Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced this Wednesday that the platform now has a half-billion active users, and to mark the event is providing a new service to let every user “tell their own story”. The newly dubbed “Facebook Stories” app will enable users around the globe to share their experiences, in particular (to loosely quote Zuckerberg’s bloggerazzi video statement) the impact of their Facebook connections on their lives. The interactive story-telling app lets users type their story directly into it which can then be seen by users via map-based location navigation, or clicking on mini icons in the list view.

The story count is already growing and growing with UK usage spreading from one user from Dunfermline expressing the joy of being able to connect with friends and family accross the pond via FB, to a heartwarming “amnesia-cured-by-seeing-faces-farse-esque” post from Paignton. The assumed range of diverse content from “that b*’!§ dumped me!” to predictable “in a store near you” pitches, as well as links to various online media was innevitable, including links to YouTube of course, no doubt causing users to stumble upon the host of thank you vids posted by none other than FB cheeky chappy himself. See below for an example:

No doubt after the recent legal spat,  Paul Ceglia wont be surprised to find himself omitted from the thank you list! There are obvious pressures on IT back end services to cater for the ever-increasing usage, mind you, what with the total user numbers around the world still only representing 37% of the total population of China, i’m sure a leaf might be taken out of Google’s book at some point or another. Click here for more info on Facebook Stories.