With over 2.3 billion active users, Facebook has grown to become the biggest connective platform in history, and an essential part of many people's on and offline lives. 

The influence of Facebook is inarguable - in fact, Facebook is so big that it's believed by some to have influenced the election of many world leaders through targeted ads and intricate campaigning. Whether you believe that or not will come down to your perspective, but no matter how you look at it, Facebook is a critical media platform, and one of the most significant tools of our time. 

Really, the platform's usage stats are mind-blowing, and for businesses looking to make the most of The Social Network, it's worth keeping tabs on the different behavioral shifts in order to keep your process up to date.

To help with this, the team from 99Firms have put together this collection of Facebook usage stats. 

There's a heap to consider here - hopefully these data points will help you better plan your Facebook strategy.  

A version of this post was first published on the Digital Information World blog.