Buzzpoint has just released a report which shows just how massive Facebook has become. One of the mind-benders– if Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth most-populous after China, India, and the United States:
What truly surprises me, however, is the fact that Turkey now has the greatest number of Facebook users after the US and UK:
When I ran content review at MySpace, my international team and I would have frequent discussions about our content strategy for MySpace Turkey, given that Turkey has very restrictive laws surrounding online content. For example, it is a criminal offense to deface a picture of the founder of the Turkish state, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Criminal. As in incarceration. It is similarly illegal to possess or distribute any materials supportive of the PKK, the Kurdish political movement.
If a company is found to have violated any of these content rules, it is not uncommon for it to be hauled into court, fined, and banned. The Turkish government has pulled the plug on YouTube numerous times for its inability to prevent pro-PKK videos from showing up on the site. Any photo-sharing service must enact a significant review protocol to ensure that anti-Ataturk images will not appear on its site.
How Facebook is getting around this– especially given its strong views on free speech –is a mystery.
A Look At Facebook’s Reach Worldwide .
