By 2011, Facebook will have 1 billion users, with 70 percent from outside the United States, according to a forecast from Gartner. This is based on current growth rates which, in November 2009, saw Facebook have more than 350 million users.

In its ‘Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance’ Gartner expects Facebook to not only be the dominant online social network, but to also “take a leading role in developing the distributed, inter-operable social Web”.

Through such mechanisms as Facebook Connect – which allows websites outside Facebook to use Facebook’s online authentication system – “Facebook will become the hub for integration of social networks” by 2012.

Consequently, Gartner recommends that Internet marketers devise marketing strategies and tactics that leverage Facebook. This may include having a presence on Facebook via active pages and interest groups, developing Facebook applications, and using Facebook Connect.

Source: Gartner, “Gartner’s Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance,” Gartner, 29 December 2009

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