Facebook community is now 1.65 billion strong

Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, management, disease, stephen hawking,

New York, April 28, 2016: Facebook now has 1.65 billion users announced Mark Zuckerberg after he gave quarterly results and gave an update on the community’s progress in connecting the world. In a statement he wrote:

Our community now has 1.65 billion people. In the last few months, we launched Reactions, rolled out Live video, built Messenger into a platform, shipped Oculus Rift and have now connected 25 million people to the internet. We’ve also worked day after day on lots of small improvements to make your experience better.

Further, he also announced that the structure of Facebook could also undergo change highlighting that its mission is to make the world more open and connected. He wrote:

“To maintain our focus on this mission, we have always been a founder-led company. This structure has helped us resist the short term pressures that often hurt companies. It has helped us grow our community, build our business and create shareholder value. It has given us the freedom to prioritize your product experience and invest in new apps like Instagram — decisions that don’t always pay off right away, but that we believe help us serve our community and our shareholders.”

He also stressed what he wants to achieve in these words: “While helping to connect the world will always be the most important thing I do, there are more global challenges that I feel a responsibility to help solve — like helping to cure all diseases by the end of this century, upgrading our education system so it’s personalized for each student, and protecting our environment from climate change. That’s why Priscilla and I created the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and committed to give 99 percent of our Facebook shares during our lives to advance human potential and promote equality.

Today, Facebook’s board of directors is announcing a proposal to create a new class of stock that will allow us to achieve both goals. I’ll be able to keep founder control of Facebook so we can continue to build for the long term, and Priscilla and I will be able to give our money to fund important work sooner. Right now, there are amazing scientists, educators and doctors around the world doing incredible work. We want to help them make a bigger difference today, not 30 or 40 years down the road.

If this proposal goes into effect, we’ll get to keep improving your Facebook experience the way we do today. And over the long term, I think you’ll have better services and be part of a stronger community as a result. I believe in our community and the good we can do in the world, and I’m looking forward to continuing this journey with you.”

The Facebook co-founder is already collaborating with Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner for a space initiative ‘Nanocraft.’