At a certain point, this became the march to the inevitable.

Facebook announced on Thursday that it surpassed 1 billion users worldwide.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg broke the news in a status update:

“This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month.

“If you're reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.

“Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life.

“I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.”

To coincide with the milestone, Facebook unveiled this 90-second ad, which was created by was Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, and directed by the Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, according to Advertising Age.

Ad Age said that although the video has the “polish” of a TV ad, Facebook intends to promote it on its own platforms.