Facebook will announce that it has reached 500 million users. The milestone comes as "The Social Network" feature film chronicles the inception of Facebook.
Facebook is expected to tout that it has topped 500
million users this week, more than five months after it crossed the 400 million
mark in February.
The company will celebrate topping the lofty half-billion
mark by trotting out a new marketing play called Facebook Stories, according to
AllThingsDigital.
Stories will feature real-life stories about people who have
used the social network to connect with long-lost friends, relatives and loved ones.
Stories boasts some 200 stories
from users, which it will use with their permission and section into geographical location and theme.
Users will
be able to "Like" stories, with the most well-liked being featured.
The 500-million mark is a milestone worthy of celebration,
coming just more than five months after Facebook
trumpeted reaching the 400 million mark in February, shortly after its sixth
birthday.
That came more than five months after it hit the 300 million mark
in September. Facebook is adding more than 200 million users per year at that clip,
a rate that is bound to slow down at some point.
Ironically enough, the growth comes in time for the
feature film "
The Social
Network," a tale of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's creation of the
Website, or at least the question of whether or not he created it, from his
Harvard dorm room.
Facebook's growth also comes in the wake of new features
that
sparked privacy concerns, such as the
universal "like" button and social plugins.
The company has since made changes to let users more
easily opt out of these features, which broadcast users' interests to vendors
trying to sell products.
Privacy is a serious matter for half of social network
users.
According to a new
Marist Poll of 1,004 U.S. residents, 43
percent say they have a profile on a site such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn. Half
of these users claim they are worried about their privacy.
Sixty-five percent of those 60 and older -- or those old
enough to have been swept up in the fear of "Big Brother" government
policing -- have some degree of concern about their privacy on a social
networking site.
More women -- 57 percent to 43 percent -- are concerned
about their privacy on social networks than men.
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