As Facebook Hits 1 Billion Users, Attention Turns To iTunes 11

Facebook has announced that over 1 billion users worldwide are using the service. CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered the news appropriately enough through a posting on the social network.

The company reached 1 billion monthly active users on Sept. 14.

Originally launched in 2004 as a way for college students to communicate, Facebook now has 600 million mobile users, many of these using an iOS device.

Other facts include:

• Over 1.13 trillion likes since launch in February 2009
• 140.3 billion friend connections
• 219 billion photos uploaded
• 17 billion location-tagged posts, including check-ins
• 62.6 million songs have been played 22 billion times – that’s about 210,000 years of music

Zuckerberg’s full statement is as follows:

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 honor of serving you.

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.

Yeah, AppAdvice “likes” Facebook too

Of course, Facebook’s path to 1 billion users hasn’t been without controversy.

In the past, the California company has often been criticized for their privacy policies, while many are still upset over the company’s purchase of the popular Instagram app. Additionally, since going public earlier this year, Facebook investors have largely been unimpressed. After beginning trading at $37, Facebook often hovers near $21 per share.

Nonetheless, Facebook remains a huge player not only in the overall technology universe, but also in mobile computing. Apple’s iOS 6 is fully integrated with Facebook, as is OS X Mountain Lion. Finally, the social element in iTunes 11 will be heavily tied to Facebook after the demise ofApple’s Ping service. How much integration this will mean to iTunes users remains to be seen. Apple’s iTunes 11 is expected to go live later this month.

Do you have something to say about Facebook’s new milestone? What are you waiting for? Join the discussion on AppAdvice’s Facebook page!