4 ms·

Facebook Now Growing by Over 700,000 Users a Day, and New Engagement Stats

12 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

apowell 17y ago
It takes nine months to produce a baby and only a few minutes to sign up for a Facebook account. To be fair, shouldn't we compare today's birth rate to Facebook's new account signup rate nine months ago?
- redorb 17y ago
  your first reason, is enough not to compare the two. I don't think the 2nd suggestion works out mathmatically.
mixmax 17y ago
Guess their growth won't last forever then.
jemka 17y ago
Considering how many people there on the earth, factoring in the number of those with computers and sufficient internet access, I'd say new Facebook users per day is rather low.
- Retric 17y ago
  I got the opposite impression, I think their numbers are incorrect in the other direction. According to their numbers 5% of the global population is a member which IMO is insane. But, with a growth rate of 7mill members every day that would more than double by the end of the year. My guess, is they count many people several times to inflate their numbers. After all how can they tell a fake user from a real one on a free site.
  - drawkbox 17y ago
    There is probably a huge market for detection algorithms for a real person to a fake person. Facebook is also becoming a gaming platform, but the problem there is that users are given stuff for adding more friends. This has an effect on such games as Mafia Wars that people create numerous fake accounts to setup attacks and gain loot.
    - Retric 17y ago
      So, would Facebook rather publish the "real" number, or a larger stable number that keeps increasing and passes the smell test?
treyp 17y ago
I'm really displeased with the comparison to a country. Saying something about the percentage of people in the world that have signed up, or the growth rate is okay, but the choice of where to live is pretty substantial compared to signing up for a website. It's not like other countries are losing citizens when somebody signs up for Facebook, and it's not like people are spending their entire lives on/in Facebook either. Another intellectually dishonest number I hear Facebook recite is the number of developers. They get this number from the number of people who have installed the developer application. In the first year of the platform, that was 400,000. I know numerous friends who know nothing about programming that installed the developer application in that first week because they didn't know what they were doing. They recite this figure as if hundreds of thousands of people have devoted their lives to making Facebook applications. Sorry to burst someone's bubble, but it just ain't so.
wheels 17y ago
Dupe, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=686027 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=686027
c00p3r 17y ago
Most of them will never log in again, or will do it once or twice.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  They track monthly actives. The total account numbers are much higher.

12 points by rokhayakebe 17y ago

It takes nine months to produce a baby and only a few minutes to sign up for a Facebook account. To be fair, shouldn't we compare today's birth rate to Facebook's new account signup rate nine months ago?

redorb 17y ago
your first reason, is enough not to compare the two. I don't think the 2nd suggestion works out mathmatically.

mixmax 17y ago

Guess their growth won't last forever then.

jemka 17y ago

Considering how many people there on the earth, factoring in the number of those with computers and sufficient internet access, I'd say new Facebook users per day is rather low.

Retric 17y ago
I got the opposite impression, I think their numbers are incorrect in the other direction. According to their numbers 5% of the global population is a member which IMO is insane. But, with a growth rate of 7mill members every day that would more than double by the end of the year. My guess, is they count many people several times to inflate their numbers. After all how can they tell a fake user from a real one on a free site.
- drawkbox 17y ago
  There is probably a huge market for detection algorithms for a real person to a fake person. Facebook is also becoming a gaming platform, but the problem there is that users are given stuff for adding more friends. This has an effect on such games as Mafia Wars that people create numerous fake accounts to setup attacks and gain loot.
  - Retric 17y ago
    So, would Facebook rather publish the "real" number, or a larger stable number that keeps increasing and passes the smell test?

treyp 17y ago

I'm really displeased with the comparison to a country. Saying something about the percentage of people in the world that have signed up, or the growth rate is okay, but the choice of where to live is pretty substantial compared to signing up for a website. It's not like other countries are losing citizens when somebody signs up for Facebook, and it's not like people are spending their entire lives on/in Facebook either. Another intellectually dishonest number I hear Facebook recite is the number of developers. They get this number from the number of people who have installed the developer application. In the first year of the platform, that was 400,000. I know numerous friends who know nothing about programming that installed the developer application in that first week because they didn't know what they were doing. They recite this figure as if hundreds of thousands of people have devoted their lives to making Facebook applications. Sorry to burst someone's bubble, but it just ain't so.

wheels 17y ago

Dupe, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=686027 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=686027

c00p3r 17y ago

Most of them will never log in again, or will do it once or twice.

ivankirigin 17y ago
They track monthly actives. The total account numbers are much higher.