In 2008, before Google Chrome was released, 68.5% of people browsing the web were using Internet Explorer. Now, only 35% of internet users use Internet Explorer, while 31% use Google Chrome. This means that in less than 3 months, Google Chrome will become the world's most popular browser. Which is why Facebook desperately needs to make their own browser.
Now, I know you're thinking I'm crazy. After all, Facebook is a social networking company. Why on Earth would they need a web browser? See, Google isn't launching Search, Android, Chrome, Calendar, and its myriad of other products all as stand-alones that each generate a bit of revenue. Google is making these products to help one another. For example, Search is helping Google+ with "Search+ Your World", a new feature in Google Search that lets pictures and posts from your friends in Google+ appear on search results.
Now that Chrome is becoming so popular, they can easily use this to their advantage. Google could turn their browser into a Google+ version of Rockmelt (a social browser) that puts Google+ notifications, updates, hangouts, and friend requests right before your eyes faster than you can type "facebook.com" While Google+ has only 170 million users to Facebook's 1 billion, allowing Google to do this to the world's most popular browser could easily change that number.
So what can Facebook do about this? Since they don't have any control over what Microsoft, Mozilla, and most importantly, Google do with their browsers, they're left with one option; make their own browser. Now, tech companies are known to have very good foresight, so it's possible that a Facebook browser is already in the works. But it's also possible that Mark Zuckerberg is reading this post, saying to himself, "Shoot. This guy's right."
