So Facebook has announced that it has reached the 300 million milestone for number of active users. Whew! That’s a lot of poking going on.  And as several sources have pointed out, the 300 million marker makes Facebook nearly as populous as the United States of America.  Wowzers.

While a reported 70% of Facebook users actually reside outside of the U.S., the imagery is quite poignant.  And Facebook’s additional announcement of having become cash flow positive this quarter means that Facebook is right on track.  The company expectations were for Facebook to become cash flow positive by 2010, and reach 300 million users by the end of the year.

Facebook Can Exhale Now

From the financial perspective, this is great news for Facebook and its investors.  It also means that Facebook is less likely to look for an acquisition deal (nothing new here) and that Facebook is well on its way to becoming a successful independent entity.  How reminiscent of the days of Yahoo and MSN monoliths, acting as portals to nearly every aspect of our online lives.

An important aspect to remember here is that Facebook is moving beyond the online portal into the mobile and physical realms of our lives as well.  That may be where Facebook’s true potential lies, as the company continues to create standards for its platforms and ability to market to the masses.

Because of Facebook’s application platform, its mobile partnerships with other mobile industry innovators and its virtual representations of offline connections, Facebook is truly at the forefront of the social networking realm.  This shows Facebook’s dedication to the provision of a platform that allows for a mixing of physical and virtual worlds for end users.  We see it in Facebook’s own gifting applications, as well as its application platform which is monetized by other developers that utilize gifting and other methods of advertising as well.

What I’m trying to say is that there is a certain trend occurring right now that encourages and enables end users to better combine their online and offline world.  This is in part due to the rise of smart phone applications, the convergence of traditional social networking with smart phones, and a growing acceptance of applications that run in the background of our social networking and mobile applications as they communicate with each other, sharing our location, recommending local venues and tracking a good portion of our consumer behavior.

Facebook: Convergence Agent

The end result is an ability for Facebook to continuously be the meeting ground where this convergence takes place, giving advertisers more integrated ways in which to provide valuable services to end users while pushing their brands as well.  Gifting alone has been a closely watched trend for social networks, especially those that cross the threshold from the virtual to the physical world.  It’s an appealing trend that not only makes our lives easier, but allows us to remain connected in ways we haven’t seen in the past.

This growing necessity for people to combine their virtual and physical worlds puts Facebook in a prime position, luring advertisers and marketers into Facebook’s application and advertising platforms where they can tap into the consumer behavioral data they desire.  It’s an interesting interplay that is being highlighted today with Facebook’s announcement, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a great deal more from the company in the next two quarters.