also @ TechSpot: iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak tool released, supports 4S, iPad 3

Facebook hits 350 million users, closes 3,500 accounts

By

On December 2, 2009, 2:30 PM EST

Social networking giant Facebook reached a new milestone this week, surpassing 350 million registered users. Founder Mark Zuckerberg noted the occasion in a blog update, where he outlined how his company achieved that number and where it is going from here.

Zuckerberg also used the time to address concerns about changes to Facebook's privacy policies. A major change will be the nature of networks, where regional networks are disbanded and users are presented with more confirmations on what information is exposed. Other privacy options will be simplified by combining many actions.

In the same breath, Facebook also shut down nearly 3,500 accounts in cooperation with law enforcement to remove Internet predators from the site. Facebook has made a public effort to keep the site clean from criminals for some time, but the sheer size of the site may make that increasingly difficult.

Related Stories

No tags on this story

User Comments (26)

Post a comment
TomSEA
on December 2, 2009
2:45 PM

Well, we saw a similar news posting about when they hit 300 million a while back here on TechSpot and my comment now is the same as then. I'd take that 350 million user count with a grain of salt. Almost everyone I know has multiple Facebook accounts. One of my co-workers daughter has TWENTY-EIGHT accounts.

I'd be more impressed if they could give us a count of actual users.

Reply

vangrat
on December 2, 2009
3:20 PM

I personally still do not have a facebook, and frankly do not see myself ever making one...

Reply

Guest
on December 2, 2009
3:55 PM

Zuckerberg doesn't know where he is going. He is on a snowball rolling down a hill with no guidance.

Reply

Puiu
on December 2, 2009
3:59 PM

It's impossible to keep a website so large clean no matter how much they try.

Reply

claycc
on December 2, 2009
4:03 PM

I am not a huge fan of social networking sites but I have been amazed how much Facebook, Twitter, etc. have exploded in popularity.

Reply

matchu
on December 2, 2009
4:10 PM

Meh. Facebook is a fun time-waster every now and then. But I'm always wary about what info of mine gets on the internet. FB is only marginally less creepy than Google when it comes to knowing too much.

Reply

Eddie_42
on December 2, 2009
4:27 PM

Remember when facebook was just a college student thing....I do...I was there. I remember the petitions and rallies to stop letting in High school students....then all students....then anyone.

350 million is just crazy.

Reply

Serag
on December 2, 2009
4:37 PM

Those 3,500 disabled accounts are like the tip of the iceberg compared to how many that needs to be disabled..

Reply

freedomthinker
on December 2, 2009
5:29 PM

I still don't get why people love these social networking crap

Reply

Tekkaraiden
on December 2, 2009
8:04 PM

3,500 banned accounts from 350,000,000 I can help wondering how many they missed.

Reply

WakeMO
on December 2, 2009
8:46 PM

It's about time Facebook did this. I think itll be very nice to post pics that you dont want all your friends to see

Reply

ken777
on December 2, 2009
10:23 PM

I'm still a Facebook holdout too. I don't get why everyone is so anxious to share their personal lives with strangers. Some of the stuff that people are posting to these social networking sites is going to come back and haunt them a few yrs from now.

Reply

AtK SpAdE
on December 2, 2009
10:33 PM

I got a facebook when I was at university. There were no newsfeed, no apps.I think the jury is still out if those changes were for the better. I just know when I see my 70 year old uncle on the site, its just a bit weird.

Reply

lfg18
on December 3, 2009
12:39 AM

350 million!!! God that's a lot of people, I don't really see how thay are going to catch all the sex predators and creppy guys out there, I have a facebook account and I almost never check it, some of their games are fun but after a while you get bored, some of my friends are really addicted to this page, everytime they get a new picture they run to upload it, ,and by the comment of TomSEA I do not undertand why would anybody have more than one account, come on 28???, that's mad.

With that many users this company must be getting lots of cash due to advertisement and other stuff, why didn't i get shares when I could haha

Reply

klepto12
on December 3, 2009
2:38 AM

350 million is a ton but i know many of my friends have multiple accounts which contributes to the total i assume. I personally have 1 facebook and 1 myspace account . I think that facebook has a place because i have found people i used to know on here and can communicate with them again . as for taking down the bad guys more power to them but it is a futile task in that people will always find a way to do something that they shouldn't with whatever they have at there disposal.

Reply

TechDisciple
on December 3, 2009
3:35 AM

well thats just too creepy 350 million, I wonder how many of does folks have real lifes... tnk god I don't have a FB account.

350 banned... I doubt that will do much.

Reply

slh28
on December 3, 2009
4:44 AM

TomSEA said:

One of my co-workers daughter has TWENTY-EIGHT accounts.

Maybe it's just because I'm getting older and not keeping up with the trends of the younger generation, but that's ridiculous. But from my experience pretty much all the people I know only have one account.

Reply

manintech
on December 3, 2009
5:30 AM

i'm not in that 350 million, and i'm not going to be

Reply

swilllx2p
on December 3, 2009
7:52 AM

I have a myspace account that I never even bother checking or updating anymore..If anything i'll close that account, not add on with a facebook account as well. On the other hand I would say one appeal would be keeping in touch with really old friends and people from highschool/college that you don't see or talk to anymore.

Reply

BlackIrish
on December 3, 2009
8:07 AM

Sadly, the friends and family circle has made me join those 350 million people :/

Reply

buttus
on December 3, 2009
11:07 AM

350 Million. Wow. Frankly I thought they would have burned out and faded away long before now. However, I think peoples dependency on self promotion through Facebook is sad indeed. There was a clip on CNN about how a couple changed their marital status on facebook literally as they were saying their vows in church.

Reply

klepto12
on December 3, 2009
11:48 AM

the thing i dont like about FB is all the apps i mean come on how many different types of mobster games and farm games and the such can one person really like i seriously dont like the way myspace and FB have gone now that there owned by big companies.

Reply

Afenix
on December 3, 2009
3:56 PM

I really love FB, i'm using it for about 2 months now.. Till then i was using a specific network available in my country, but facebook beats them all!

Reply

Nirkon
on December 4, 2009
1:44 AM

Yeah I read the letter, it was on the facebook homepage,

did anyone else notice that 95 percent of the comments below his letter

were SPAM!? Yet no one addresses this issue at all, they just ignore it...

Reply

Hyperian
on December 4, 2009
3:28 AM

350 million? isn't that more than the number of people in the united states? that's a lot.

Reply

Browse more commented news

Post a new comment

Guest user

To post as an anonymous
user click here
.

Members

If you are a TechSpot member,
please login first.


By signing up you gain complete access to the TechSpot community. Join thousands of computer and technology enthusiasts that contribute and share knowledge in our forum. Post messages, get a private inbox, upload your own photo gallery and more.

Subscribe to TechSpot

Get free exclusive content, learn about new features and tech breaking news.