For the first time, Mark Zuckerberg says, Facebook recorded more than a billion active users in a 24-hour period. Monday saw about 15% of the world's population login to Facebook (presumably to watch cat videos, argue about politics, stalk ex-lovers, and publicly complain about bad service).
Read 'em and weep, Google+ and Twitter: NASDAQ:FB is even making net profit!
But don't forget: If the service is free, you are the product.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers, like, like Like, like. Not to mention: The surprising origin of "You are the product"...
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment.
[Updated 8:44 am, 9:38 am, 12:11 pm and 3:54 am PT with more comment]
Stuart Dredge unearths this from the bottom of the news lake:
Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new milestone for the social network: one billion daily users. ... Facebook has been growing steadily, and in the second quarter of 2015 it averaged 968 million daily active users.
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The milestone came shortly after Facebook revealed its latest product, Facebook M, a virtual assistant. ... Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan recently announced that they are expecting a baby girl. MORE
So Simon Sharwood says Monday brought a "new low for humanity":
On that day a billion of your fellow homo sapiens logged on to Facebook, which subsequently decided humans can't be trusted to do their own shopping.
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Facebook says “M” differs from the like of Siri and Cortana because it “can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered...book restaurants, travel...and way more.” [It's] Facebook finding a way to take a cut of a heap of transactions its billion-a-day members conduct. MORE
Muckety-muck Zuck's luck sucks: [You're fired -Ed.]
We just passed an important milestone...and it's just the beginning of connecting the whole world.
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Our community stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone [in] a stronger society that reflects all of our values. MORE
Lily Hay Newman explains and contextualizes:
[His] comments are in line with Facebook's ongoing, but controversial, effort to bring...connectivity to everyone through its Internet.org initiative.
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There weren't even 1 billion cars in the world until 2010. MORE
Meanwhile, Andrew Hutchinson nixes naysayers (nicely):
For all the various speculations of user-migrations and the declining popularity of Zuckerberg’s social behemoth, the numbers just keep on climbing.
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One in seven. That’s an undeniable stat. [It] once again highlight[s] the importance of Facebook in our wider communicative process, and the increasing role it plays in people’s...lives.
Maybe you’re not that into Facebook...but many people are. ... Ignoring that audience is most likely a big mistake for brands. MORE
Update 1: Carmine "not yours" Gallo's humor is contextually data-driven:
Data points carry no emotion and have no personality. One billion is just a statistic. [It's] not so big when measured in grains of sand. ... Zuckerberg and...Sandberg are excellent communicators. Let’s take a look at how both of them made us care.
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The statistic of one in seven was so interesting that many online news outlets used the number in their headlines. ... This is an excellent technique to deliver a statistic that you want people to share and to talk about. ... Sandberg makes us care about one billion by putting real faces and names to the otherwise unemotional statistic. [She] even brings it back to her own personal struggle, the loss of her husband earlier this year.
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Zuckerberg and Sandberg provide two lessons for anyone who wants to deliver important statistics. ... Statistics don’t sell; people do. MORE
Update 2: Jessica Elgot's got a hyperbolic, historical perspective:
In a decade, the social network has transformed people’s relationships, privacy, their businesses, the news media, helped topple regimes and even changed the meaning of everyday words. [It] changed everything – for better or worse.
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“To friend” is now a verb. ... Although the meaning of the words “share” and “like” are essentially the same, Facebook has brought an entirely new weight to the terms. ... We care less about privacy. ... Facebook gives a platform for everyone to cultivate an image and a fanbase. ... Facebook has essentially created an entire [job] sector...for people whose job it is to make the platform work for their brand. [Yet it's] also a minefield for brands. ... Facebook has been the tool to organise revolutions. [It] makes news, breaks news, and decides what is news.
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It used to be a site to get college students connected [but] a decade [later] 56% of internet users aged 65 and older have [an] account. And 39% are connected to people they have never met in person. ... More than ever, the site is a gateway not just to your friends, but to the rest of the internet. MORE
Update 3: Frank Malloy just doesn't get it:
Honestly, I don't see Wall Street's fascination with "number of users".
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People don't log in to peruse ads and look to buy stuff. They're there to click "Like" and see what their "friends" are up to. And post duck-face selfies. ... Yet advertisers that pay FB billions seem to feel it helps...really? Billions of people use toilet tissue every day. I don't see Charmin's valuation at $100B.
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I can't wait until the financial geniuses give up this obsession with website "eyeballs" and go back to valuing companies that, you know, actually make useful products. MORE
Update 4: So what's next? Barbara Ortutay is not encoded in pig Latin:
Facebook has long sought to connect everyone in the world. ... Most of the billion people...were outside the U.S. and Canada...more than 83 percent.
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As it grows, Facebook’s next billions of members will likely come from...India, South America, Africa and perhaps even China, where the site is officially blocked.
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It’s also working to get Internet access to the roughly two-thirds of the world’s population that is not yet connected — or about 5 billion people. [But] Internet.org, a partnership with other tech giants...has received some criticism for [being a] “gatekeeper,” deciding what sites people can access...against the spirit of “net neutrality.” MORE
And Finally...
The 1973 origin of the "you are the product" maxim
by Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman [hat tip: Brent Thomson]
You have been reading IT Blogwatch by Richi Jennings, who curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites… so you don't have to. Catch the key commentary from around the Web every morning. Hatemail may be directed to @RiCHi or itbw@richi.uk. Opinions expressed may not represent those of Computerworld. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE.