Facebook Surpasses 2 Billion Users

Facebook has surpassed two billion monthly active users and is now used by approximately 27% of the entire world.

Consumerist reports that Facebook has officially surpassed 2 billion monthly active users, a fact that Facebook is celebrating. With approximately 27% of the entire world’s population now using Facebook, the social media platform has become more successful and popular than ever.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter of congratulations to Facebook users, thanking them for the use of his platform and stating how honored he was to “be on this journey” with them.

“As of this morning, the Facebook community is now officially 2 billion people!” wrote Zuckerberg in his post. “We’re making progress connecting the world, and now let’s bring the world closer together. It’s an honor to be on this journey with you.” Zuckerberg also noted that it took from 2004 until 2012 for Facebook to reach its first billion users but that the second billion users were reached in just under five years.

“We started a project to see if we could get better at suggesting groups that will be meaningful to you. We started building artificial intelligence to do this. And it works. In the first six months, we helped 50% more people join meaningful communities,” said Zuckerberg at Facebook’s first Communities Summit.

It seems that Facebook aims to push the community aspect of the social media website to the forefront in the future. Mark Zuckerberg even compared some Facebook groups to “churches” or “community support groups” at the Communities Summit.

“It’s so striking that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined as much as one-quarter,” said Zuckerberg. “That’s a lot of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else.” The Facebook CEO then went on to say, “People who go to church are more likely to volunteer and give to charity — not just because they’re religious, but because they’re part of a community.”