14 DAY TRIAL // The reports of Facebook's death are greatly exaggerated, at least that's what the company seems to be saying, referring to several reports showing that the social network has been losing users by the millions, in the US in particular. The company has challenged the accuracy of those reports, but has not provided any numbers or said anything specific for that matter.
"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions," a Facebook spokesperson said.
"Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn’t designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook," Facebook explained.
"We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook on any given day," the social network added, reassuringly.
Facebook is referring to a number of reports based on data from Inside Facebook which shows the site losing six million users in May alone. The US is hardly the only country where Facebook seems to be losing users, but it's where this trend is the most noticeable.
The company commented, implying that the data extracted by these reports is inaccurate, but did not actually say that Facebook is not losing users in the US or elsewhere.
Several companies publishing Facebook growth figures rely on indirect data provided by Facebook itself. When using its self-serve ad tools, advertisers are given an estimate of the number of people they can reach, based on the targeting they want.
Since you can choose to target an entire country, this can give you an idea of how many active users Facebook has in any one place. But the company has always said that those figures are not entirely accurate. Still, so far, they've proven to be a good indicator of how Facebook is actually doing.