This Is What The Decline Of Facebook Looks Like

Facebook's revenues were up 72% in Q1 and its monthly active users rose 15% year-on-year to 1.28 billion. So it seems weird to talk about Facebook being in "decline" - obviously, the social network is in robust health.

But Ian Maude of research firm Enders Analysis has broken out some user numbers into a chart (below) that shows Facebook's user growth slowing. Rather than look at total monthly active users, he looks at net additions to that base. Note that in the US, Facebook now adds only 1 million people per quarter, and that number itself is likely in decline. In fact, growth does not appear to be accelerating in any of Facebook's user regions. Asia is healthiest - growth there remains steady. But we may never see Facebook add 50 million users in a quarter ever again:

Maude notes that the decline in growth is inevitable because Facebook is literally running out of humans. Facebook has signed up more than 50% of all Internet users on Earth:

The number of active monthly users on Facebook rose 15% year-on-year in Q1, down versus recent quarters, taking the total to 1.28 billion, equal to over over half of the global internet audience excluding China (where, like Google, it remains officially blocked).

User numbers aren't revenue numbers of course: On the financial side, Facebook shows no sign of slowing down, Maude adds.