Facebook passes one billion users

Facebook has passed one billion monthly users, the company has announced.

"This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month. If you're reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honour of serving you," Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said, of course, via a post on the social network.

"Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life. I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too," he added.

The milestone was passed on 14 September, although Zuckerberg didn't make it clear just how active the billion users are, nor was there any mention of how the recent purging of 83 million fake accounts affects the figure.

Statistics released by Facebook reveal that the billion users are responsible for sharing 219 billion photos, over one trillion "likes" and 17 billion geographical location check ins. Some 600 million users access the social network via mobile devices.

The announcement of the billion-user milestone comes after Zuckerberg vowed to fight back after the firm's disappointing performance on the stock market.

Facebook has introduced paid-posts for ordinary users in an attempt to monetise the site and improve its valuation, although there are concerns Facebook may be selling data about this to private partners.

Privacy concerns are nothing new for Facebook, which faced a number of disputes in court during 2011, while the site has previously been accused of making users' profiles public without permission.