The world’s most popular social networking site, Facebook celebrates its tenth years of connecting the world population. Facebook was founded at the Kirkland House dorm room of Harvard University on February 4, 2004.
Mark Zuckerberg, the world’s youngest billionaire founded Facebook as an internal directory for Harvard undergraduates, running on a single server at a cost of $85 per month.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Since the inception of Facebook, a lot has changed for the start-up company founded by a brilliant kid which attracted more than one billion users in the last few years after it started as n internal social network for Harvard students.
Right now the Facebook experience revolves around status updates, news feeds, photos and connections as the site exploded from offering a few basic function into becoming one of the world’s population necessities for the past few years.
Facebook is not the first site that was experimented by Mark Zuckerberg, he was known for creating the website “Facemash.com” which was used by his fellow Harvard students to judge whither they are hot or not through their photos. Mark shut down the site after receiving numerous complains and outrage.
Mark Zuckerberg creation did not stop there, instead he ventured into something big that could conquer not only Harvard but the entire USA and eventually the world as a whole. Mark also worked with the Winklevoss twins and Divya K. Narendra who saw the opportunity of a social network within Harvard, their friendship ended in a lawsuit.
The rest is history, Facebook now spreads like wildfires in various parts of the world and often instrumental in the latest social media revolution particularly the Arab Springs.
Meanwhile in celebration for Facebook’s Ten Years Online, Mark Zuckerberg posted the following message on his official Facebook Page:
Today is Facebook’s 10th anniversary.
It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s rare to be able to touch so many people’s lives, and I try to remind myself to make the most of every day and have the biggest impact I can.
People often ask if I always knew that Facebook would become what it is today. No way.
I remember getting pizza with my friends one night in college shortly after opening Facebook. I told them I was excited to help connect our school community, but one day someone needed to connect the whole world.
I always thought this was important — giving people the power to share and stay connected, empowering people to build their own communities themselves.
When I reflect on the last 10 years, one question I ask myself is: why were we the ones to build this? We were just students. We had way fewer resources than big companies. If they had focused on this problem, they could have done it.
The only answer I can think of is: we just cared more.
While some doubted that connecting the world was actually important, we were building. While others doubted that this would be sustainable, you were forming lasting connections.
We just cared more about connecting the world than anyone else. And we still do today.
That’s why I’m even more excited about the next ten years than the last. The first ten years were about bootstrapping this network. Now we have the resources to help people across the world solve even bigger and more important problems.
Today, only one-third of the world’s population has access to the internet. In the next decade, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to connect the other two-thirds.
Today, social networks are mostly about sharing moments. In the next decade, they’ll also help you answer questions and solve complex problems.
Today, we have only a few ways to share our experiences. In the next decade, technology will enable us to create many more ways to capture and communicate new kinds of experiences.
It’s been amazing to see how all of you have used our tools to build a real community. You’ve shared the happy moments and the painful ones. You’ve started new families, and kept spread out families connected. You’ve created new services and built small businesses. You’ve helped each other in so many ways.
I’m so grateful to be able to help build these tools for you. I feel a deep responsibility to make the most of my time here and serve you the best I can.
Thank you for letting me be a part of this journey.