Facebook to announce continued dominance thanks to 500 million active users

by Steven Mostyn - Jul 19 2010, 04:28

We’re all well aware of the fact that Facebook’s dominance within the popular social networking sector is unrivalled. However, if current Internet whispers are to be believed, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg will still be beating his corporate chest this week while announcing that Facebook has surpassed 500 million users.

Although Facebook’s statistics page currently outlines that the service has “more than 400 million active users,” a number of online reports are claiming that Facebook is to announce it officially moved beyond the 500 million mark during the course of last weekend.

And, to help commemorate the landmark achievement, the world’s leading social network is to also launch its special ‘Facebook Stories’ feature, which will offer up a collection of short user-submitted stories conveying how Facebook has changed their lives.

These stories are expected to include real-life recollections of how Facebook played a part in helping users to reunite with long-lost friends, find employment opportunities, and even meet that special someone.

Gushing sentiment aside, it would appear Facebook is keen to use the 500 million milestone as a marketing opportunity, polishing its public image as a genuinely meaningful online resource as opposed to a blinkered corporate titan focused on little more than advertising dollars.

According to Google’s AdPlanner results for May 2010, Facebook enjoyed 540 million unique visitors and reached some 34.8 percent of the Internet during the month. It also pulled in a staggering 630 billion page views, a figure dwarfing Yahoo’s 70 billion, MSN’s 11 billion and Wikipedia’s 7.8 billion.

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