Column: 'Facebook for Every Phone' a huge success

Followers of Facebook are used to big numbers, but here’s a good one: The company has gained 100 million monthly users in just two years by putting some effort into a stripped-down interface designed to introduce the social network to mobile Internet newbies in the emerging world.

Those users will give a nice boost to the usage numbers on Wednesday, when Facebook announces its quarterly earnings.

In its last earnings report in March the company said that its overall mobile audience had reached 751 million worldwide, up more than 50% from a year earlier.

"Facebook for Every Phone" has gotten little attention here in the U.S. It’s safe to say that no one you know has ever seen it. It is designed for first users of any of 3,000 or so brands and variations of low-end feature phones that are sold throughout the emerging world for as little as $20.