Back in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard. He was a computer whizz and created FaceMash – an app that compared and rated photos of fellow students – which also saw him get into trouble. On 4 February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and three friends launched Facebook.com. This website was originally restricted to Harvard students.
Zuckerberg expanded membership to other colleges across North America, and then he left Harvard to move to California’s Silicon Valley. The company received its first significant external investment of $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. In 2005, it officially became Facebook and was opened to anyone in 2006.
Facebook became a venue for connecting with just about anyone, anywhere and by 2023 reported being used by more than 3 billion people monthly, according to an eNCA report.
Facebook changed its parent company’s name to “Meta” in 2021. Meta also owns Instagram (bought in 2012) and acquired WhatsApp in 2014. Meta is the Greek word for “beyond” and also means the metaverse – the virtual world which Zuckerberg sees as representing the next major computing platform.
“Data shows that young people are still some of the heaviest users of Facebook around the world – especially in developing economies.” Young people aged between 18 and 34, make up more than half of the total Facebook users. India has the most Facebook users in the world, according to Datareportal.
The use of this app has not been without controversies, though. There have been issues related to the privacy of its users’ details and how it may prove to be a negative or harmful influence, especially on the mental health of teenagers. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has even had to appear in front of the US Congress. This week, he apologised before a Senate hearing to the parents of children who have suffered harm from Facebook content.
About 37% of the world’s population are Facebook users. It is still the largest social media site globally. There are more than 200 million businesses and 7 million advertisers that use the platform. And it does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon!
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