Facebook: facts and data on the history of the platform
- The February 4, 2004, Facebook was founded, then again under the name “Facemash” and a little later under that of “Thefacebook”. The social network was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard. On September 20, 2005, “The” was removed from the name and the network received its current name.
- However, Mark Zuckerberg had to buy the domain first because Facebook.com was already taken. The proud award of the domain: $200,000.
- In reality, Facebook was designed as a pure university network. While this was initially a privilege for Harvard students, other universities have gradually gained access to the social network, starting with Yale and Stanford.
- The December 1, 2004, the platform has crossed the million user mark for the first time.
- Starting fromOctober 2005, Facebook has expanded its network all over the world. Now, European universities also have access to it, starting with the United Kingdom.
- Since the 2 september 2006, anyone can join the social network. The only requirements: A minimum age of 13 and a valid email.
- Hard to imagine nowadays: The Like button has not always been part of the social network directory. Facebook only introduced it on the evening of February 9, 2009 (local time).
- Three years later, on 9 April 2012, Facebook announces the acquisition of its rival Instagram for $1 billion.
- February 1st 2014, it was announced that Facebook was buying its next competitor: the mobile messaging application WhatsApp. Compared to Instagram, Facebook has to pay much more to acquire it: the operation costs in total 16 billion US dollars.
- The June 4, 2015, Facebook has released the so-called Lite apps in more than 100 countries, including developing countries. Lite apps were supposed to reduce data consumption and thus benefit people with low internet speeds. This paved the way for global success for the social network.
- The June 20 2021, Instagram has launched the new IGTV application. This aims to compete with the YouTube video platform, in particular by making it possible to download videos up to one hour in length.
Now that you know the history of Facebook, let's take a look at the company's history. Because marketers, in particular, need to know how Facebook works and how successful the social network is in order to align and adapt their marketing activities. The following statistics on Facebook should therefore allow you to better know the largest social network in the world.
General Facebook statistics
- Facebook's profits amounted to 18.49 billion dollars in 2021.
- Facebook is the ninth most valuable company in the world.
- Since January 1, 2013, Mark Zuckerberg has won One dollar per year.
- However, this is not too dramatic, since his personal fortune amounts to approximately 60 billion US dollars.
- At the beginning of 2022, 71,920 employeesThey worked for Facebook.
- 100 billion messages are sent every day via additional Facebook services, like Instagram.
- Facebook is the third most visited website in world. Only YouTube and Google are ahead of the social network.
- The most used reaction emoji is “Love”, it represents more than half of the emoji used.
- Facebook revenue 2022: the company generated $117.9 billion in advertising revenue
We realize: Facebook is huge. No other social platform can presently follow The number of network users. From a marketing perspective, this raises several questions: Who exactly are Facebook users? What target groups could be relevant for your brand? So that you don't have to ask yourself any more questions, we've put together the latest facts about the number of Facebook users, which can help you tailor your advertising measures even more precisely to your potential customers.
Who are Facebook users?
- Facebook counts close to 2.9 billion monthly active users worldwide (in the 4th quarter of 2021). These are users who have logged in at least once in the last 30 days.
- In terms of the number of daily users, the result seems just as impressive: the social network mattered Facebook has 1.66 billion daily active users in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- In 2022, 37.2% of the world population already using Facebook.
- If we consider all services such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Co, the usage rate for January 2021 is 49% of the world population.
- This development is mainly due to the Asia-Pacific region. In Europe, the number of users has fallen for the first time At first quarter 2021.
- In Western Europe, Facebook is used by 54% of the population and in Eastern Europe by 49% of the population.
- 29 million These users, around 91%, use the mobile version of Facebook.
- 62% of Facebook users worldwide have under 35.
- The average adult in the United States has used Facebook for about 38 minutes per day in 2021. The average Instagram usage time in 2021 was 27 minutes per day. Since social media accompanies people on a daily basis, marketers should not overlook it as a communication channel.
- 74% of Facebook users have a high income.
- 98% of active users worldwide are using Facebook on mobile. Optimizing your ads for mobile display is therefore not an option, it is an obligation.
- 64% of people prefer to use email (Facebook) rather than a phone call to contact a business.
- 43% of Facebook users in the United States use the social network to read news.
- The age group aged 65 and over is the fastest growing user group on Facebook.
- Facebook has Removed 583 million fake accounts during the first quarter of 2021 alone.
- The most popular is the main Facebook page with 213 million likes.
- Number of Facebook users: 2.935 billion monthly active users
- Number of Facebook users in France: 6.9 million per day in 2022
- Facebook age group: In 2023, men use Facebook more than women and the age group using Facebook the most corresponds to 25 to 34 years old.
Facebook advertising
Facebook advertising revenue is increasing quarter after quarter. And that's no accident: the platform offers advertisers a broad portfolio of advertising measures. Marketers are spoilt for choice. The following statistics on Facebook advertising should therefore help you to find your way.
- Facebook has made a turnover advertiser of $69.66 billion in 2021.
- 94% of advertising revenue were generated by mobile ads in the third quarter of 2021. We can still see it: The omnipresence of mobile phone use should not be overlooked.
- If you want your promotions to be effective, you need to think about the type of content you're publishing. Indeed, only 18% of the first 500 pieces of content on Facebook are images.
- The videos, on the other hand, represent nearly 82% of the first 500 pieces of content.
- When it comes to videos, attention should be paid to optimization for mobile devices, especially for vertical viewing, since over 75% of videos worldwide are viewed on devices mobiles.
- This year, the Video advertising revenue on Facebook in the United States will amount to around 10.2 billion US dollars, according to initial forecasts.
- If the brand name and a brand-specific message are presented in The first ten seconds of a video, there will be three times as many interactions.
- In the last quarter of 2021, the average global advertising revenue per user was 8,38 dollars.
- In Europe, the average revenue per user for the last quarter of 2021 was 12.99 dollars. In global comparison, the European market has huge potential in terms of advertising revenue.
- On average, videos get 59% more engagement than any other type of post on Facebook. Videos should definitely be part of your advertising campaign!
- 40% of users don't like brands, which means you can only reach these users by broadcasting ads or by sharing your content with your Facebook friends.
- 60% of Facebook users are willing to receive personal messages from businesses.
- The possibility of buying products through the chat is becoming more and more popular. 45% of buyers of What we call the conversational commerce use messaging to get product and price information.
- The average Facebook user clicks on 8 ads per month.
- In the fourth quarter of 2021, the average price of an ad fell by 5%.
- Over 140 million businesses use Facebook apps every month.
- According to a study, the organic scope ofA business on Facebook was only two percent in 2014. Since Facebook itself does not publish corresponding data, it is difficult to name the current organic reach. Based on constant adjustments to the algorithm, which consistently favor contributions from family and friends, experts assume that today it is even lower and will continue to fall. Your content should therefore be of higher quality and more precisely tailored to the target group.
- In a survey, 94% of businesses said they were active on Facebook. 81% have a presence on Instagram. Therefore, in order to reach the largest number of potential customers, you need to position your business and advertising campaigns as broadly as possible.
- Facebook is used by 90 million SMEs. The social network is no longer just an advertising platform for big businesses.
- Of these 90 million SMEs, only 7 million were “active advertisers” in the third quarter of 2021.
- 9 in the morning is the best time to post messages on Facebook during the week, as many people check their news feed on the way to work or during the first few minutes at the office.
Stories are a new form of advertising on Facebook.
In the meantime, they have become an integral part of Facebook, Instagram, and Co. The following statistics will tell you why you should advertise your brand in stories and optimize it for vertical placement.
Facebook posts
- 500 million people use Instagram stories every day.
- 300 million people use Facebook stories every day.
- In total, A billion stories are broadcast every day via Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. Stories have become an integral part of social networks.
- 51% of users are interested in stories containing offers and promotions.
- The Stories format is used by 2 million active advertisers every month.
- Ads in articles that were optimized for vertical placement on smartphones increased brand results by 35%.
Conclusion
Facebook will remain one of the most important platforms for marketers in 2022.
Keeping an eye on the latest Facebook developments is essential to plan a sustainable marketing strategy. The social network of American universities has become a global company that influences numerous channels of your social media marketing through additional services such as Instagram.