You may use Facebook daily. Perhaps for many hours. But have you ever wondered what is the history of facebook? Yes, we know that it was born as a student network, that it was to maintain contacts... but what lies beyond it?
This time we have done a bit of research to find out how the social network that is now part of the “Meta” empire came about. Do you want to know it too?
How and why was Facebook born?
Do you know the exact date Facebook was born? Well, it's February 4, 2004.. That day, it was a before and after, because that is when he was born «The Facebook«.
The goal of this network was Harvard students could share information privately just between them.
Its creator is known worldwide, Mark Zuckerberg, although at that time they did not know him more than his roommates and some students at Harvard, where he studied. However, he did not create Facebook alone. He did it with other students and roommates: Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum o Chris Hughes. It is to all of them that we owe the social network.
Of course, at the beginning the social network it was only for people with a harvard email. If you didn't have it, you couldn't get in.
And how was the network at that time? similar to now. You had a profile where you could connect with other people, put personal information, share your interests...
In fact, in one month, 50% of all Harvard students were registered and began to be a point of interest for other universities, such as Columbia, Yale or Stanford.
Such was the boom that it created that By the end of the year, practically all universities in the US and Canada had signed up. in the network and already had almost a million users.
What they created before The Facebook
Something that very few know is that, The Facebook it was not the first creation of Mark Zuckerberg and his friends, but the second. A year earlier, in 2013, created Facemash, a website where, to amuse his peers, decided that it was a good idea to judge a person by their physique, and thus establish a ranking to know who was more handsome (or more hot). Obviously, two days later, they closed it because they used photos without permission. And that in those two days they reached 22.000 views.
The move to Silicon Valley
With your social network up and running, and rising like foam, Mark decided it was time to invest in a house in Palo Alto., Calif. There he established his operations center for the first time to be able to manage and support all the weight that the social network had.
At the same time, partnered with Sean Parker who was the founder of Napster and that allowed him to obtain an investment of 500.000 dollars (about 450.000 euros) through Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal.
2005, the key year in the history of Facebook
We can say that 2005 was a fantastic year for Facebook. First, because he changed his name. It was no longer "The Facebook" but simply "Facebook".
But maybe the most important thing is the opening of the social network to users and students of high school and universities in other countries like New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland…
That meant that at the end of that year, it doubled its users. If at the end of 2004 it had close to a million monthly users, end of 2005 had about 6 million.
A new design for 2006
This year started with a new facelift of the social network. And it is that at first its design was very reminiscent of MySpace and in that year they decided to bet on a renewal.
First, they opted for the profile picture to gain prominence. After, added the NewsFeed, that is, the general wall in which people could see what the contacts had shared through that wall, without having to enter each of the user profiles.
And there is even more, because almost at the end of 2006 Facebook went global. In other words, anyone over the age of 13 with an email account (they no longer needed to be from Harvard) could register and use the network. Yes, in English.
2007, the prelude to being the most visited social network
In 2007, Facebook expanded its options including Facebook Marketplace (for sale) or Facebook Application Developer (to create apps and games on the network).
This heand allowed a year later to be the most visited social network, above MySpace.
In addition, the politicians themselves began to notice her, to the point of creating profiles, pages and groups on the platform. Of course, focused on the United States.
The most popular platform in the world in 2009
If we take into account that the history of Facebook began in 2004, and that, five years later, it became the most popular platform in the world, we cannot say that it is a bad trajectory.
That same year he took out the “like” button Although no one remembers it.
Going up as the network was, it was logical that a year later they valued it at 37.000 million euros.
Facebook history unites with Instagram, WhatsApp and Giphy
Since 2010 Facebook begins a path to try to be the most visited and used social network, and has been able to make app purchases that could “harm” him. By including them within his company, this gave him more value. And that's what happened to purchases from Instagram, WhatsApp and Giphy.
Of course, there were not so good things, like the dreaded leaks and other situations in which its creator has been tainted, even going to court.
The move from Facebook to Meta
Finally, one of the milestones in the history of Facebook is your name change. What really changes is the company, called in the same way as the social network. However, having also Instagram, WhatsApp and Giphy needs a different name that would encompass everything. The result? Meta.
Obviously, not only does it stay there, but Mark Zuckerberg has paved the way for the «metaverse«. No one knows what the history of Facebook will bring us, but it will surely have an important change again if it wants to continue being one of the most used.