Closetumblrdigglinkedinredditpermalinktwitter If you have ever tried to read all 44 pages of Facebook's prospectus, you will find that the company provides a definition of an "active user" that is probably not what you expect. Facebook seems to be using "active" as a euphemism for "engaged", rather than how many users actually use it monthly. Forum columns Back? Facebook, which refused to comment on this list because it is in the so-called quiet period before the issuance of the prospectus, said its "will differ from third-party estimates published due to methodological differences." Facebook's count, curiously enough, is actually more transparent than some of its competitors. Google was recently criticized for disclosing only the number of registered users of its Google+ service, without revealing how many people actually use the service regularly. Twitter has also faced similar criticism. At least Facebook tries to count only those who are engaged with the service in a meaningful way. These are some big numbers. If it is hard to believe that many people click on facebook.com every day, it is because they are not accurate. These staggering numbers should have an asterisk next to them. Of course, this raises an obvious question: how many users are actually active, using a more traditional definition? In fact, Facebook's "Like" button, on third-party websites or via the "Facebook Connect" platform, allows users to... On the first page of Facebook's prospectus, where it sells stocks to the public, it pins the number of its "monthly active users" at up to 845 million people. The social network reaches an even more impressive figure when it comes to "daily active users": 483 million people. In other words, every time you press the "Like" button, for example, you are considered an "active user" of Facebook. Do you have a Twitter feed integrated into your Facebook account? That would make you an active Facebook user too. Do you have friends who share music? You are an active Facebook user. If you log into your account and leave a comment on the Huffington Post website via Facebook - and your comment is automatically shared on Facebook - you, too, are an "active user," even if you never spend any time on facebook.com. Facebook counts as "active" users who visit its website and mobile site. But it also counts all other categories of people who do not click on facebook.com as "active users." The company considers users active if he or she "takes actions to share content or activity with his or her Facebook friends or connections via third-party websites integrated with Facebook." [Our company specializes in enterprise website construction, website optimization, website promotion, overall marketing planning and implementation of enterprise e-commerce, with a well-known team in SEO, having rich practical experience and high technical strength, providing you with website SEO optimization services aimed at "marketing and conversion rate" to let customers see intuitive results. Business QQ consultation: 466401604, 8838478 Contact: 13422475786] View all posts article tools e-mail print recommend share "Think about what this means for their monetization of daily users," wrote Neil Saikia, CEO and Director of Stock Research at Fusion IQ, on his blog. "If they click the "Like" button without going to Facebook that day, they cannot be sold ads, they do not see any advertisements, they cannot be sold any goods or services. All they do is leverage the entire infrastructure to tell all their friends (who may or may not see what they did) what they like online. Period." In December, Nielsen, which tracks internet usage, calculated 153 million unique users on the Facebook website per month in the US, whereas Facebook stated in its filed documents that it had 161 million monthly active users. Assuming Facebook's US traffic only accounts for about 19% of its business, that means the difference is at least 40 million users out of 845 million that Facebook defines as "active". The company admits, "There are inherent challenges in measuring usage across large online and mobile populations worldwide," since, for instance, "usage on certain mobile devices may automatically update our servers periodically without user-initiated action, and this activity could cause our systems to count a user associated with such device as an active Facebook user." Also, the company states that this fictitious usage accounts for less than 5% of the total. Facebook's definition of "active" is strange but not problematic in the same way as Groupon's accounting, and there is no indication that Facebook is trying to defraud investors. This is not the first time that an Internet company's metrics have come under scrutiny. In one particularly prominent example, this column documented last year Groupon's discovery of a misleading accounting measure called Adjusted Consolidated Segment EBITDA, which included various revenues but excluded cost of sales. The Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions and the company abandoned the measure. Related thematic articles: A word to describe Apple in China SEO. Quality loyal SEO consultants for website promotion Hamilton of the Rangers confirms alcohol relapse If you want more people to visit your website, you need to know how to make your website search engine friendly Checklist for online marketing: 37 ways to promote your website