The Business of Facebook

The Business Of Facebook

By: Leah FabelApril 01, 2011

Oh, we just knew Facebook didn't care about privacy! After all its maneuverings to get us to open up, the social- networking behemoth is expected to go public itself sometime this year. Here, a look at the numbers propelling its estimated $50 billion valuation. | Typography by Julie Teninbaum.

Infographic: The Business of Facebook Facebook has 610,736,920 MEMBER PROFILES. That's one for every ELEVEN people on the planet. Based on page views and users, Facebook is the NO. 2 site in the U.S., behind Google and ahead of YouTube and Yahoo. EVERY 60 SECONDS ON FACEBOOK, USERS send 230,000 messages, update 95,000 statuses, write 80,000 wall posts, tag 65,000 photos, share 50,000 links—and affirm or disparage them all with half a million comments. 65% of surveyed teens admit to being “FRIENDS” with their PARENTS though 16% said it was a precondition for joining the site. More than 38% of teens have ignored a friend request from Mom or Dad. Each month, the average user creates 90 pieces of content and spends 6 hours, 2 minutes ,and 59 seconds on the site. Zynga, Facebook’s biggest app developer, has 19 games that attract 275 MILLION users a month, sabotaging about a kajillion hours of productivity. (Damn you, CityVille!) Analysts estimate that Facebook pulled in $1.86 BILLION in advertising in 2010. That’s expected to grow 118% this year, to $4 billion. Facebook takes a 30% cut of all revenue generated through its virtual currency, Facebook Credits. Virtual goods for sale on the site make up an estimated $835 MILLION market. AMERICANS make up 24% of users, followed by Indonesians (6%), Brits (5%), and Turks (4%). Brands with the MOST fans on Facebook: Coca-Cola (21.6 million),Starbucks (19 million), Oreo (16.2 million), Disney (15.6 million), and Red Bull (14.7 million).