Social net worth

A billion here, a billion there. Now, you’re talking about real money.

Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s game plan calls for nothing less than global domination.

Zuckerberg said Facebook could be the first social-networking site to hit 1 billion users — up from 500 million now — if it succeeds in conquering a few countries that have yet to fully embrace the site. He also seemed comfortable with reports of revenue projection nearing $1 billion.

Zuckerberg, speaking yesterday to a packed room at the annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France, said there are just four countries–China, Japan, Russia and South Korea — where Facebook isn’t the social-networking leader.

Although the site has “no chance” of hitting the 1 billion mark this year, Zuckerberg said it has a decent shot down the line if all goes as planned. While Facebook has fewer than 1 million users in Russia, the growth rate is doubling every six months, he said.

Zuckerberg opened up about Facebook’s financial performance, global expansion plans and his Twitter obsession in back-to-back interviews and appearances this week.

Unlike his much-criticized performance at the All Things Digital conference earlier this month, when he got so sweaty he took off his trademark hoodie, Zuckerberg seemed relatively at ease before an audience of ad executives.

“I don’t know that there were big insights or epiphanies, but I was taken with how well he handled a host of questions,” said Chris Goodman, executive vice president and managing director at global ad agency Y&R. “He had sharp, crisp answers.”

Marketers are eager to leverage Facebook and other social media to reach consumers as it becomes more difficult to find an audience through traditional advertising.

Advertising appears to be paying off for Facebook. The CEO said recent reports that revenue will reach $1 billion this year are “not so far off,” according to an interview he gave to InsideFacebook, a blog devoted to the site.

As a privately held company, Facebook has remained mostly tight-lipped about its financial performance. An exception was last year when Facebook said it was “cash-flow positive,” which means it generates enough cash to cover its costs.

“Now what I would say is that the estimates are not so far off in either direction that it’s causing us any pain, so we feel no need to correct it,” Zuckerberg told the blog.

Various reports for this year’s revenue range from $500 million to $800 million. InsideFacebook estimates the site’s revenue in 2010 will be between $1 billion and $1.1 billion.

Zuckerberg admits that there was a time when he was worried that rapidly rising Twitter might overtake Facebook before he realized that its growth rate was “kind of unnatural.”

“Most of the lessons I take away from the whole thing now are that, as good as I think they are, I think I personally just paid too much attention to it,” he said in the interview. hsanders@nypost.com