It is probably obvious by now that social media is more than a short-term fad, and no company has proven that fact better than Facebook, which boasts a daily user base of more than 1.09 billion people on its core platform alone. When you add in its other services like Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook seems to be the undisputed king of social networking.

During Facebook’s recent annual stockholder meeting, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the company’s near and long-term strategies.

“As you guys know, our mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” Zuckerberg told investors. “And what that means is building products that give every person in the world a voice and the ability to share everything that they care about with the people they care about.”

Zuckerberg explained that Facebook bases its strategies on the trends it anticipates over three different time periods: the next three years, the next five years, and the next 10 years.

For Facebook’s near-term plan, Zuckerberg said that the primary goal is improving the core Facebook experience, particularly through the platform’s mobile app, which he said already boasts over 1 billion users.

Over the next five years, Facebook also plans on growing and improving its secondary products, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg also noted that video will be “a huge opportunity,” as will search.

“We need to really focus on helping to make sure everyone is on the internet”

Regarding Facebook’s 10 year plan, Zuckerberg said that getting more people around the world online is a high priority, something that his Internet.org organization has already been working toward in many developing nations.

“If we’re really serious about connecting everyone in the world, not just people who are on the internet today, then we need to really focus on helping to make sure everyone is on the internet, and today there are less than people around the world on the internet,” Zuckerberg said.

“We think that if this is something we invest in as a company, it will not only be very good for the world and for all these folks who will get access to all of the opportunities of the internet, but over the long term will be valuable for our business as well because we will also be able to address and build a larger community.”

Zuckerberg also noted Facebook’s investments in artificial intelligence research and new computing platforms are two other major keystones in the company’s long-term goals.

You can listen to the full audio from Facebook’s recent earnings call here.

Photo by Robert Scoble