One billion people used Facebook on Monday

CEO Mark Zuckerberg says one in seven people globally used the social media website in one day for the first time.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during his keynote address at Facebook F8 in San Francisco
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than a billion people used the site on Monday [File: Reuters]

More than a billion people have used the social networking site Facebook in a single day for the first time in its history, the company said.

In a post on his personal page on Thursday, the site’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said one in seven people in the world had used the network on Monday.

“When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different. This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it’s just the beginning of connecting the whole world,” Zuckerberg wrote.

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The site topped more than a billion users in 2012, rising to 1.49 billion users today, according to the analytics website Statista.

It is not known whether the billion users included fake profiles. Facebook has previously acknowledged that up to 10 percent of its profiles are fake.

The company’s largest market is in the US, where it has 193 million users, followed by India where it has 132 million users out of a total 252 million internet users. 

Still, with the world’s population tipping seven billion in 2011 – and only roughly half having access to the internet – the vast majority of people in the world are cut off from the social media site.

And in China, the world’s most populous nation, Facebook remains largely banned.

Malavika Velayanikal, India editor of the website Tech in Asia, told Al Jazeera it was “not surprising” that the social media network was popular in India, saying the site had given a platform for Indians to discuss the issues that affect them.

“Indians are a nation of debaters, thanks to its intellectual and democratic traditions. So it’s not surprising to see the world’s biggest social media platform buzzing with likes, shares, and comments from Indians,” Velayanikal said.


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However, Velayanikal said the site faced growing competition from messaging services.

“Facebook is turning into a professional and marketing space more than a personal one. So messaging apps like WhatsApp are where the young folks in India hang out more and more.”

The company is currently valued at more than $245bn after it was floated in 2012.

Shafik Mandhai contributed to this report from Doha.

Source: Al Jazeera