Facebook is expected to hit half a billion users this week, cementing its place as the world’s most popular social networking site.

Love it or hate it, there is no denying the rapid – and often turbulent – rise of the social media monster and its impact on popular culture, marketing and communication. In celebrating the milestone, the social networking site will launch Facebook Stories, a collection of short stories written by users, on the ways in which their lives have been affected by the site.

Riddled with controversy in the form of privacy issues, The Social Network movie, the company’s refusal to disclose information to legal authorities and their slow response to child protection, Facebook has been smashed with a heavy onslaught of bad media publicity in the past six months or so. But perhaps even more complex than the social implications of the site is the man behind it all, Mark “I’m CEO…bitch” Zuckerberg, who is currently in damage control mode as he prepares for his most important public appearance to date: a head-to-head this Thursday with Diane Sawyer, one of the stalwarts of US journalism.

Though he and his posse should rightfully be proud of some of their achievements, it is inevitable Sawyer will put the 26-year-old – who is notorious for “melting” in the media spotlight – under immense pressure to answer some very tough questions relating to Facebook’s deeper problems. As a good opportunity to rectify the site’s “battered image” and perhaps even his own public profile, his responses will no doubt be overflowing with rhetoric and marketing/PR speak and be both extremely fascinating and highly flawed. Stay tuned…

Image Copyright Charis Tsevis/Wired Magazine