As founder Mark Zuckerberg discussed the democratization of his brainchild, Facebook, on Thursday, he casually dropped a company goal for 2009 – 200 million members.
Facebook grew by 5 million users a week in January, so 200 million could be just around the corner
Hopefully the social-networking site will pass the mark this year, he said, as he announced that current members will be able to comment and vote on privacy and other “terms of service” guidelines.
But this is hardly a leap of faith – or much of a leap of any sort.
As of Feb. 17, Facebook had more than 175 million members, with growth of 5 million members a week in January. If that growth pace continues, Facebook will reach the 200 million mark by the end of March.
If growth falls to half that pace, 200 million members will have signed up by early May.
So what will Mark and company do for the rest of the year?
A December goal of 400 million members would be much more impressive. Or should we expect Facebook’s blistering growth to slow considerably as the year wears on?
Posted by Mark Boslet 
Facebook Takes Extraordinary Step By Giving Users A Voice On Site Policies
February 26, 2009Facebook created an extraordinary Web presence by giving members a place to link to friends, post personal information and see the personal information of others.
We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard, says Mark Zuckerberg
Now it is taking another exceptional step: it is giving users the opportunity to review, comment and potentially vote on policy changes proposed for its terms of service.
The change isn’t pure altruism. Earlier this month, the company changed its terms of service to give it greater freedom with the personal data people post on the site, even after they cancel their memberships. The policy changes unleashed a firestorm of protest from privacy groups.
On Thursday, Facebook said users would have a role in determining future policies.
“I think we really underestimated the sense of ownership Facebook users have in the site,” said founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a conference call. “We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
The company’s plan will offer users the opportunity to review changes before they are enacted and to comment. Based on the number of comments – and how controversial a change becomes – a vote will be held, most likely giving members the chance to pick from a number of options.
“It will help strengthen the community,” said Zuckerberg. “We can’t just put up new terms of service without everyone’s permission.”