Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the popular social network has crossed the 300 million users mark -- a milestone the company had not expected to hit until 2010. According to an article in Ad Age, Facebook has also become profitable for the first time in its five-year history -- a surprising achievement considering that the company's advertising strategy is still developing.
In spite of predictions that registration percentages would drop, Facebook continues to grow its membership base at a rapid pace. In the past two months, Facebook has added 50 million of its 300 million users. To achieve and maintain its profitability, Zuckerberg reveals that he has only hired one engineer for every 1 million users -- an incredible feat for a company with such a large user population. With an estimated $150 million in revenue coming in annually from the Microsoft deal in 2007, Facebook will able to maintain a level profit while it works out the details of potential advertising strategies. It is only a matter of time before we know whether Facebook will falter into the MySpace abyss or join the God-like ranks of Google.
