Facebook announces results for the first quarter of 2013: "Let us not lose users, but ..."

Dave Morin, founder of Path

Facebook users do not lose. In the first quarter of 2013 increased by 26% on an annual basis. And mobile users have increased by 54%.

The cheerful chorus that Facebook is losing users cyclically returns to the forefront of news coverage. When you have no more to talk about a subject is always able to pull out a little 'traffic. It seems as if you are exposed to imagine the dear Zuckerberg suffering. Last week, the usual rumors that had circulated in Menlo Park if they were seeing the ugly. According to Neilsen, over the past 12 months, only in the U.S., Facebook had lost 10 million users. In March 2013, active users to 142 million Americans would be dropped. The denial came directly from Facebook yesterday announced its results for the first quarter of 2013 .

In March, active users Americans were 194 million . Daily active users were 665 million an increase of 26% compared to the same period of 2012. The monthly active users reached € 1.11 billion , an increase of23% over last year. Mobile users in March were 751 million , an increase of 54% on an annual basis.

Here in Italy the news of the stampede of users from the most popular social network was relaunched on almost all the papers. More than anything we are limited to make a simple copy and paste, translated and adapted, in an article originally appeared a few days ago in the Guardianwhich was based on forecast data for a research company that embarrassing them then quickly retreated.

In all these articles we talked aboutPathaccording to the rumors that Facebook users would be subtracting.For whom he had never heard of, Path is a social network where you can have up to 150 connections. Circulating since 2010. He had to do a bang even then. A little 'as the Diaspora , what for months has been defined by what journalists like to call our own "bibles online information tech" as the alternative to Facebook. Raise your hand if one of you has ever heard of. And especially those who have never used for more than five seconds in a row.

The characteristic of the 150 connections Path is its biggest limitation.Facebook is a deadly technique to gain visibility. It is a special channel that users and companies use to divert traffic to your content or to discover others of a viral infection. There is no other alternative that works better and has the same appeal. Not even Twitter. Path is just one of many. I do not think that he will erode significant margins to Facebook. And do not think that's still got to Zuckerberg's time to worry.