Evan Williams: Twitter will (eventually) reach one billion users

by Steven Mostyn - Oct 13 2010, 09:49

With more than 500 million users and a founder confident of doubling that figure, the future certainly looks bright for Facebook.

But Mark Zuckerberg isn't the only social networking heavyweight with such big ambitions. More pointedly, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams also believes a billion twitterers is a distinct possibility.

However, despite that clear confidence, Twitter still has some way to go before achieving that goal. Specifically, although the micro-blogging service is massively popular, its current user base only stretches to 165 million.

Apparently unfazed by the remaining 835 million people Twitter needs to secure, Williams said this week at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco that the social networking site “will get to a billion members.”

However, it's worth noting that he didn't provide attendees with a timescale for that projected growth.

Adding a further incline to the mountain Twitter must yet climb, the latest stats from Google Adplanner show the service presently has 98 million users – not the 165 million registered users Twitter itself is claiming.

That being said, Williams used his conference address to reveal that Twitter is attracting around 1.8 million new members every week, which is more people than the entire population of his home state of Nebraska.

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