Facebook Inching Closer To 500 Mn Users, Plans To Announce It With A New Feature

The growth of Facebook has been phenomenal right from the word Go. Even with the onset of another social phenomenon in the form of Twitter, Facebook has continued to grow exponentially in terms of the numbers of users. Putting the growth in sheer numbers, Facebook had close to 250 Mn users around this time last year and now Facebook is certain of reaching 500 Mn users sometime this week.That accounts for a 100% annual growth which is spectacular by any means. What’s more, given the volumes we are talking about, the growth of Facebook is even more applaud worthy.

Facebook is closing on the heels of reaching 500 Mn users in a few days and plans to mark the celebration with a new feature

What is The New Feature Facebook is going to launch to announce 500 Mn users?

Facebook has always been very aggressive about launching innovative applications and has always followed a good strategy to ensure that any new service gets viral. The plan this time around is similar. As Facebook gears up to announce 500 Mn users, a new feature will be rolled out for all the users. The new feature is codenamed “Facebook Stories”

Facebook Stories will allow users (all 500 million of them) to share just how Facebook has made an impact on their lives

So basically, Facebook Stories is going to allow users to share their experiences with Facebook which according to me would help strengthen Facebook’s connect with users. Moreover, Facebook will indirectly get truck loads of key insights into usage trends of customers. These usage trends could prove very helpful for Facebook in rolling out new features/applications based on user needs. Imagine even a small percentage of users sharing their Facebook stories and then others get the option of liking these stories. The viral nature of the feature could be gauged by the sheer numbers that are involved here.

We had recently reported that Facebook had recently beaten its own traffic record in US a while back. With the way things are going, I am sure Facebook is all set to break many more traffic records and the 500 Mn user would mark one of the great achievements.

Would you be interested to contribute your Facebook story once the feature is rolled out? And how much time do you think Facebook will take to reach the coveted 1 Bn user mark?

(Source: Kara Swisher)