Facebook Hits 200 Million Users; Launches Charities Page

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 8, 2009 - 8:20am.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Online social network Facebook has reached 200 million active users, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. "Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start, but we've always known that in order for Facebook to help people represent everything that is happening in their world, everyone needs to have a voice," wrote Zuckerberg.

To that end, the company launched Facebook for Good, a new page "where people can share their stories about how Facebook has helped them give back to their communities, effect change or connect with a distant relative."

It also partnered with 16 charitable and advocacy organizations, including Kiva, Unicef, Livestrong and American Red Cross, which have create virtual "gifts" that members can purchase and post on one another's profiles.

Facebook said the organizations will receive 90-95% of the cost of the gift, with the remaining going to administrative expenses for the transactions.

http://www.facebook.com/facebookforgood