The Early Years
Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984 in White Plains, New York to Edward and Karen Zuckerberg. He showed an early interest in computers and programming, creating a messenger program called “ZuckNet” to connect with his dentist father’s office when he was just 12 years old.
Zuckerberg later attended Phillips Exeter Academy, where he excelled in classics and fencing. In his junior year, he and some friends created an early version of an MP3 player called the Synapse Media Player. Multiple companies, including Microsoft and AOL, expressed interest in buying Synapse and hiring Zuckerberg, but he chose to enroll at Harvard University instead.
Early days at Harvard
As a sophomore at Harvard in 2003, Zuckerberg created a program called CourseMatch which allowed users to see who was in each of their classes. He also created Facemash, which compared photos of Harvard students to determine who was more attractive.
While creating Facemash, Zuckerberg hacked into several of Harvard’s protected areas and copied students’ photos. He later apologized, calling it a “prank.” This earned him a reputation around campus as a programming prodigy.
The Creation of Facebook
After Facemash, Zuckerberg began developing a new social networking site with a few friends. They first considered calling it TheFacebook before settling on just Facebook. The site differed from others like Friendster and MySpace in that it was limited to college students and allowed users to clearly see relationships between friends.
The initial launch
Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room on February 4, 2004. He had already made a website for this social network, as well as a company.
The initial Facebook site was quite simple. It allowed users to create a profile, add friends, and post comments. The most popular feature was the relationship status, allowing users to define if they were single or in a relationship.
Within a month, over half of Harvard’s undergraduate population had registered on Facebook. Zuckerberg soon opened the site to other Boston universities, and it quickly expanded to most universities in Canada and the United States.
Dropping out of Harvard
With Facebook rapidly growing, Zuckerberg decided to take a leave of absence from Harvard and moved the company’s base to Palo Alto, California. By the end of 2004, Facebook had 1 million users.
In 2005, Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard entirely to focus on Facebook, which was facing competition from sites like MySpace. He later said, “You can always go back to school. You can never go back and create Facebook again.”
Expanding Facebook
Over the next few years, Zuckerberg rapidly expanded Facebook past just college students. Here are some key milestones:
| Date | User Milestone |
|---|---|
| September 2005 | Opened to all high school students |
| May 2006 | Opened to anyone over 13 with a valid email |
| August 2006 | Hit 10 million users |
| April 2007 | Launched developer platform and introduced Fan Pages for businesses |
Expanding past just students was controversial initially, but quickly led to massive growth. By late 2007, Facebook had 50 million users.
International growth
After achieving dominance in the US and Canada, Zuckerberg focused on international growth. Facebook launched a Spanish version in February 2008, followed by French, German and other languages.
By the end of 2008, Facebook was available in 20 languages and had 100 million monthly active users worldwide. It launched the translations app in August 2008, allowing users to instantly translate posts and profiles.
Facebook Funding and Revenue
During its early years, Facebook focused on growth over generating revenue. But eventually the company needed to start making money.
Early funding
Zuckerberg first got funding for Facebook in summer 2004 from co-founder Eduardo Saverin and entrepreneur Peter Thiel. They invested $500,000 as angel investors.
In April 2005, Zuckerberg secured $12.7 million in funding from Accel Partners in exchange for a 12-15% stake in the company. This valued Facebook at around $98 million.
Microsoft investment
In October 2007, Microsoft announced it would purchase a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million. This put Facebook’s total value at around $15 billion.
Microsoft also agreed to sell international online advertising for Facebook. This was a key partnership to help Facebook generate revenue.
Revenue sources
Here are some of the key ways Facebook started making money from its large user base:
| Revenue Source | Details |
|---|---|
| Advertising | Facebook ads based on user data and interests |
| Facebook Marketplace | Allows users to sell items to each other |
| Facebook Payments | Takes a cut of purchases made through apps |
| Sponsored content | Companies pay for promoted posts |
Revenue rose steadily, reaching over $1 billion annually by 2012. Facebook went public in May 2012 at a valuation of over $100 billion.
Acquiring Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus
As Facebook grew, Zuckerberg led the company to make several high-profile acquisitions:
- Bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012
- Bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014
- Bought Oculus VR for $2 billion in 2014
These deals gave Facebook dominance in photo sharing, messaging, and VR technology. WhatsApp in particular gave Facebook a big presence in international markets.
Expanding to new platforms
Under Zuckerberg, Facebook also pushed to expand to new platforms and devices. This included:
- Launching Facebook Mobile in 2007
- Creating Facebook for iPad in 2010
- Launching Facebook Messenger as standalone app in 2011
- Acquiring tbh in 2017 to expand to teens
Expanding to mobile was pivotal to Facebook’s continued growth in the late 2000s.
Recent Privacy Controversies
In recent years, Facebook has faced intense criticism over its privacy practices and spreading of misinformation. Some key controversies include:
Cambridge Analytica scandal
In 2018, it was revealed that data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained data on 87 million Facebook users. This raised concerns about how Facebook allowed third parties to access user data.
Data and privacy concerns
Facebook has faced growing criticism for how it handles user data. Concerns increased after it was revealed in 2018 that at least 60 device manufacturers like Apple and Samsung had access to large amounts of user data.
Spread of misinformation
Critics have argued Facebook and other social media algorithms can help spread political misinformation and propaganda. There are ongoing concerns about Facebook’s role in elections and politics.
Conclusion
Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook as a college student in 2004. He built it into the world’s largest social media platform through rapid innovation and aggressive expansion to new markets and platforms.
However, the last few years have brought intense scrutiny around Facebook’s privacy practices and content policies. Zuckerberg and other executives face the ongoing challenge of reforming aspects of Facebook while maintaining the principles and vision Zuckerberg first laid out back in his Harvard dorm room.