Facebook hits 500 million, aims for more growth

Facebook isn't letting its milestone of 500 million active users around the world go unnoticed, with a big "Facebook Stories" user testimony promotion rolling out and normally press-shy CEO Mark Zuckerberg making a Wednesday evening appearance on the ABC World News broadcast in the form of an interview with anchor Diane Sawyer.

There will likely be a lot of talk about Facebook's roots as a wildfire phenomenon among college students in elite U.S. universities and how, thanks to its incremental spread through schools and offices and communities, there are now half a billion people flitting around on its iconic blue-and-white pages. But, looking to the future: who will the next half billion Facebook users be?

"We should expect that mainstream adoption of Facebook users in countries outside of the North America will continue to grow," Altimeter Group analyst Jeremiah Owyang told CNET. "Facebook even threatens domination in niche countries where social networks at a regional level are present."

For more on this story, read Who will be Facebook's next 500 million? on CNET News.