Facebook hit 1 billion users this week. That’s quite amazing for a company that only started in 2004. The continued growth of this technology, particularly the mobile aspects, will continue to grow the global conversation, which is taking place on Facebook.
As noted in this Today article, even though some countries are poor and each person can’t afford a computer, most of them still have cell phones. My concern with Facebook going mobile is revenue. How do you put ads on a 5 inch screen? How will they continue to fund themselves when research has shown that people do not like ads on their cell phones? It will be interesting to see how Facebook secures its growth by addressing this problem.
I like that Facebook differentiates itself as a conversation venue. Unlike Twitter which is seen as a news venue. Facebook connects people and allows them to share their life, ideas and happenings. I do think there is a place for news on Facebook, but only when it encourages conversation and connects readers to the story. Simply pushing the news in a one way fashion is not a good utilization of the technology.
In the Today article, they note that 1 in 7 people in the world are on Facebook. That’s quite a chunk of people. The growth started to level off last year. That can be explained by parents not permitting younger children to create accounts, and older people who just will never adopt the technology. It’s quite amazing to see one technology become integrated into the lives of so many different people of all ages, backgrounds, and locations. I’m thankful this technology is around to better connect people to those they care about in this otherwise hugely unconnected world.