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Facebook Hits 300M Users, Goes 'Cash Flow Positive'

by Warren Riddle on September 16, 2009 at 03:30 PM

Just last spring, Facebook announced that its membership had expanded to 200 million users. Despite the fact that hordes of curious noobs are losing interest and minimizing their activity, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has proclaimed that his Web baby now hosts a network of 300 million, reports the Guardian.

In an even more significant blog statement, Zuckerberg said that, even though he'd previously believed Facebook wouldn't be "cash flow positive" until 2010, he was "pleased to share that [the site] achieved this milestone last quarter." So, how does a free site with supposedly no private investment money and approximately 700 employees actually operate in the black? By clogging up your home page with distracting and annoying ads. Companies can target specific demographics by appealing to people with appropriate profile interests. Individuals and small businesses can also pay a fee to shill their wares, real or not, through the site.

The new, streamlined Facebook Lite is definitely appealing, and Facebook is still a great method of sharing photographs and keeping in touch with family and friends. But, besides the ad extravaganza, weeding through hundreds of gangster gaming invitations and "Which fruit are you?" quizzes gets seriously frustrating. Hopefully, all of the recent changes won't inspire a great migration of MySpace proportions. [From: The Guardian and Cnet]

Tags: advertising, Facebook, mark zuckerberg, MarkZuckerberg, social networking, SocialNetworking

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