With job growth ticking up in 2011, some credit should go to Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook employs about 2,000 workers and has grown headcount by about 50% a year since it was founded in 2004, a spokesperson says.

The real action, however, is in the underlying Facebook economy, which is larger and more diverse than the company itself. App developers, data analysts, marketers, PR people and self-styled social media mavens now have jobs because of the overwhelming success and popularity of Facebook. More are being employed every day. Facebook app developers alone number over a million, according to sources close to the company. None work directly for Zuckerberg.

"There are thousands of people employed in the application development industry alone," said Justin Smith, founder of Inside Network, a market research firm covering the social gaming, Facebook apps and virtual goods industries.