How many users does Facebook have?
With 2.45 billion monthly active users as of the third quarter of 2019, Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide. In the third quarter of 2012, the number of active Facebook users surpassed one billion, making it the first social network ever to do so. Active users are those which have logged in to Facebook during the last 30 days. During the last reported quarter, the company stated that 2.8 billion people were using at least one of the company’s core products (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger) each month.
Facebook’s beginnings
Founded in 2004, Facebook is currently the biggest social networking service based on global reach and total active users. Launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and some of his contemporaries, the service was initially only available to Harvard students but soon expanded to regional universities, the Ivy League and further colleges before opening up to high school students and global users aged 13 or over. As of October 2018, India, the United States and Indonesia rank first in terms of Facebook user base size.
How Facebook works
Facebook users must register before using the social network and are free to create a personal profile in order to interact with other users which they can add as friends. Furthermore, Facebook users may join user groups based on workplace, college or school and can also categorize their Facebook contacts into lists. Users can post status updates or other content and message each other. Facebook users can also interact with a wide selection of applications including social games or other services like the photo-sharing app Instagram.
Mobile Facebook usage
The social network is also accessible to mobile web users and has published a series of apps based on original Facebook features such as Facebook Messenger, which had 1.3 billion monthly active users as of the most recently reported period4. The wide range of Facebook-related apps ensure that the company is one of the most popular app publishers worldwide based on downloads.
Infographic brought to you by statista.