Dang it, Justin Timberlake!
Why did you have to utter that line in "The Social Network"? Because now we — and countless others — can't help but think of it whenever the occasion arises. So here it goes: 800 million Facebook users isn't cool. You know what's cool? A BILLION users!
That's right, Facebook could cross that threshold by August, according to digital marketing firm iCrossing, which extrapolated its current growth rate and estimated when it's likely to make it to that magic milestone.
As you can see from the graph above, it looks like they've pinpointed it to Aug. 12, with "more recent data suggests it’s growing in a linear fashion."
Contributing to Facebook's continued assimilation — oops, we meant to say accumulation — of the world's population are inroads being made in "developing countries" such as India and Brazil, where 36 million and 30 million users are now sharing, commenting and no doubt spending hours discovering the more addictive aspects of it. This helps counter the slow down of growth in the U.S. and the UK, where Facebook saturation, and even backlash, has already taken hold. (Though Facebook denies any such erosion.)
It wasn't so long ago that Facebook posted its 800 million users on its official stats page, and in July, they confirmed the 750 million number that had been circulating for awhile. And with more daily Facebook users on Android devices than on iOS, an app on feature phones for those who haven't caught the smartphone wave yet, as well as increased music sharing features, the juggernaut shows no indication of ramping down its efforts to maintain its status as the place to be in social media.
Even with Google+ closing in on a respectable 100 million users, Facebook continues to grow its buffer.
More stories:
- Facebook lets you eavesdrop on friends’ music
- Google+ to hit 100 million by February: expert
- Facebook now over 750 million users?
- Facebook to hit 700 million users soon
Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.