business if you get set up, have contacts, etc...then *poof* you're gone if they find you have bad personal info.

      Again, it would just be better if you could set up a FB account with nothing but corporate/company info.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    6. Re:Really? by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

      Let me get this straight. You'd prefer to live in denial and believe that you'll actually have a smaller digital footprint if you don't sign up for Facebook? Because Facebook is worse than the other 50 services tracking every single thing you do? Have you hidden yourself from Akamai as well? What about Google? What about the netflow monitors being run at the ISP?

      I am atheist, but all I can say is "God bless you man." I think you need a god to give you some help.

      Step 1 to a healthier life. Find a way to come to grips with your absolute loss of personal privacy. It is absolutely not achievable anymore. I will soon leave my house for a morning coffee (early riser) and I'll sit in the park. As I've been involved with it, I know there are at a minimum of 4 government owned and 3 company owned surveillance cameras covering every possible point of the park I'll drink my coffee in. This park is a bit extreme, most parks only have 1-2 cameras for every possible position. And this is in one of the more trusting countries of the world... Norway.

      Step 2 make some accounts so that the 3 people who still love you can feel a false sense that you might actually care whether they are going to the doctor for a very personal medical procedure that they've shared with everyone in far too much detail. You don't have to do anything other than create the account, add a photo (doesn't even have to be you) and you're done. Then mom and granny can introduce you to girls with "nice personalities" and you can ignore them there.

    7. Re:Really? by Maritz · · Score: 1

      Never had an account on FB...never will.

      Your medal's in the mail.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    8. Re:Really? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      It is nit a false account if you use your real name and put CEO in the middle or CEO of company X at the end.
      Get a bit creative ... sigh.
      Everyone is doing that, or do you believe business owners use their _private_ account for running the business page? No, they make an account for the CEO ... and bottom line what do you fear anyway? No one is forcing to _use_ your private account and accept friend requests or make silly posts ... or put your real phone number in. FB does not have my phone number e.g.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  2. Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by bogaboga · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Facebook has announced that it now has over 2 billion monthly active users.

    Is it just me? I am happy and proud that I am not among the 2 billion. While I congratulate FB, I have seen no disadvantage to my not being on the platform.

    Like I have asked before, what am I missing really?

    1. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Is it just me? I am happy and proud that I am not among the 2 billion. While I congratulate FB, I have seen no disadvantage to my not being on the platform.

      Like I have asked before, what am I missing really?

      Absolutely nothing, and you might be gaining your survival. Most folks fail to realize that SkyNet will use Facebook to generate its kill list.

    2. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

      Like I have asked before, what am I missing really?

      The possibility of logging in to all sorts of sites for making comments, without having to supply any relevant credentials. That's the only thing that I use Facebook for. I don't know what is in my account; probably it is overflowing with trash. That's what Facebook is good for - as a trash sink.

    3. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Funny

      People who love to declare that they're not on Facebook annoy me as much as the ones without TVs. Or vegans.

      Oh man, you'd absolutely love talking to me...

      I'm also an atheist, a Mac user, a Nintendo gamer, a "maker" and a 3D-printer owner, by the way. And since I'm also Canadian, I'm sorry if I annoyed you in any way, eh?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      I use it for extended family contact that would be challenging otherwise.
      I also derive hours of entertainment from the Anti-vaxers and Anti-evolution crowd and my ability to bait them into a tizzy by simply questioning their reasoning then "ignore" them and go along my merry way.

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    5. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Like I have asked before, what am I missing really?
      Stupid question.
      Obviously nothing.

      I find it useful to get informations about sport events I like to join. And it reminds me about birthdays and upcoming birthdays. And some people, especially in Asia, don't use eMail but use FB for sending/exchanging messages.

      Other people use it for hooking up.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    6. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      As long as you are not really a Vegan, that is all fine :D
      Unfortunately I'm not as elitist as you are, as I'm a mere German :-/
      But I have no TV :D 3D printer is on the list as my father is into models and likes to upscale some plans, more precisely, parts.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    7. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Actually, I only saw SW on videos or youtube, never found it that interesting. I was more the ST and BSG fan.

      But I support your standpoint :D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    8. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by Megane · · Score: 1

      I am also not among the 2 billion, but I suspect that about 1.5 billion of that number are bots and sock puppets.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    9. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Like I have asked before, what am I missing really?

      That depends entirely on who you know and what you do.

      If I quit Facebook I'll need to get a whole new set of friends. No really, being that one douchebag that needs to be specially contactable because they don't use the common platform everyone else does really pisses people off until they just stop bothering. And that doesn't even take into account how much easier it is communication with people when you move overseas and your friends network is fractured, because really screw email and hallmark cards.

      What are you missing? Well since you're not on the platform, ... nothing. You'd miss a lot if you were on it and left. I'll tell you what I'm not missing, email and hallmark cards.

    10. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by radarskiy · · Score: 1

      "my not being on the platform"

      Oh, you're on the platform. You just can't sign in to do anything about it.

    11. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

      I was going to say that... but I was going to say "You're missing out on staying in contact with your family". But if his family is a normal family (mine is a bit extreme.. they claim it's medical related, but I blame reality TV and soap operas) then you and I said the same thing.

    12. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by Snufu · · Score: 1

      I just spent the last hour trapped with you at the water cooler. You forgot to announce you also bike to work, brew your own terrible beer, only listen to vinyl, and are a minimalist, even though your residence looks like an OCD squirrel's nest.

    13. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

      I don't have a TV. I have a telephone.

      I regularly eat vegetarians. Though recently learned many of those naturally vegetarian yummies are breed with meat in their diets. So now I have to resort to eating strictly endangered species as I don't believe they are force to eat meat. So, since I am what I eat, I'm an exotic, rare (sometimes endangered) vegetarian.

      I have Facebook, it makes it far more efficient to ignore people. Now instead of calling me and me ignoring them. They message me and I ignore them.

      My 13 year old daughter apparently doesn't like Star Wars. So I beat her often.

    14. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by doom · · Score: 1

      People who love to declare that they're not on FB annoy me as much as the ones without TVs. Or vegans.

      Not only am I not on facebook, I don't carry a cellphone, I use a bike as my main mode of transit, and haven't touched Microsoft or Apple software in over 15 years.

      I use up all smugness in the available vicinity and leave none available for anyone else.

    15. Re: Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      But since this is where everyone is,it takes far less effort to use Facebook for above mentioned benefits then any other alternative. Don't forget, part of that alternative effort, is convincing people to use that alternative.

      The converse also holds: Facebook is slightly less convenient for all of your friends if you don't use it. Facebook is a lot less useful for all of your friends if half of your friends don't use it. Since Facebook is so good for organising things, why not try to use it to organise half of your friends to all close their Facebook accounts at the same time?

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    16. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by Maritz · · Score: 1

      No, they don't get banned. Quite the reverse.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    17. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by The+Raven · · Score: 1

      What you're missing depends entirely on who you befriend on the platform. If you have intelligent, reasonable friends you might be missing intelligent reasonable posts. You could be missing invitations to events your friends will be at.

      If you have no friends and no family, or they are mostly idiots, then you are not missing much.

      --
      "I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
    18. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by painandgreed · · Score: 1

      Like I have asked before, what am I missing really?

      For the most part, a Rolodex of friends, family, acquaintances, and other people you meet and know, and a messenger app that tends to be more reliable than email, texting, or the phone these days.

      From there you get a pretty much random selection of snapshots into the lives of those people according to what they decide to share. If you're really interested in what somebody has been up to, you can check to see what they have said, but pretty much it's just a near random stream of information to waste time reading, and the information they put down is really only as good as they are.

      One of the more used functions seems to be the Events. From book clubs at people's houses, to parties, to organized events, you can schedule them, invite people, organize them, etc in what is basically a calendar entry.

      From there, there are pages. If you get into a club, hobby group, or some organization these days, chances are they have a Facebook page and have their discussions, share information, and organize their events there. For celebrities, businesses, or such, their pages and posts pretty much do the same thing as Twitter.

      It's not just you, I have several friends that don't do FB. Have to keep them in mind and go out of our way to let them know what is going on usually. Luckily, the main one's wife is on FB and she can let him know. Others only check it infrequently, perhaps even only every few weeks. Those people usually use email, but there are even more people who never or rarely check their email also.

    19. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by bogaboga · · Score: 1

      Well stated! Thanks, but I manage to do all that my way. Those that will not contact me because I do not do FB can go away. I am doing very very well so far.

      On the other hand, I have seen close friends getting worked up over a FB post; wasting [valuable] time in the process; missing deadlines; getting fired or getting into affairs at work, plus becoming paranoid and psychologically unstable.

      I do not want to be any close to joining their ranks.

    20. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by painandgreed · · Score: 1

      No problem. It was meant to be a matter of the fact response and assumed you wanted one. I've seen people do all that too. Before FB it was forums. Before forums it was usenet, mailing lists, and email. Before that, there was snail mail as many of these internet memes and upsetting news/posts, are just a continuation of old chain letters I'd see on fridges as a kid. Even then, there is just talking to people around you. It might speed up or aggravate such behavior, but I doubt FB causes it (any more then /. does anyway).

    21. Re:Happy that I am NOT among the crowd... by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

      Nothing! It's a HUGE waste of time and life. I'm not on it either!

  3. Good! by DogDude · · Score: 2

    Good! With so much of the country (and the world) on Facebook, it makes data mining very simple for us. Instead of having to use multiple marketing channels and marketing research, we can focus on Facebook to reach 90% of our customers. And, we love Facebook because they provide really just an incredible amount of marketing data on the users for free to advertisers. The advertising costs are not at all straightforward, but the price is worth it, considering how well we can target people.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:Good! by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I don't believe you find anything relevant for marketing about me on FB.
      Except you follow what I share (sport events) and want to sell me hotels at the place they happen or train tickets (that would be a waste, as I only share them to promote them and visit about 1% of them my self).

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  4. If it's like Twitter when I worked there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    it is 10 million real users and 1.990 billion bots.

  5. The non-user base is shrinking... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the topics discussed in "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley" by Antonio Garcia Martinez was how many users Facebook could have from a population of 7B people. Probably about 3.5B users (give or take). If Facebook currently has 2B users, they have 1.5B users to go after in more difficult to reach parts of the world. Once they hit 3.5B users, growth will stop and the business model outdated.

    1. Re:The non-user base is shrinking... by Hentes · · Score: 1

      Actually, the number of Facebook users is not limited to the number of people with internet access, because Facebook is building its own network in third world countries that only has Facebook on it.

    2. Re:The non-user base is shrinking... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Once they hit 3.5B users, growth will stop and the business model outdated.
      Why would the business model be outdated?

      Washing machines are still sold, afaik.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:The non-user base is shrinking... by Maritz · · Score: 1

      None of the kids in my son's school (grade 6-8) use facebook. They all have smartphones and they all use snapchat. But even ask them about facebook and that's "old people stuff".

      I hope that's true. Of the current crop of shitty companies with too much influence in the world, the one I'd love to see crash and burn is facebook.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  6. This! by s.petry · · Score: 2

    There are 7 Billion (roughly) people in the world, and the majority don't have Internet, phones, or power. If you are in doubt, look at the populations of India and China. The majority do not live in cities, but the sticks.

    People who "facebook" have numerous accounts. Facebook in fact requires separate accounts for businesses. People had different accounts for work, different accounts for politics, different accounts for family/friends, and there are massive amounts of bot accounts which you can rent for cash.

    I do not have a FB account that's active and admit I'm a rarity. Most people in the US do. I'd put the actual number of active individual users at 1/2 a Billion across the globe. Active daily? Much much less!

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:This! by Kjella · · Score: 1

      There are 7 Billion (roughly) people in the world, and the majority don't have Internet, phones, or power. If you are in doubt, look at the populations of India and China. The majority do not live in cities, but the sticks.

      Only 16% lack access to electricity. The majority do have cell phones, that is not subscriptions which is at 7+ billion somewhere. Half the world is online, at least occasionally. Maybe you should update your prejudices?

      P.S. It's actually easier to do power and communication than water supply and sewage. Sanitation is still pretty lacking in many parts of the world.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:This! by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      If you are in doubt, look at the populations of India and China. The majority do not live in cities, but the sticks.
      Yeah, and their smart phones have no internet, facepalm.

      I'd put the actual number of active individual users at 1/2 a Billion across the globe. Active daily? Much much less!
      And why would you do that when FB can obviously count its daily log ins quite accurately?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:This! by s.petry · · Score: 1

      I'd put the actual number of active individual users at 1/2 a Billion across the globe. Active daily? Much much less! And why would you do that when FB can obviously count its daily log ins quite accurately?

      Facebook is counting "accounts", not "individual people". It's basic marketing and sales for them, not honesty and integrity for us.

      You must have failed at basic rhetoric and basic marketing...

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    4. Re:This! by s.petry · · Score: 1

      How much daily time do the Indian and Chinese people working in factories 16 hours a day get to use Facebook exactly? How about all of those out tilling fields and gathering sticks and manure so that they can be warm at night? How many of those in Africa with Electricity log in to Facebook when their sustenance requires constant action,.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    5. Re:This! by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Dude, if they claim they have X unique identified page accesses per day, and base their marketing on that and make a contract, and it is later figured that that is *false* then it is *fraud*

      You seem to have failed in basic law.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    6. Re:This! by s.petry · · Score: 1

      I understand the law very well, and even better have seen countless acts of fraud ignored by various law enforcement agencies. Various media outlets flat out lie every day repeatedly with little legal action against them. Enron, Solyndra, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton are all easy examples of companies and people breaking the law with little to no accountability for breaking the law.

      Understanding "law" and seeing human nature at work are not the same thing.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  7. My 98 FB avatars are celebrating! by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    An email is not a person.

    Even adding cell phones won't work, if you control the swtich.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  8. Spam 2.0 by Max_W · · Score: 1

    In my opinion Facebook is kind of a Spam 2.0.

    I've made a folder in my e-mail client and move all Facebook messages in there automatically (just to delete them later).

    1. Re:Spam 2.0 by dejitaru · · Score: 1

      if you consider facebook as spam, when why even have an account (or have messages going to your email)? Fomo?

  9. It keeps growing by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    Wait for them to try and explain the numbers when in a few years there are more "active facebook users" than there are people alive.

  10. Re:Uh huh. by dejitaru · · Score: 1

    Retarded enough to think a third of the planet's population is 2 million... unless you are speaking from the late 90s.

  11. Thanks God for 32bit limits.. by Hougaard · · Score: 1

    No more expansion for facebook :)

    1. Re:Thanks God for 32bit limits.. by Megane · · Score: 1

      They're probably using unsigned long. :(

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  12. Re:Uh huh. by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    I guess you mean 0090s and not the 1990s?

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  13. No shit by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    And the amount of time wasted on stupidity is staggering.

  14. Re:Uh huh. by dejitaru · · Score: 1

    haha dammit... my fail there

  15. That works out to 60 billion times a month... by Nova+Express · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...that users had to switch their News Feed back to "Most Recent" from the "Top Stories" setting that Facebook switches to despite their preferences, every single damn day!

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

  16. 2 Billion People Talking... by zawarski · · Score: 1

    ...Zero people listening.

  17. Time, not money by shanen · · Score: 1

    If I ever got a mod point to give, that probably deserves one. The sheer amount of time wasted on Facebook is awesome, but the worst part is that Facebook regards more wasted time as their primary metric of success. Imagine that time was focused on something useful like education or curing cancer or ANYTHING besides propagating fake news and silly questions.

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  18. Facebook == Firedbook by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    It's bad enough to get get fired for a post about how your job sucks. But people seem to get offended by anything on Facebook. Case in point, teacher Ashley Payne photos holding a couple of glasses of alcohol... *WHILE ON VACATION*. And no, this was not a face-down-in-her-own-vomit-wearing-only-panties photo. http://www.georgianewsday.com/... If innocent stuff like that can get you fired, screw Facebook.

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
  19. I don't know why they trust Zuck; Dumb Fucks by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/...

    Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
    Zuck: Just ask
    Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
    [Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
    Zuck: People just submitted it.
    Zuck: I don't know why.
    Zuck: They "trust me"
    Zuck: Dumb fucks

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user