Facebook is taking over the world...

Or at least the United States. The big news today is that Facebook has reached the 300 million user mark, which is quite the feat considering I remember when I signed up about 5 years ago and it was only available to college students.

The bigger thing to note here is that the population of the U.S. is at about 307 million people right now, and it looks like Facebook will soon have more users than the United States has people.

Sort of makes me feel like a proud mama - Facebook is all grown up!

It also marks the first time that they've actually seen some profits, here's the deal:

As Facebook has grown, it also has drawn criticism from privacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which says people on Facebook unwillingly give up personal information to advertisers and Facebook application developers.

In a video interview with Fortune, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said Facebook gives its users robust privacy controls.

She also told Fortune that a new approach to online advertising has helped Facebook's revenue grow throughout the recession.

"Our advertisements are very much part of the user experience," she said. "So the same way you can RSVP for an event on Facebook -- you know, a party your friend might throw -- you can RSVP for a movie premiere. And that's really a movie advertisement saying, 'Our movie is opening this weekend. Do you want to go?' "

Read the rest of the article here.



(Courtesy of CNN.com)