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The social network is now at 1.06 billion monthly active users. In addition to a 25 percent increase in monthly users from last year

1 million — End of 2004. 5.5 million — End of 2005. 12 million — End of 2006. 20 million — April 2007. 50 million — October 2007. 100 million — August 2008. 150 million — January 2009. 175 million — February 2009. 200 million — April 2009. 250 million — July 2009. 300 million — September 2009. 350 million — End of 2009. 400 million — February 2010. 500 million — July 2010. 608 million — End of 2010. 750 million — July 2011. 800 million — September 2011. 845 million — End of 2011. 901 million — March 2012. 955 million — June 2012. 1.01 billion — September 2012.

For one, “Using [these] sites to communicate, collaborate, and create means learners use and can develop a wide range of literacy skills,” the report suggests. Students, for example, learn about copyright issues and what kinds of permissions service providers require, important digital literacy skills that can help develop creative, social, or entrepreneurial skills.

A growing number of educators are also starting to recognize the benefits of other Web 2.0 tools, where users can include video and photo-management sites. “Educators and other professionals are increasingly using social networking services to form communities and connect to others who share their interests,” the report adds. “In addition to providing a whole community with useful information about a school, college, organization or event, a profile on a social network sends a clear message to learners that you are aware of the types of spaces they enjoy online.”

Social networking sites are also used to organize activities, events, or groups to showcase issues and opinions in order to make a wider audience aware of them. These sites can also hone debating and discussion skills in a local, national, or international context, the report says.

Since their launch in February 2004, they've been able to obtain over 8 million users in the U.S. alone and expand worldwide to 7 other English-speaking countries, with more to follow. A growing phenomenon, let's discover Facebook.

Facebook is a massively successful social networking service that grew to prominence in virtually no time. It's not hard to see why: its features and tools are highly appealing, and Facebook users are extremely well networked in real life.

Change increasingly defines the nature of literacy in an information age.  Literacy is rapidly and continuously changing as new technologies for information and communication repeatedly appear and new envisionments for exploiting these technologies are continuously crafted by users. Moreover, these new technologies for information and communication permit the immediate exchange of even newer technologies and envisionments for their use. This speeds up the already rapid pace of change in the forms and functions of literacy, increasing the complexity of the challenges we face as we consider how best to prepare students for their literacy futures. Today, continuous, rapid change regularly redefines the nature of literacy.  This simple observation has profound implications for literacy education.

The continuously changing technologies of information and communication are largely driven by these global forces in the nature of work.  As individuals or organizations identify problems, gather information, and seek solutions, digital bits become faster and cheaper than atoms (Negroponte, 1995) and in a highly competitive context speed, information, and cost become paramount.  Most of the technologies of literacy are driven by these three considerations.  Successful information and communication technologies allow faster access to more information at a cheaper cost than alternatives. Moreover, the globally competitive context in which we find ourselves ensures that new technologies for information and communication will continually be developed, resulting in continuously changing literacies and envisionments for literacy.

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education have been aligned with common behaviors on Facebook, examining each standard, performance indicator, and outcome for possible parallels in common Facebook tools and behaviors. These behaviors have then been connected to the process of conducting research in an academic context. Findings – Three Facebook functions – Feeds, Share, and Comment – emerged as the primary means by which information literate practices and behaviors are developed and exhibited on Facebook. In addition, information literacy in the age of social media requires a "meta-literacy": a critical awareness of why we do what we do with information. Research limitations/implications – This analysis (part one) presents the conceptual framework on which the data collection portion of the study (part two) is based. In doing so, it lays the groundwork for a reexamination of what it means to be information literate in light of social media practices and behaviors.