Miguel Helft and Jessi Hempel wrote a great Fortune Magazine article, Facebook Vs. Google: The Battle for the Future of the Web, in the November 2011 issue. It's an insightful article filled with many interesting facts / statistics describing each company's operations, financials, online performance, and rivalry:
Facebook Statistics
1. 3,000 Employees. Facebook's estimated number of employees in 2011.
2. $4.3 Billion. Facebook's projected 2011 revenues.
3. 800 Million Users. Facebook has 800 million users / members.
4. 81% Revenue Increase. Facebook's display advertising revenue is expected to grow by 81% in 2011.
5. 50% Increase in 2011 Overall Revenue. Facebook's overall revenue is smaller than Google's. But, Facebook's overall 2011 revenue is expected to grow by 50%+ (compared to 2010's $2 billion overall revenue).
6. 30% of App Revenues. Facebook takes 30% of the reveunes app developers (i.e., companies like Zynga) make on its online platform.
7. $80 Billion IPO Valuation. Facebook is expected to top an $80 billion valuation at its much anticipated initial public offering (IPO).
8. 155 Million Monthly Unique Visitors. Facebook's estimated number of U.S. monthly unique visitors.
9. 400+ Average Monthly Minutes. Comscore says Facebook visitors spend an estimated 400+ average minutes on Facebook.com.
10. 27 Years Old. The age of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO.
11. 60 Days. Mark Zuckerberg called on Facebook engineers to work nights and weekends for 60 days when word leaked in summer 2010 Google was developing a "Facebook Killer."
12. Four (4) Facebook Executives. Four (4) of Facebook's to 11 executives are ex-Google employees.
Google Statistics
13. 31,353 Employees. Google's estimated number of employees in 2011.
14. 2,600 Employees. In third quarter 2011, Google added nearly 2,600 employees. That's just 400 employees short of Facebook's entire workforce.
15. $38 Billion. Google's projected 2011 revenues.
16. 41% of $31 Billion (or $12.7 Billion). Google currently captures 41% of the $31 billion U.S. online advertising market.
17. 34% Revenue increase. Google's display advertising revenue is expected to grow by 34% in 2011.
18. 30% Increase in 2011 Overall Revenue. Google's 2011 overall revenue growth is predicted as 30% on $38 billion in forecasted overall revenue.
19. 180 Million Monthly Unique Visitors. Google's estimated number of U.S. monthly unique visitors.
20. 250+ Average Monthly Minutes. Comscore says Google visitors spend an estimated 250+ average minutes on Google's sites (e.g., Google.com, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, and other properties).
21. 40 Million Users. As of the publication of this article, 40 million people signed up for Google+.
22. 4 Months. Google+ acquired 40 million users during its current 4-month launch period.
23. 100 Features. Google has introduced 100+ new features since Google+'s June 2011 launch.
24. 598,000 Google+ Followers. As of this article's publication, Mark Zuckerberg has 598,000 followers on Google+.
25. Four (4) Previous Attempts. Google made four (4) previous attempts to launch and establish a successful social network before succeeding with Google+ in June 2011.
- Orkut (2004)
- Open Social (2007)
- Google Wave (2009)
- Google Buzz (2010)
26. 5% of App Revenues. Google takes 5% of the revenues app developers make on its online platform.
27. 38 Years Old. The age of Larry Page, Google's CEO.
28. $10 Million in Equity and Cash. Google offered its top engineers and executives $10 million in equity and cash to remain at Google.
29. 20 Years of Government Monitoring. Google accepted 20 years of government monitoring after Google Buzz exposed Gmail users' contacts to others. This public misstep triggered a Federal Trade Commission investigation forcing Google to revamp its privacy policies and accept the government monitoring.