Facebook and the World Reach the Magic Number 7
In the last week the world population reached the 7 billion mark. To put that into perspective, that means there are now 7,000,000,000 people on earth. The population of the USA is around 313 million which is just 4.5% of the global total. Basically, there are an unbelievable huge number of people on the planet now.
A while ago Facebook passed the 700 million mark, which means that at least 10% of the people on earth use Facebook. According to Facebook’s statistics, 50% of users are active daily users so on any given day around 5% of the world will use Facebook.
The global reach of Facebook is so huge that there are now 70 languages represented on Facebook. 75% of Facebook users are outside of the USA.
The magic number 7 does not end here though. Facebook hosts more than 7 million apps. Yes, 7 million. Android and iPhone combined have fewer than 1 million apps. If Facebook went truly mobile with its own hardware and operating system then it could potentially crush the Android and iPhone overnight. Who wouldn’t have a Facebook phone? Currently around 350 million people use Facebook on their smartphones and other mobile devices.
Facebook really is dominating the Internet today. As more people get online more people are likely to be using Facebook. Google’s offering is looking good but Facebook seems to attract new users more readily. Mostly because people are on Facebook already. I only know one person who is only on Google+ and he actually dislikes social media sites in general, but as he works for Google he feels that he has to do his bit (at least that is the impression I get).
Google+ is still in its early stages, Google are being sensible and building it slowly. Rather than rushing in and allowing anyone to create new applications and games they are focusing on building a platform that is robust, that works and that is easy for all to use. So far they are doing a great job, they may actually beat Facebook one day, but they have a lot of work to do.
Facebook’s Future?
The future certainly looks very promising for Facebook. There have been talks of a stock market flotation, although the last news was that plans had been halted. Mark Zuckerberg has said that he is not in any great hurry to float, he and the business does not need to raise capital at the moment, which is the main reason to float on the stock marker for most businesses.
The latest reports suggest a late 2012 flotation. Will this change Facebook? Probably not a lot. Maybe with shareholders on board then there will be greater pressure to optimise the revenue streams which could see advertising become more prominent. However, overall Facebook is doing extremely well without shareholder backing or aggressive monetizing policies.
Facebook is still working on developing their platform. In October 2011 they launched a new dedicated service for iPad users as well as a new and improved messenger service. The future is certainly mobile and Facebook is making great progress there. So long as they can stay one step ahead of Google and retain most of their client base they will remain solid in the future.
Jon Wade used to be a corporate actions analyst and has worked for European, Japanese and Australian investment banks. He now writes for Shareholders Portal as well as Essex Portal which focuses on local business and entertainment news.
It is very likely that Facebook will dominate all the other social networking sites. Businesses alone have highly relied on Facebook to promote their brand. I for one use Android and my smart phone to access Facebook. When I go online, Facebook the very first thing I open. Well done Mark Zuckerberg.
Yes, but can it stay ahead. Google seems to be focusing on businesses for its Pages and if it can demonstrate that it is a better platform businesses will soon start to migrate, or at least set up an additional account. Google+ may be slow getting started but I think that this really is deliberate – Google got bad rep for past mistakes so is making sure Google+ grows in a sustainable way,