By now, almost everyone who uses a computer regularly knows about the famous social network Facebook, which has conquered the world. Since it has only really started since 2004, it has seen massive rapid growth, especially in the last couple of years. Let’s see where it all came from.

How it all started

A sophomore at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg, came up with the idea in 2004 for what he then called thefacebook.com. It was created as a way to keep in touch with other Harvard students through the Internet. It was based on a publication through which the students could get to know each other better, called the facebook book.

Site expansion

It soon became so popular that it was also used at other universities such as Stanford, Columbia, and Yale, then quickly opened up to all Ivy Leagues, and later joined by most universities in the US and Canada. In 2005, the company released a version for high school, and finally, in 2006, Facebook opened up to the public: anyone over the age of thirteen with a valid email address could use it.

Over time, Facebook has changed the way it displays news feeds, which can be annoying at times when you’ve just gotten used to a version and it’s already up to date. Over the years, they have also added various features and allowed users to customize their privacy settings more and more. Nowadays you can add photos, videos, notes, send instant messages, private messages, post on people’s walls or even import your blog.

Investments and finances

Already in 2004 they received their first investment of $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel in exchange for 7% of the company. The following year, even though they already had venture capitalists investing large sums, they still had a net loss.

Several companies offered to buy Facebook, which Mark refused, saying he preferred the network to remain independent. This did not stop him from allowing more and more investors to pour money into the company in exchange for a small percentage of ownership.

Finally, in 2009, Facebook became cash flow positive for the first time.

Facebook makes money through advertising, which you can see in the side banners on the right side. These ads are personalized to fit the profile of the person viewing the page. These advertisements also allow them to offer their services for free to users.

The future of social networks

In the end, users will be able to decide which social network and which features they like and use the most, which will inevitably affect the future of Facebook and all other social networks. This means that the history of Facebook does not stop here.

In October 2010, a movie called ‘The Social Network’ was released, which tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s invention.