Social media giant, Facebook, has high hopes for growing its user base in the future. According to a report by USA Today, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that Facebook is targetting 5 billion users by the year 2030. Just to give you some context, as of now, the population of the world is 7 billion and counting. Facebook currently has 1.59 billion users approximately.
Zuckerberg made these comments at a company event celebrating the social media giant's 12th anniversary. The report goes on to say that Zuckerberg showed off Facebook's Aquila drone, which is a solar powered fixed-wing aircraft being designed to beam internet. The Aquila has a wingspan of a Boeing 737, but will weigh less than an average car. Being lightweight is extremely important as this propeller driven aircraft will be powered using solar panels and is expected to stay airborne for about 3 months.
At the event, Zuckerberg also spoke about connecting the rest of the world's population by working in sync with telecom operators and governments of various countries. The company's Free Basics initiative is one such effort, which is attracting a lot of criticism in India. Free Basics is largely being viewed as Facebook securing its interests in the country, which has just recently surpassed US to become the second largest market for smartphones in the world. India's mobile internet user base is also growing at a fast pace and is expected to reach 371 million users by June 2016. This seems like a favourable environment for the popular social media platform to increase its user-base in the country.
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