Facebook To Reach 7.3 Billion Users By 2015

OK, it’s September.  The power players in the media world have completed their ‘summering’ and can now return to the passion of their lives – ridding the world of boredom and malaise by producing films, TV shows, games and websites.  So… it’s great to be back.

Accel Partners, Ben Silverman, Bob Iger, Chris Hughes, David Kirkpatrick, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Gerald Levin, Greylock Partners, HBO, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Zucker, Jill Kennedy, Joanna Shields, Jon Miller, Khan Manka, Li Ka-shing, Manka Bros., Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Cohler, MySpace, Nicolas Carlson, OnMedea, Owen Van Natta, Paul Buchheit, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch, Sheryl Sandberg, Sumner Redstone, Toy Story 3The title of this blog is truly remarkable and, frankly, bullshit.

I received the chart to the left from a friend of mine at Facebook (which was pulled from a recent management presentation).

Takeaway: The number of Facebook users by 2015 will EXCEED THE EARTH’S POPULATION.

Sounds impossible I know.  But I suppose nothing is impossible when it comes to Facebook.  Because at Facebook it’s not “Impossible”, it’s “I’m Possible”.

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog titled “Facebook Is Worthless”.  I stand by the arguments in that blog (even though I received the wrath of many a Facebook insider who doesn’t want to see the value of their stock options go down) because, no matter what Facebook senior management tries to tell the press, no one seriously believes they are profitable.  I believe the real numbers would freak too many people out who are praying for an IPO in the near future.

Just because everyone is on it doesn’t mean the future is bright.  Just look at the AOL and Microsoft monopolies in the 1990s.

Accel Partners, Ben Silverman, Bob Iger, Chris Hughes, David Kirkpatrick, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Gerald Levin, Greylock Partners, HBO, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Zucker, Jill Kennedy, Joanna Shields, Jon Miller, Khan Manka, Li Ka-shing, Manka Bros., Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Cohler, MySpace, Nicolas Carlson, OnMedea, Owen Van Natta, Paul Buchheit, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch, Sheryl Sandberg, Sumner Redstone, Toy Story 3Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

22 comments

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  1. Fred Thomas Fred · September 15, 2010

    I can believe that. I personally have 3 sign ups. I’ve read that dead people are on FB. And there is a huge growth opportunity in dead people. They go back thousands of years.

  2. Paul Bond · September 15, 2010

    500 million down. 6.5 billion to go!

  3. Facebook User #423,547,089 · September 15, 2010

    I believe it.

  4. Craig said · September 15, 2010

    Craig said come on, b, what a waste of time.

  5. Loki · September 15, 2010

    So all third world poor starving countries are suddenly going to be decked out with fancy computers? Oh and running water and electricity? All babies and toddlers will have their own facebook profiles?
    The world won’t end or be culled by the Bilderbergs in 2012?

    I believe the population of the whole planet may hit 7.3 billion in 5 years but they won’t all be on facebook. You can still get on the internet without Facebook.

  6. Facebook · September 15, 2010

    I believe the graph, because Facebook is slowly taking over everything. All networked devices will have their own Facebook accounts, as well as animals, trees, etc. All of these added together will surpass the world’s human population.

  7. Tyson F. Gautreaux · September 15, 2010

    is asking, If Facebook didn’t exist, What would you be doing right now????????????????? (Answers below)

  8. Yulanda Khubba · September 15, 2010

    Hey there,Wonderful post, although i’m more curious in what will come out of the google vs facebook social network war. I have not discovered much news on it lately, which likely means that it’s definitely not that far off, but i’ve a idea its really going to really mean some significant changes to social networks. For me, i’d personally rather facebook left the battle still in the lead for the reason that google’s already large enough, and they currently hold excessive data on everyone. I do not believe both can exist though, either google’s social network will dominate or totally crash. What does everybody else feel?

  9. John · September 15, 2010

    That’s classic Silicon Valley hype and your blog on FB being worthless is spot on. Not because they don’t have a real business model & can’t discover one but because their leadership is so into themselves and growth they’re not smart enough to realize even Google wouldn’t be what Google is today without Goto.com! If they hadn’t copied Bill Gross’s model and created AdWords, GOOG would be GOOGQ and in the pinks by now if traded at all. Of course, that’s just an assumption since I haven’t read the court records however, they decided to settle for 2.6m shares of GOOG to make him go away so, I believe it’s a safe assumption!

    Love to hear your thoughts on Twitter.

    Keep up the good work, someones gotta tell the truth before VC’s become TBTF and we gotta bail them out,too!

    Regards,

    John

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  12. Jule Devito · September 15, 2010

    I’d be inclined to acknowledge with you here. Which is not something I usually do! I enjoy reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!

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  14. Paul G · September 15, 2010

    This really made me laugh – I wonder what the target is for the number of ‘pet’ members? My wife and her friends set-up a fake Facebook profile for a blow-up doll (don’t ask), and I’m a friend with a Koala.

    They have completely missed the point of competition.

    I have a similar bearish view on the internet boom of 2010/11.

    My worry is when Joe Public put’s his savings into Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter etc… shares. Is it possible 20 and 30 somethings are going to lose a lot of money?

    I have written about this and the future of the internet (I have linked to you as a source, hope that’s OK):

  15. Huh · September 15, 2010

    Don’t forget by 2015, dogs will use Facebooks too. Dot Bomb 2.0