Saturday, July 24, 2010

Facebook Hits 500 Million Users and is Only Growing Stronger

For social media users all over the world, Facebook has become a portal of communication, a transportable yearbook, a free marketing tool, or a way to organize events. On July 22, 2010, Facebook announced that they officially hit 500 million users, which is approximately a 500% increase in users in a mere two years. With this networking site growing so fast, the company is constantly working towards innovation. A recent article from Ragan.com outlined five predictions for the Facebook empire:

1. Optimized Aggregator of All Content on All Platforms (including mobile) for Individuals and their Friends: The website intends to have increased features that allow videos and other multi-media content, and will also expand Facebook mobile, enabling users to share and find more content through the website.
2. Portals and Websites for Businesses: Today, many businesses create a Facebook page before they even create a website!
3. Blogging Platform Replacement: Although blogs are likely to remain popular to those of us who are interested in writing and PR, writing a note on Facebook is significantly easier than creating and updating a blog for the average user.
4. Monetizing will Continue to Grow: Since Facebook is able to specify gender, age, career, location, interests and other key demographics, it has proven to be an incredible marketing tool.
5. Continual Integration With Every Corner Of The Web: Facebook has added the “like” option to a wide range of websites, which may be just the beginning of their integration with other websites.

As Facebook grows (and approaches the billions!), it has changed from a way to keep in touch with your friends and family to a multipurpose, multi-million dollar website.

As the site continues evolve, perhaps we should all ask ourselves: how can we change the way we use Facebook to take advantage of the site’s expanding list of benefits?

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