Facebook Says Users Aren't Leaving in Droves

From PC World: Facebook has questioned the accuracy suggesting that the social networking giant's popularity in North America is declining. The Inside Facebook website had suggested that Facebook saw a drop of 7.3 million users in the United States and Canada in May, and that Facebook had failed to grow by its usual 20 million users per month in both April (13.9 million) and May (11.8 million).

In a statement, Facebook suggested Inside Facebook's data is faulty.

"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions. Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn't designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook."

The statement says Facebook is "very pleased" with its growth, following up with the enigmatic statement: "More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day."

Facebook typically doesn't share user data and is still a privately held company so it isn't obliged to, although last year claimed it had a half-billion users.

Because analysts lack other information, they are forced to estimate Facebook's growth and shrinkage rates. Inside Facebook admits its figures are "buggy" and easily influenced by seasonal trends, such as college semesters.

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