Facebook could have as many as two billion users by 2014, with the one billion mark already in the bag, thedrum.co.uk reports.
With the total number of Facebook accounts widely reported to be over 900 million, many have speculated when the social giant would hit the one billion milestone. Now, GlobalWebIndex has gone one step further, claiming that the site has already hit the one billion mark and will go on to double the figure by 2014.
The claim comes as part of the newest GlobalWebIndex report, which shows that Facebook is the most popular social site in the world, with one billion users said to have signed up by the second quarter of 2012. It goes on to forecast that 1.5 billion users will have signed up by the third quarter of 2013, before it tops two billion in 2014.
If true, the forecast provides good news for brands using Facebook marketing, with their demographic continuing to grow quickly despite reaching already unrivalled totals.
Elsewhere, the report suggested that mobile usage is on the rise, with some 43 per cent of account owners logging on through their smartphones or tablets.
Where Twitter was concerned, GlobalWebIndex claimed that it had surpassed the half-billion mark, with 517 million accounts being set up to date. Google+, meanwhile, appears to have shrugged off the claims of it being a damp squib by enticing a total of 336 million people and businesses to sign up for accounts.
Speaking to moreaboutadvertising.com of the results, GlobalWebIndex founder Tom Smith explained: “Mass-market social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have truly enabled all internet users to become social.
“They are globalising the internet by providing localised services that users across the world are adopting as their default internet experience. Fast-growing internet markets will continue to drive user base growth and will define how social services are shaped into the future.”