Facebook hits 500 million users

This is an important milestone for all of you who have helped spread Facebook around the world. Now a lot more people have the opportunity to stay connected with the people they care about.

To celebrate, we've put together a collection of stories you've shared with us about the impact Facebook and your friends have had on your lives.

We're launching a new application called Facebook Stories where you can share your own story and read hundreds of others, categorized by themes and locations around the world. These stories include:

• Ben Saylor, a 17-year-old high school student, who turned to Facebook to organize a community effort to rebuild the Pioneer Playhouse, the oldest outdoor theater in Kentucky, after it was damaged by floods in May.
  
• Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who, during his time in office, would go jogging with 100 of his fans from Facebook.
  
• Holly Rose, a mother in Phoenix, who credits a friend's status message telling women to check for breast cancer with her being diagnosed in time to treat the disease. She used Facebook for support during treatment and became a prevention advocate herself.

Our mission at Facebook is to help make the world more open and connected. Stories like these are examples of that mission and are both humbling and inspiring. I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started 6 years ago.

I want to thank you for being part of making Facebook what it is today and for spreading it around the world.

To show our appreciation, all of us at Facebook have put together a photo album with our messages of thanks. I hope you enjoy it, and please keep sharing your stories with us.

Mark Zuckerman