For the first time in Facebook’s 11 year history, over one billion people used the world’s largest social network in one single day.
Company founder Mark Zuckerberg proudly announced the milestone on the wall of his Facebook page on August 27. In the post, Zuckerberg stated that 1 in 7 people on Earth had used Facebook to connect with their friends and family. The post didn’t state how many of those people were looking at pictures of cats or Vines of people falling off stuff, but that’s neither here nor there.
It is a huge achievement for the social network, which – despite hitting the 1.5 billion user mark – has many tech experts waiting around expecting it to fall apart at any second. But despite the ups and downs that Facebook has seen in recent times – including newer, cooler competition in the shape of Twitter and Snapchat – this announcement proves that Facebook is still king of the social media world.
It’s still astounding to think that Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm in 2004, and was able to grow the company and – more importantly – remain sane despite all of the criticism, growth, decline and publicity that surrounds the company, and the world of social media as a whole.
You can’t help but tip your hat in Zuckerberg’s direction (and the rest of his team at Facebook). He deserves to bask in the glow of his achievement, but you also have to wonder where the future of the company lies. He stated in a Q&A in June of this year that helping people share information is one of his key aims, with video being the main source of communication.
“There are a few important trends in human communication that we hope to improve,” he said.
“First, people are gaining the power to share in richer and richer ways. We used to just share in text, and now we post mainly with photos. In the future, the video will be even more important than photos. After that, immersive experiences like virtual reality will become the norm. And after that, we’ll have the power to share our full sensory and emotional experience with people whenever we’d like.” That’s right, Zuckerberg is talking about using telepathy via social media!
Sounds like Facebook – and Zuckerberg in particular – are in it for the long term.
Here is Mark Zuckerberg’s statement in full:
We just passed an important milestone. For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day.
On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family.
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.
I’m so proud of our community for the progress we’ve made. Our community stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone in the opportunities of our modern world.
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.
Thank you for being part of our community and for everything you’ve done to help us reach this milestone. I’m looking forward to seeing what we accomplish together.
What do you think of this milestone? Are Facebook still the untouchable champion of social media, or are the wheels going to fall off eventually? Let us know your thoughts on our Facebook, Twitter or Google+ pages.
