CorpComms Magazine

Social network Facebook is to achieve its 500 millionth user this week, just as trailers for 'The Social Network,' a drama about the creation of the site and subsequent backlash against it, are released in UK cinemas under the tagline, 'You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies'.

To mark the milestone, the site is launching 'Facebook Stories', a forum for users to share tales of the impact the network has had on their lives. So far posts include a story of election news spreading in Iran via the site, a camera lost in Greece being returned to its owner in France, ex-pats maintaining ties with their homeland, and numerous matchmakings and reunions of friends and family members.

Randi Zuckerberg, marketing director of Facebook and sister of the site's co-creator and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, said: 'As we anticipated our 500-million milestone, and we wanted to find a different way to announce and celebrate it. In the past, it's been all about the numbers and milestones, and we realized we had never taken the opportunity to celebrate users.'

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