CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post on Tuesday, June 27 that Facebook has officially hit a major milestone. It now has two billion monthly users. That number makes Facebook the largest social network in the world. Not only that, but it is also the most influential. Zuckerberg indicated that his company is connecting people who wouldn't have had the means to find out about others all around the world.
Two billion people
Two billion people include more than 25 percent of the people in the entire world. It has been estimated that if the Facebook community were a country, it would be the biggest country in the world.
That's because no country has two billion people included in its population. It is interesting the country with the most people is China with 1,379,302,771 people. None of those people are included in Facebook's number because the social media site is banned in China.
Facebook has done something no other internet company has ever done. It has connected people who would never have been connected had it not been for the social network.
Even though two billion is an impressive number, Zuckerberg wants more users. However, he pointed out that the people who have Facebook accounts are those with internet connections. Those who are not on Facebook are those who do not have internet service. Zuckerberg thinks it will be more challenging to reach three billion users than it was to reach two billion.
The journey to two billion
Facebook was founded in February 2004. It took eight years to reach one billion users by October 2012. The second billion was reached in less than eight years. In fact, it took a little less than five years to reach the second billion mark. It is estimated that more than 175 million people ‘‘Love’’ something on the site, and more than 800 million Facebook users "Like" something on a daily basis.
To commemorate the two billion mark, Zuckerberg will be adding some new features over the next few days. Look out for a personalized video feature called "Good Adds Up." Also, there will be another feature that thanks people for responding to birthdays and other good news. These two features are in line with Facebook's new mission to get people to connect by joining more groups.
A new mission
Facebook's new mission involves building community and bringing the world closer together. So far, only about half of the two billion people use Facebook groups. Zuckerberg wants that number to increase. It is estimated that only about 100 million users are part of communities. The CEO's goal is to get that number to be at least one billion users.