Facebook's Dubai office celebrated its 12th birthday on Thursday by announcing that as of December 31 2015 over 120 million people across the region use the site every month.

Notably 83 per cent of regional users visit the site daily and almost 79 per cent do so on mobile devices.

To mark the milestone which Facebook has billed as "Friends Day" the company is inviting members to share Friends Day videos using the hashtag "#friendsday". "Through the last 12 years we have seen people connect in big and small ways using technology" said the Head of Facebook Mena Jonathan Labin. "Today as we reflect on our journey being able to serve our community in so many ways is what we're most proud of."

Ashraf Zeitoon Head of Policy for Facebook Mena said the company has been pleased to see the social network make a positive difference in the lives of refugees.

"This is a tremendous community that is being used for significant things" he said. "One power that was unleashed by the users is the power of Facebook for social good. Facebook is the largest community of social causes."

Among the examples that Zeitoon gave was that of a Syrian refugee named Omar who was allegedly rescued after using Facebook to broadcast his location after being stranded on the treacherous crossing between Turkey and Greece.

"The raft collapsed and they were stranded on a couple of rocks in the middle of the Meditteraean. By sheer coincidence they had a 3G connection" he said. "He went on the network and checked-in and asked his friends to send help."

"Within eight hours the Greek Navy found them using the address used when he checked-in." "That's the power of social media."

Additionally Zeitoon noted that Facebook is often being used by "millions" of refugees from the Middle East Afghanistan and Africa to connect with their families and get information about the voyage.

In another case Abdul Halim Attar a Palestinian refugee who had fled Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria and was selling pens on the streets of Beirut was given thousands in donations after being tracked down by Icelander Gissur Simonarson.

"He connected with an activist who took (Abdul's) photo and started a page and a campaign to raise funds" Zeitoon said. "Within 12 hours they managed to reach the target of the campaign $10000. Within 15 days 735 people from 118 countries raised $188000. That's the power of connectivity."