Facebook is a social networking platform owned by Meta Platforms, Inc. where users connect with friends and family, join communities, and share content. With over 3 billion monthly active users as of 2025, it remains the world’s largest social media network. For brands, Facebook is a critical channel for advertising, community building, and consumer intelligence.

What is Facebook?

Facebook launched in 2004 as a Harvard University social network before opening to the general public in 2006. It quickly became the dominant social platform worldwide, and in 2021 its parent company rebranded to Meta Platforms to reflect a broader focus on the metaverse and connected technologies. For a deeper look at the platform’s evolution, Brandwatch has a detailed history of Facebook from its founding to the present day.

The platform sits at the center of Meta’s ecosystem alongside Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. While newer platforms attract attention, Facebook’s user base continues to grow — Meta reported 3.07 billion monthly active users in Q3 2024, making it the first social network to cross the 3-billion threshold.

Today, Facebook functions as more than a social network. It combines personal profiles, business pages, Groups, Marketplace, video (including Reels and Stories), and a sophisticated advertising platform into a single ecosystem. Its algorithm-driven feed curates content from friends, pages, and recommended sources based on each user’s behavior.

Key features of Facebook

Facebook’s product surface has expanded significantly since its early days of status updates and wall posts. The features that matter most for brands include:

  • News Feed and Reels: The algorithmic feed remains Facebook’s core experience. In recent years, Meta has prioritized short-form video (Reels) and AI-recommended content, shifting the feed from a purely social graph toward a discovery engine.
  • Groups: Facebook Groups are community spaces organized around shared interests. Over 1.8 billion people use Groups monthly, making them one of the platform’s stickiest features — and a valuable source of consumer conversation data.
  • Marketplace: A peer-to-peer and business commerce hub used by over 1 billion people monthly for local buying and selling.
  • Messenger: Facebook’s messaging app, used by over 1 billion people, supports text, voice, video calls, and business messaging including automated chatbots.
  • Business Suite and Ads Manager: Meta’s integrated tools for managing business pages, creating ad campaigns, and tracking performance. See Brandwatch’s guide to Facebook analytics for a deeper dive into measurement.

Why Facebook matters for brands

Despite narratives about Facebook’s decline, the numbers tell a different story. The platform’s advertising reach exceeds 2 billion people, and it remains the highest-ROI paid social channel for many industries. Three factors make it essential for marketing teams.

Audience breadth and demographics. Facebook isn’t just for older users — though its largest age group is 25–34 (roughly 31% of users), it spans every demographic. It’s still ranked #1 among users aged 30–65, and in many markets it remains the primary social platform across all age groups. This broad reach makes it uniquely suited for campaigns that need to hit multiple segments simultaneously.

Advertising precision. Meta’s ad platform offers targeting capabilities that are difficult to match. Custom Audiences, Lookalike Audiences, and detailed interest-based targeting allow brands to reach specific segments with measurable efficiency. For a breakdown of costs, see the guide to Facebook ad costs (CPM, CPC, CPA). Marketers looking to maximize visibility without ad spend can explore strategies for increasing organic reach on Facebook.

Consumer intelligence. Facebook Groups and public page conversations generate massive volumes of consumer opinion data. Brands that monitor these conversations — using tools like Brandwatch’s social media management suite — can track sentiment, identify emerging trends, and understand competitive dynamics in near real time. Detailed Facebook statistics on usage patterns and engagement benchmarks further inform strategy.

Facebook for marketers: key resources

Facebook’s scale and complexity mean there’s always more to learn. Brandwatch maintains a comprehensive library of Facebook marketing guides:

  • Content and reach: Understanding how the Facebook algorithm prioritizes content is fundamental to organic strategy. Pair this with data on engagement rate benchmarks to gauge performance.
  • Analytics and measurement: Facebook’s native Insights tool provides page-level data, while third-party analytics platforms offer cross-channel views.
  • Advertising: From ad cost benchmarks to viral creative strategies, paid Facebook requires both creative and analytical skill.
  • Community and groups: Facebook Groups remain one of the richest sources of unfiltered consumer conversation. Brands that listen before they participate tend to build the strongest community presence.