Facebook users to top one billion in 2013

Matt Jones

Later this year, Facebook will welcome its billionth active user according to figures compiled by digital analyst eMarketer.

It has predicted that 1.091bn people worldwide will access their Facebook account and news feed at least once a month by the end of 2013 – a rise of over 200m from last year’s 889m.

However, it is no longer the more developed areas of the world, like the U.S. and Western Europe, that are helping the Internet’s biggest social network power forward; statistics suggest that growth in some poorer and developing countries is now accounting for much of Facebook’s success, with South America and the Middle East among the regions playing a key role.

Social media researchers Quintly.com revealed in February that Brazil is by far the fastest growing nation in terms of Facebook usage, while politically unstable countries like Iraq, Egypt and Algeria are also within the top 10 growers. Indeed, the UK is now jostling for sixth place with the once almost Facebook-free Turkey.

Meanwhile, UK Facebook visits dropped by two million between October 2012 and March 2013 and, worldwide, visits were 11 million fewer in March 2013 than 12 months previous, although Facebook’s profits have risen, says market researcher Nielsen.

As Facebook becomes increasingly globalised, it is likely to become more and more heavily used for business and internet marketing. After all, if the prediction of over a billion Facebook users comes into fruition this year, there can be few other ways for businesses to potentially connect with over one seventh of the world’s population.