Facebook has released some startling figures today, which underlines just how big the site has become.
Speaking to journalists at the UK headquarters, with TechRadar in attendance, Facebook revealed just how many people log on each day and the stats are pretty mind-blowing. The company also noted that one of its apps, 'Farmville', is more popular than its major rival in the social-networking world – Twitter.
Here come the numbers: worldwide Facebook is clocking up 200 billion page views a month, with 350 million users globally logging into the site.
When it comes to the site's online chat function, 1.6 billion messages are sent every single day and 2.5 billion photos uploaded a month (around a thousand a second).
Facebook is also now hitting 23 million unique users a month in the UK, with each of those people logging on spending around 25 minutes on the website a day.
With so many users, Facebook is keen to push itself beyond that of a place that you come to see what your friends are up to.
Part of the movement
In a video, founder Mark Zuckerberg called Facebook "a movement not a website" and noted that now is "a magical time for the company, as we are way closer to the beginning than the end."
This was re-iterated by Facebook's Head of Strategy and Planning, Trevor Johnson, who told TechRadar: "The Facebook experience for every individual is different. We have changed the site a lot, and we hope users keep up with these things.
"The site's now made up of many elements – apps, homepage, games, groups."
To prove the popularity of these extra-curricular sections of Facebook, Johnson explained: "Applications make up a huge part of Facebook. There are over 90,000 applications on Facebook.
"69 million active users are using FarmVille alone, that's more users than Twitter."
Interestingly, Facebook noted that its demographic is getting older, with the 35+ category growing the fastest and 53 per cent of all those who log on in a month come back on a daily basis.
"Facebook is not just about adding photos and gaining friends, it's integrated in lives," notes Johnson.
Twitter may well be the website of the moment, but one glance at these figures show that it's still got a long way to go if it wants to truly dominate in this social-networked world.
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Your comments (9) Click to add a new comment
randomguy1990
December 28th 2009
9. @jinushaun
You are WRONG. Facebook is just another social networking site. It doesn't have as many features as MySpace. The reason why it's becoming more popular is because the media mentions that site along with Twitter all the time.
More and more users are signing up because their friends are on there. It's a new fad.
All that **** you said about Facebook having everything is wrong. Facebook DOES NOT have everything.
MySpace has status updates, so who needs Twitter? MySpace has photos, so who needs Photobucket or ImageShack? MySpace has a videos SECTION, so who needs YouTube? MySpace has a forums section, so who cares about the hundreds of useless forums on the Internet. Does Facebook have forums? No. MySpace has Web Search and Image search, so who needs Google or Yahoo? MySpace has recently added email, so who needs hotmail? MySpace has IM too, so who needs MSN or AIM?
MySpace has blogs, so who needs Blogger or Xanga? MySpace has music, so who needs iMeen?
MySpace has way more bands and celebrities on there, Facebook doesn't have that many.
Myspace was THE social networking site. It is now being replaced with Facebook because it's the new thing. It WILL DIE OUT eventually.
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lukeseall
December 11th 2009
8. Inspired by this article, I have launched a campaign to convert 1% of FarmVille users into real vegetable growers. http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?v=info&ref=nf&gid=192831553631
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fitterthanmost
December 3rd 2009
7. I've been using social networking sites for years, people will get bored something new will come along.
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jinushaun
December 3rd 2009
6. @shodanicron Facebook is not a traditional social networking site like MySpace. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't understand the service. That's like calling Gmail a social networking site.
The reason Facebook is integrated in so many people's lives is that it effectively replaces so many other services. Since your friends are already on it, sharing content is easy. FB has video, so who needs YouTube? FB has photos, so who needs Flickr? FB has IM, so who needs MSN or AIM? FB has events, so who needs Evite? News? FB has that too. Sports? Yup, that too. App? Games? Marketplace? Yup, FB has it all. There are so many more examples. It does all these things well, so FB becomes your one-stop shop on the Internet. FB is the Internet. It's what you log onto the Internet for. Keeping tabs on your friends and status updates (traditionally what people consider social networking) is a tiny part of the site. Having a Facebook account is now no different than having an email address. You're crazy if you don't have one. That's where Facebook is heading. Facebook is the next Google when it comes to the "face" of the Internet.
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tech89
December 3rd 2009
5. Facebook is marmite. You either love it or hate it.
Some people like the up to the minute detail if peoples lives and have the time for it.
And some people don't have the time or don't need to know what other people are doing on a daily or minute basis.
It's a useful platform to use, but quite time consuming which is why i stopped using it. The ratio of facebook:life had to be reversed.
Congratulations for facebook on getting 350 million users. All you need to do now is make some money from them. You can't go on forever without making some decent money. Think hard and implement quick some measures for that.
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hedrome
December 2nd 2009
4. Funny!! youtube farmville video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQApx3mDXYc
watch and forward
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shodanicron
December 2nd 2009
3. Thats cool, almost all of my friends and family (even my aging dad) are on it. I tried it and found it too.... invasive or demanding, of my time is all. I must admit it was easy to use and quick to get into, and had handy features etc. i guess i just dont have much interest in what other people (even my best friends) are doing day to day in such minute detail to get it. You right though Like mobile phones, i couldnt imgaine myself without one incase someone needs me urgently or to contact my buddies etc, i guess facebook is just different form of this need, but maybe one i have just gotten used to. :)
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f3rgette
December 2nd 2009
2. shodanicron: Facebook is completely integrated in my life. It's how I communicate and connect with people, even my closest friends, family and business colleagues. Granted, I live in a university city, so the culture is different than in other places. But Facebook is as much a part of life here as phones and emails.
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shodanicron
December 2nd 2009
1. I just dont get it, its just a social networking site. Why are they so "intergral in peoples lives"?
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