By Sree Sreenivasan
DNAinfo Contributing Editor
The tag line for "The Social Network," the forthcoming movie about Facebook's founding, is "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies." Considering there were reports of all kinds of intrigue in Facebook's early days at Harvard and beyond, it doesn't surprise me that Hollywood's made a movie out if it. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has, not surprisingly, criticized the film, saying the true story is a lot more boring than the movie indicates.
While "The Social Network" dwells on the tensions surrounding the site's founding, to me the more recent chapters in Facebook's story are more interesting. The fact is, you don't make 500 million friends/customers/users without lots of government scrutiny, jealous competitors and hungry entrepreneurs out to take a piece of your action.
Facebook announced last week it had crossed the 500 million active users threshold. I presume that means there are millions of other accounts that are now dormant (or from people who have since died, as the New York Times recently reported). That's about 300 million new users in roughly 18 months, which tells you that Facebook continues to grow around the world and in all demographics, with people over than 65 being the fastest growing group.
To mark the milestone, Facebook released updated stats (see below) and launched Facebook Stories, an effort to document how people use the site in their daily lives. Here are three stories that Zuckerberg highlighted in a blog post announcing the new application:
• Ben Saylor, a 17-year-old high school student, who turned to Facebook to organize a community effort to rebuild the Pioneer Playhouse, the oldest outdoor theater in Kentucky, after it was damaged by floods in May.
• Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who, during his time in office, would go jogging with 100 of his fans from Facebook.
• Holly Rose, a mother in Phoenix, who credits a friend's status message telling women to check for breast cancer with her being diagnosed in time to treat the disease. She used Facebook for support during treatment and became a prevention advocate herself.
Looking around the Stories page, I found some compelling, including one from a woman in Sweden who found her biological mother in the Philippines:
I found my biological mother on Facebook! I found her by Friends search and she called me in begining of June. Thanks to Facebook I've got my roots back and I have daily contact with my "new" family in the Philippines. I do belive in the power of Facebook!
You can search by theme - grief, love, crime-fighting, religion, small business, pets, among others - or by clicking around on a world map (a search box would have been more useful). The "New York, NY" location only has a handful of stories right now.
I did my own version of Facebook Stories by asking my friends to share their tales on my Wall and I heard from dozens of folks. Here are some of the things I was told:
• A journalist wrote into say that "more than half of the soures I have used this year" came from Facebook.
• A tech-savvy doctor wrote that she's using Twitter more often and "after the Zuckerberg privacy fiasco, I've limited my usage/time/and don't trust the site." [Twitter, by the way, has about 100 million users and growing.]
• Another journalist wrote into say: "I think it's a diversion, no more. I have yet to see any evidence that FB has any impact on politics or even product marketing. Amusing, but overhyped."
One particular friend captured the wide range of emotions that Facebook generates - from the issue of time sink to connecting with friends:
Facebook is an official waste of time, but it has helped me to reconnect with a LOT of people I wouldnt have reconnected with otherwise, including a friend from kindergarten! It has gotten me in trouble several times at work, but it has also helped me to get support from friends when my father passed away. It is a blessing and curse.
Here are Facebook's current statistics (reproduced in full as the company just replaces the old stats with newer ones on their Statistics page):
People on Facebook
• More than 500 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
Activity on Facebook
• There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages)
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month
• More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.
Global Reach
• More than 70 translations available on the site
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
• Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application
Mobile
• There are more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
• There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products
What are your current thoughts on Facebook? Let me know in the comments, or on the DNAinfo Facebook page or via Twitter @sreenet.
My other columns about sharing:
• Facebook Reboot on Privacy is a Good Start, But Users Should Keep Their Eyes Open
• Identity in the Age of Facebook
• Facebook Celebrates Sixth Birthday, Continues World Domination
Every week, DNAinfo contributing editor Sree Sreenivasan, a Columbia Journalism School professor, shares his observations about the changing media landscape.
