More than 130 million consumers to have Facebook accounts by end of 2011

2/27/2011

Small business owners have flocked en masse to Facebook because it offers them comprehensive yet also cost-effective marketing tools. The social site is set to become even more integral as more consumers register with it, as a new eMarketer report indicates the site's membership will grow 13 percent in 2011.

By the end of the calendar year, Facebook is expected to have more than 132 million American members. This is 57 percent of the entire internet population and 42 percent of Americans in general, making it the ideal marketing tool for reaching a significant portion of consumers.

“EMarketer’s first-ever estimate of the U.S. Facebook population presents a realistic assessment of actual usage, in contrast with widely publicized data that track numbers of accounts, site traffic or other metrics that don't fully reflect usage," explains eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna.

According to a separate report from Advertising Age, small business owners already account for the majority of advertising revenue generated by the Facebook, making up 60 percent of the $1.8 billion that the social network pulls in.