50% Of World Internet Users Are Now On Facebook + Other News From The Facebook Community

Facebook released its second quarter earnings yesterday and earnings and revenues were up especially from adverts. Its shares though were down because investors felt it was spending way too much. The social media giant spent $2.8b/557b Naira in the same quarter and this is up by 82%. You can see the figures for yourself here

In this article though, I want to talk user base. Facebook says its user base now stands at 1.49 billion. This represents about 50% of the total number of people who use the internet. According to Internet world stats, which keeps track of the number of internet users, there are about 3 billion internet users globally. So its safe to say half of the world’s internet users are now on Facebook.

In other statistics, Facebook owned WhatsApp now has about 800 million users while its messenger now has about 700 million users. Put together, its instant messaging platforms now have a combined 1.5 billion users making Facebook the biggest player in this field. Since buying WhatsApp, both the messenger and WhatsApp have launched new services like calling (audio and video) and payment.

Source: Facebook

Instagram which Facebook bought for $1b/200b Naira in 2012 now has 300 million users and this puts it at par with Twitter in terms of users. Instagram like other Facebook platforms has launched new services to attract more users like the @music account to promote artists and reports of bigger images.

Facebook expects more revenue when it starts selling its virtual reality Oculus Rift 3D headset in the first quarter of next year. Facebook bought Oculus Rift for $2b in 2014.

The company is now investing in its fifth data centre to cater for increased use of its platform.