Facebook Revenue and Usage Statistics (2022)

Facebook probably needs no introduction; nonetheless, here is a quick history of the company.

The world’s biggest and most-famous social network was launched by Mark Zuckerberg while he was a student at Harvard University, in early 2004. TheFacebook, as it was then known, was originally intended to serve a digitised version of the ‘face books’ held by Harvard’s various colleges, which were paper directories containing images and personal information about students.

Initially limited to Harvard, Facebook expanded to include students at other elite US universities, before branching out to all universities and high schools in the US and Canada. In 2006, it was finally decided to open the site up to the general public.

Over the years Facebook has expanded to include multimedia content and sharing content initially posted by others on Facebook or elsewhere. All stuff that seems rudimentary to us now, but at the time were pioneering innovations from Facebook and other members of that first post-MySpace wave of social networks.

Private message functionality eventually became standalone app, Facebook Messenger, though is still part of the desktop site. Users can also upload pictures and tag those that appear on them. These photos go on the user’s profile, which is full of information about their life, connections and events.

It is around these purported interests that Facebook segments its audiences for its core revenue generator: advertising. The sheer number of Facebook users around the world means that the app offers one of the most comprehensive and diverse advertising audiences of the digital age.

Facebook and Google have what some call a “duopoly” on online advertising. In 2019, the two companies controlled over 70 percent of the market. Facebook alone accounts for about a quarter of all online advertising.

As Facebook has grown up, so has its audience. What was once a website (and then app) for teenagers has become more and more a place for people of all ages, but mainly those age above 25 years old. Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok have become the new “cool” apps for teenagers.

To maintain a hold of the each age demographic, Facebook has made smart acquisitions over the last decade. It acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion and WhatsApp in 2014 for $16 billion. It also acquired Oculus for $2 billion in 2014, and is now in the leader in the low-cost VR market, which Zuckerberg sees as the gateway to Facebook’s “metaverse”.

As Facebook has grown up, it also has had to deal with a lot of issues which have stemmed from the platform’s enormous reach. Facebook was accused of not doing enough to stop political advertising and predatory campaigning on Brexit and the 2016 US Presidential Elections, which led to the 2017 Cambridge Analytica scandal.

It has also been accused of changing its algorithm in ways that improve retention and usage, but at the cost of radicalising its userbase and promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation. In 2019, Facebook also found that its platform was being used for human trafficking in the Middle East, which nearly led to it being banned off the iOS App Store.

Facebook has always argued that while it does suffer from these issues the most popular social network in the world, it has improved society and helped billions of people connect and reconnect with friends and family.

We have collected data and statistics on Facebook. Read on below to find out more.

Facebook key statistics

Facebook generated $85.9 billion revenue in 2020. Approximately $60 billion came from the Facebook app
$40.5 billion of Facebook’s revenue is generated in US Canada, despite only 10% of users being based in that region
In 2020, Facebook had an operating profit of $32.6 billion
Facebook has been downloaded over five billion times

Facebook overview

Launch date	4 February 2004
HQ	Menlo Park, California
People	Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, co-founder), Sheryl Sandberg (COO), Chris Cox (CPO)
Business type	Public (NASDAQ:FB)
Industry	Social networking