Whether you love it or hate it, Facebook is inescapable. The social media giant’s impact is evident everywhere online, from its increasing popularity in China (where it’s banned) to the fact that roughly 30% of American adults get their news from Facebook.

As expected from the world’s most popular social network, Facebook has a captivating history – filled with surprising trivia. Here are 21 incredible facts about Facebook showcasing its remarkable nature and hinting at what Zuckerberg and his Menlo Park team might have in store. 1. The first “face” on Facebook was Al Pacino. An early version of the site featured a header image of a man’s face hidden behind binary code. While not immediately obvious, it was later revealed to be the face of renowned actor Al Pacino. (source) 2. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel was Facebook’s first significant investor. A visionary in the startup and venture capital realms, Thiel recognized the site’s potential, investing $500,000 in 2004. He later sold his shares for over $1 billion. (source) 3. Sean Parker, co-founder of the now-defunct music platform Napster, initially bought the facebook.com domain for $200,000. Instrumental in the site’s renaming, Parker held considerable sway during its explosive growth. (source)

4. Facebook once had a peer-to-peer file-sharing feature called Wirehog. Mark Zuckerberg introduced this when Thefacebook.com hit roughly 500,000 users, believing it would become integral to the platform. However, Wirehog was discontinued in 2006 due to copyright infringement concerns. (source) 5. Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind. This explains Facebook’s predominantly blue color scheme – a fortunate coincidence, as blue also represents trust and security, crucial for users sharing personal data. (source)

6. Facebook’s ‘Like’ button was almost the ‘Awesome’ button. Facebook engineer Andrew Bosworth revealed that he and other engineers loved the “Awesome” button, but Zuckerberg ultimately rejected it in 2007. The site settled on the “Like” button, a decision met with a rather indifferent response, according to Bosworth. (source)

7. Facebook’s servers hold around 300 PETABYTES of user data. To put that in perspective, one petabyte equals one million gigabytes. All the written works of humanity, in every known language (including Latin and other historical languages) from the beginning of recorded history, would occupy only approximately 50 petabytes. Let that sink in. (source) 8. In 2014, Facebook’s estimated global economic influence was roughly $227 billion. However, this figure (and its methodology) has been questioned by several leading economists. Regardless of whether you agree with Facebook’s data, its substantial impact on global economies is undeniable. (source) 9. Facebook gains eight new users every second, which translates to 7,246 people joining every 15 minutes. While some predict Facebook’s downfall, these statistics demonstrate its continued growth, with a user base dwarfing all other social networks. (source) 10. In 2015, Facebook controlled 22% of global mobile Internet advertising revenue. This means nearly a quarter of all revenue from mobile internet ads in a single year went to Facebook. (source)

11. Adult Facebook users in the U.S. spend 68% of their mobile device time on apps. Despite this, only about 8,400 app advertisers were on Facebook in 2013 – yet they generated over 145 million app installations that year. (source) 12. Over 2 million advertisers are currently active on Facebook. The platform’s popularity, reach, and cost-effectiveness have made it a global leader in online advertising, and its growth shows no signs of slowing down. (source) 13. Compared to interest- or category-based targeting, Facebook ads targeting custom audiences boast a 14% lower cost-per-click and a 64% lower cost-per-conversion, on average. Moreover, custom audience targeting resulted in 387% higher conversion rates compared to ads solely using demographic targeting. (source) 14. Sponsored Page Action Stories are the most affordable Facebook ad format with an average cost-per-click of $0.11. Conversely, Sponsored App Action Stories have the highest average CPC at $0.58. (source)

15. With an average click-through rate of 3.2%, Sponsored Place Check-In Stories are the most effective Facebook ad format. The Inline Like format has the lowest CTR at 0.03%. (Ibid.) 16. Facebook generates an average revenue of $5.85 per user in the United States and Canada. These nations also boast some of the highest monthly active users globally, making North America a crucial market for Facebook. (source) 17. Every minute of downtime costs Facebook approximately $24,420. The infamous 19-minute outage in August 2014 cost the company nearly $427,000 – proving you’re not alone in your frustration when Facebook crashes. (source) 18. Facebook posts published between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST garner about 88% more engagement than posts at other times. Additionally, ending posts with questions boosts interactions by an average of 162%. (source) 19. In September 2014, Facebook users collectively watched 1 billion videos daily. Today, that number exceeds 4 billion – with 75% of these views on mobile devices. (source) 20. Videos reign supreme as the most shared content on Facebook. Averaging 89.5 shares each, videos far surpass photos and text posts in share counts. (source)

Image via SocialMouths 21. Limiting Facebook posts to once or twice daily results in 40% higher engagement than posting three or more times. This highlights that despite marketers’ efforts to combat Facebook’s declining organic reach, quantity doesn’t guarantee visibility. (source) Do you have any interesting Facebook facts? Share them in the comments!