BRIEF HISTORY OF FACEBOOK
In February 2004, 23-year-old Mark Zuckerberg launched “The facebook” which he founded while studying psychology at Harvard University. Within 24 hours of “The Facebook” launching, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and after one month, over half of the undergraduate population had a profile. Shortly after it was introduced to the Harvard students, “The Facebook” was extended to other universities in the Boston area, the Ivy League and eventually all US universities.
Zuckerberg had already developed a number of different social-networking websites for fellow students, including Coursematch, which allowed users to view people taking their degree, and Facemash, where you could rate people’s attractiveness.
In August 2005, “The Facebook” became Facebook.com after the address was purchased for $200,000. This allowed US high schools to sign up starting in September 2005, then it began to spread worldwide, reaching UK universities the following month. As of September 2006, the network was extended beyond educational institutions to anyone with a registered email address. The site remains free to join, and makes a profit through advertising revenue.
Yahoo and Google are among a few companies which have expressed interest in a buy-out, with figures of around $2 billion being discussed. Mark Zuckerberg has so far refused to sell.This month the company announced that the number of registered users had reached 30 million, making it the largest social-networking site with an education focus.
FACEBOOK STATISTICS
- Worldwide, there are over 1.55 billion monthly active Facebook users (MAUs) which is a 14 percent increase year over year. (Source: Facebook as of 9/30/15)
- 4.5 billion likes generated daily as of May 2013 which is a 67 percent increase from August 2012.
- 1.01 billion people log onto Facebook daily (DAU) for September 2015, which represents a 17% increase year over year (Source: Facebook as 9/30/15)
- There are 1.39 billion mobile active users (MAU)
- On average, the Like and Share Buttons are viewed across almost 10 million websites daily.
*CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE STATISTICS BY CLICKING HERE!!*
Discussion: In your opinion, why is Facebook still the leading social media to this day? With the statistics steadily rising, where do you think Facebook is heading? Do you believe that there may be a fee to be a member of the social site as it continues to grow? What is your thought as to how vast it has grown just from 2004?
OBU Social Media 
Neat summary, Nia! I like how you concisely handled Facebook’s history and its growth!
In your opinion, why is Facebook still the leading social media to this day?
-Facebook is still leading because the people who sign up tend to stick around and not jump around social networks. This does ring more truer for older generations than, say, Millenials, but the principle is that Facebook is the multi-tool for everyone’s social networking needs: video, photos, updates, news, and now games.
With the statistics steadily rising, where do you think Facebook is heading?
-Facebook is still growing well, but I think we’ll see it stagnate at some point. Soon, there won’t be that much of a user base and more younger people will continue to use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other newer social networks.
Do you believe that there may be a fee to be a member of the social site as it continues to grow? A fee for basic membership, no. But we may see more features that Facebook will want you to pay for. We may see premium games on Facebook that require a subscription fee, but not for basic access and usage of Facebook as a whole. Think YouTube and YouTube Red.
What is your thought as to how vast it has grown just from 2004?
Facebook’s growth has been phenomenal. In 12 years, Zuckerberg has created a network that almost everyone in the world has access to and has used it as a platform that touts its main goal as connecting friends and family to each other regardless of distance. It’s expanded its ventures too, with the acquiring of Oculus for virtual reality software development, amongst others. In short, Facebook has come a long way since its humble roots in 2004. Now we have to see if it’ll keep up its momentum or flatline like MySpace.
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Matthew, thank you for the feedback! I agree with you, I do think Facebook is going to become stagnant, but when? We have the younger generation coming up who’s parents are probably going to let them use Facebook before they go to Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc. because Facebook is kind of the go to social media that everyone uses and the parents can easily monitor. It will be interesting what Zuckerberg does to keep Facebook afloat because with it being around so long, he’s not going to let it go down without a fight. For instance, we are now able to call through Facebook. This to me is monumental because of people being overseas, etc. although, it can be quite annoying as well. I’m just looking forward to the future of Facebook because I don’t think it’s going to just go down like MySpace did.
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I don’t really want Facebook to go away, but mostly I only use it to add pictures! I love being able to share my life on social media with pictures but I don’t feel its acceptable to post multiple instagrams a day so I use Facebook for the album aspect!
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In your opinion, why is Facebook still the leading social media to this day? I think Facebook has had much success, and still does, because of all the features it has been able to combine into one site. When you think about it, a lot of the social media sites to gain popularity since Facebook have sought to reach a niche through specializing in one key feature (Instagram-photosharing, twitter- brief status updates, youtube-Video Sharing). But Facebook seems to wrap up all these cool features and bring it into one cohesive network. It has its ups and downs but it does seem to be the one place to share all forms of media (video, music, status updates, instant messaging, photo album uploads, or even singular photo uploads).
With the statistics steadily rising, where do you think Facebook is heading? Like I said, I think because of all the features involved, Facebook probably won’t be going away anytime soon. One interesting area of change we’ve seen in Facebook recently though how the newsfeed works. Used to it was chronological, and most everyone got an equal chance of being seen. Looking at the analytics side of things, its easy for a post to get lost if it isn’t being posted at just the right time or even being boosted by paying Facebook to make it appear more frequently on other’s newsfeed. While working for a small business helping out with occasional social media posts, I definitely saw a difference in how a lot of customers just weren’t seeing our posts from Facebook unless they went directly to our page vs. Instagram where they would almost always see them. I think it will be interesting to see how things evolve in the years to come with these changes in features and the use of advertising through Facebook.
Do you believe that there may be a fee to be a member of the social site as it continues to grow? I doubt that we will end up having to pay a monthly fee as members. I think because of the size and growth Facebook has seen and continues to see, they are becoming a higher desired market to advertise on. And I’m sure you can tell when you scroll through your newsfeed (every time you see one of those sponsored posts) that advertisers are definitely taking advantage of this. As long as Facebook is making its money through advertising, I don’t think we will need to worry about monthly fees.
What is your thought as to how vast it has grown just from 2004? I just think it is very interesting to think back to my first year on Facebook and the little things that have changed. Like how we used to be able to put bumperstickers on our profiles, and silly stuff like that. It’s interesting to me the way people use and what they want out of Facebook has evolved in some ways and that the site itself has evolved to meet those needs.
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I totally agree with you Lauren when mentioning posting things at the perfect time to get the response that you are really wanting to receive. As a society though, I think we’ve adapted to and when our viewers are most likely online, scrolling through posts. For my viewers/friends, most of them are more likely to be active on Facebook around midnight-2am or during the evening times. It all depends on your audiences and I think it is very important for businesses to understand that and market their product/business at the perfect timing!
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I love how you use your previous experience from working at a company helping them with their social media. I agree with you on the change from Facebook. I remember when the cool thing was to make notes and tag your friends in them. The Facebook we were introduced to is very different from the Facebook that we use now. If Facebook has changed so much since we joined back in junior high I wonder how much more it will change in the next few years.
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Lauren, I loved how you talked about Facebook evolving in ways to meet the needs of those who use it. I had never thought about it like that, but I completely agree. I think it is definitely a good strategy for Facebook to use as it continues to grow.
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Good review, Nia! Facebook is a huge site to cover, and the historical review was helpful. How much do you use Facebook? Why do you think it is such a popular site?
I think Facebook is the leading social media because it offers so many platforms to its users. It offers chat, pictures, updates, and entertainment. It’s no wonder people can stay on Facebook for hours on end because there is so much to see and to discover. I think Facebook is headed for continued growth, with more and more users continually signing up. It dipped off in popularity (it seemed to me) for a bit, but with updates and new uses, it seems to be rising up once again for a popular site in the social media realm.
Personally, I do not think that they will ever begin to charge for the services. It seems a little pointless to me, because of the economic success it has made in the last decade or so being totally free to users. I think a monthly payment would make participation and membership to the site plummet drastically, as there are other forms of social media that are waiting to take the cake if Facebook drops out. I think they have done well with their growth, and consistently been evolving with the social media generation. With connections to Instagram and Twitter, Facebook allows other forms of media to be incorporated into its very newsfeed.
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Haley, I use Facebook quite a lot now days. I’m like you; I felt as if Facebook’s popularity had dropped drastically for awhile because I was hardly using it. It seemed as if everyone started using it again all of sudden for some strange reason. Because I don’t recall them pushing the issue or marketing for the changes that were going to take place within Facebook.
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I agree 100% about the fees. The rate already seems to be declining from when we were younger, adding a fee would only make there be less users!
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I loved your post Nia!
I think Facebook is still the leading social media because it offers everything people are looking for. Facebook gives you the ability to upload pictures, update your status, and see what other people are posting on their accounts. Other competing social media accounts only give you a few of those options. Twitter limits your word count on tweets. Instagram only lets you post one picture at a time. However, Facebook does not give you limit on how many letters or words you can post and they give you the opportunity to share photos on albums.
I don’t think Facebook is going anywhere anytime soon. Many people are now joining Facebook to keep in touch with loved ones. My grandmother has joined Facebook so she can keep up with what is going on in my cousins life as well as mine. I don’t think they’ll put a fee on becoming a member of Facebook. The site is designed to keep in touch so I doubt they would put a price on that. They have already had so much success without there being a cost so it seems pointless to have there be one now.
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I agree with you Julianna, I don’t think Facebook is going anywhere anytime soon. I just wonder if it will continue to be the leading social network. I think as Facebook evolves even more, it will continue to grow demographically because you do see more older people joining so that they can keep in contact with close and distant family members. I think it is amazing though how much Facebook has already grown since our first experiences/encounters with how it worked.
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I agree with you that Facebook is so popular because it doesn’t have a limit on what users can post! I think that this can also make Facebook a bit of a nuisance, though, as some people use it as a space to rant about whatever they want for as long as they want because there is no limit on how much they can say.
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I agree with you Katie about it possibly becoming a nuisance. I’ve just gotten to the point of unfollowing that person (not un-friending them); it seems to help a lot!
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I think that facebook is still the leading social media because it gives lots of variety in what it offers. There are pictures, videos, statuses, as well as connecting with people from all over the world. I think it is also something that appeals to a variety of ages which makes it a social networking site that contains a lot of users.
I think that Facebook is only going to continue to be the leading form of social media with how it is steadily rising.
I don’t think that Facebook will require a membership fee, but I do think that there may be more advertising on Facebook that prompts users to spend money.
Facebook has grown an incredible amount since 2004, and with the way things are looking I would think that it will only continue to grow. I see Facebook adding more features as time goes on that attracts even more people and causes them to sign up for an account.
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Emily, when you mentioned that there may be more advertising on Facebook; do you think that it is going to be so much that it will become overwhelming for the people who are not interested in what is being advertised?
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Thats a really interesting question, Nia. I wonder if advertising got to such an annoying point where Facebook was losing members if they would begin to offer an advertising-free version at cost to members?
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Lauren, that’s what I am thinking. That’s why I questioned whether or not Facebook would have a fee at any point. That could be a great thing for people who don’t want the obnoxious advertisements on their timeline.
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I also think Facebook will continue to the biggest social media! I think it’s because it was here first and has lasted the longest.
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Facebook seems to be the leading social site because it offers everything in one. There are features to add pictures, write on peoples walls, have a private chat, update statuses, play games, and much more. There is just so much that you can do on Facebook and it is pretty easy to use and is appealing to a wide age range.
Although that stats seem to be rising…I don’t see Facebook staying as the leading social site. I use it to add pictures and repost videos but that’s about it. Lots of people my age and younger have quit using Facebook and it is more used for older adults.
I don’t think there will be a fee. I have seen countlesssssss times that people have reposted things warning of the fee that is about to take place and it has yet to happen so I don’t really see that ever being an issue.
It’s vast growing has been amazing. People all over the world have access to Facebook and to me that is one of the coolest things about it. You can reach people from all over the world. But, like I said earlier, although it did grow so fast and continues to lead in popularity, I don’t see it remaining that way for a whole lot more time.
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Interesting take, I don’t know whether or not Facebook will continue to be the number one social media site, but I don’t see it changing anytime soon. When you said that most people your age now, doesn’t use Facebook the way that they once did, I almost have to disagree with you some. Although we do use other social networks; I think Facebook is still a very prominent, key component in our every day lives. I did stop using Facebook for awhile, but now I look at statuses, pictures, and those funny videos daily. I think because there are so many things that go viral on Facebook so fast, it attracts people our age more than we may realize it. I know my friends and I mention each other in ridiculous Facebook videos several times a day.
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I have to agree with you on that, Nia. I remember I stopped using Facebook for awhile around a year or two ago, but now its probably the app I use most on my phone. I definitely don’t use it the same way I used to, as I hardly ever post original content there. For the most part I find myself watching videos, and sharing information or photos.
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Yes Lauren! Those videos crack me up daily! lol. I think we just use it more for entertainment purposes that actually putting our own content on there. I think the use of Facebook for our age has shifted, but not decreased.
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I have never really stopped using Facebook either but I always felt like a was a minority in that. I don’t see a whole lot of college students using Facebook on the reg, but I could totally be wrong. Honestly I just use it out of boredom the majority of the time…or to add pictures, which is my favorite part of Facebook. With their being photo albums, there isn’t a rule on picture limits!
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Awesome job, Nia!
In your opinion, why is Facebook still the leading social media to this day?–I believe Facebook has had such prolonged success because of the variety in what it offers to its users. Facebook provides a platform for sharing photos, videos, statuses and private messages and allows members of the site to connect with people from their high schools, universities and workplaces easily.
With the statistics steadily rising, where do you think Facebook is heading?–With the continual growth and constant evolution the site has seen, I think Facebook will continue to grow in the coming years. More and more users are signing up each day and the site has made remarkable strides in respect to the way users are able to utilize its services, which only points toward growth.
Do you believe that there may be a fee to be a member of the social site as it continues to grow?–With the services that it currently offers, I don’t believe it would be necessary for Facebook to charge for membership. Should new additional services be offered in the future that call for monetary compensation, it might be acceptable for users to be required to pay to use these services, but membership to the site itself should remain free.
What is your thought as to how vast it has grown just from 2004?–The amount of growth Facebook has seen in just 12 years is almost unbelievable. You’d be very hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have an account or at least hadn’t heard of the website. The layout of the site has evolved since I first joined it, when your profile could display buttons and play music–I remember 13-year-old me being so upset when the layout of the profile changed and I couldn’t set passive-aggressive breakup songs as the default for my profile anymore. I’m sure that the site will continue to change as people’s preferences do and that the version of the site we are familiar with today will eventually become a thing of the past.
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I agree, I think that it will continue to evolve. Just because there are so many different things that Facebook has accomplished during the first 12 years. They have managed to combine just about what all social media networks are able to do and make it accessible to the Facebook user through their accounts. With Facebook also being so easy to navigate; it is definitely going to grow especially for the older and younger generations. Our generation may become stagnant.
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New features requiring monetary compensation is a good point you brought up Katie. There are advertising boosts businesses can pay for when using Facebook, but I agree that a membership fee is something that will likely never occur.
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Good summary, Nia!
I think Facebook is still doing well because it was the first platform to really become viral and easily accessible. It’s also a very versatile site – allowing for many different styles of content to be posted: text, video, photo, etc. And almost everyone I know is here – why would I go to a site like MySpace?
Looking at the statistics, I think Facebook will be around as long as it wants to. I assumed a few years ago, considering how many of my friends had stopped using Facebook to move to Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat, that it would eventually die out, but it seems it has only grown.
Considering how much revenue Facebook already brings in through ads, I genuinely doubt there would be a site-wide removal of ads – unless, of course Facebook introduces an ‘add-free’ user experience for a low monthly fee – similar to Spotify and other subscription services.
I am not at all surprised that a site with so much potential has grown to be as massive as it is. It is odd, though, to see something that once didn’t exist to now be one of the greatest cultural influences in recent human history.
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It makes you look over the last few years and think, “Ok, now when did all of this change?” because for me, it seemed to have changed overnight. I don’t know whether it is because we just adapt quickly to how technology evolves in such a fast pace or if we just don’t realize things are changing until after they have completely changed.
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Alex, I hadn’t thought of an ad-free subscription until you mentioned it. Offering a subscription fee for the removal of ads is extremely interesting because it seems like that is where most social media websites that have ads are going, and they are generating a lot of revenue. Awesome comment!
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I think an ad-free subscription fee is what is going to come about here in the next couple of years because it is going to become more and more annoying for others.
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I think that Facebook is still the leading social media is because it is simple to post things on it and you don’t have to try go searching for everything. It’s all right there. If you wanted to post something, it’s at the top of the page. It is a very simple tool. To answer the next question I don’t think Facebook is going anywhere. They are just going to keep gather more and more people on it. I don’t think there will be a fee on Facebook ever. Cause I think it would drive people away. And I think it’s just another social media site. Like most sites they have a boom. I am surprised that it’s still growing and I think it’s just because it’s simple.
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I like that you mentioned how easy it is to post. It is really easy to generate new content and has an almost nonexistent learning curve. Other social media could learn a thing or two from Facebook’s user interface.
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Remember Geico’s old catch phrase? It’s so easy a caveman can do it? I think that definitely applies to FB.
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I think that is certainly the reason why older people are more drawn to creating a Facebook account versus any other social network. Like you said, it get straight to the point. I think the only thing that is troublesome about Facebook is the fact that messenger has to be available when using on a iPhone to receive your messages through that app. Other than that; yes very each to browse and use.
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In my opinion, Facebook still leads because it is everyone’s first social media. Now that younger people are leaning away from Facebook and on to more minimalistic services like Twitter and Instagram, older people are still finding out about the service, and older people like to stick to what they know. I think Facebook is starting to reach a plateau. Eventually it will be full of profiles but not full of people. I think that charging a fee is something they might start doing but it won’t work. In the end, paywalls only drive the majority of users to different, free services. Popular brands will market elsewhere and users will have many social media services to choose from. I think the primary reason it has grown so much is because it was the first really popular iteration of social media.
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Chuck, I think you’re completely right. When you force someone to pay for something it drives them away to a cheaper (or free) option that might be just as good. Youtube used to be the place to listen to music, then ads popped up, then 3o second ads popped up and so on so now it has become last place to Spotify, iTunes or Pandora.
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I think this may happen to Facebook if ads continue to pop up on our timeline. Will they get some distracting and unwelcome that people steer away from Facebook. That’s why I think if there is a fee in the future that it will only be to subscribe for no ads.
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I really enjoyed reading your information Nia! I believe Facebook is the leading social media because the possibilities are endless. You have pictures, hour long videos, statuses, games; it doesn’t end! I believe there is more to be explored with Facebook, so I believe that Facebook’s success in only climbing the ladder. There will, however, be a point in time where it will reach it’s peak, and decrease eventually. I don’t believe that there will be a fee, only because since it is the largest and most visited social media, businesses and organizations will pay to put their ads where they can be seen on a day to day basis. The major growth that Facebook has seen since 2014 is crazy. I remember my senior year of high school, Facebook was finally starting to slow down a little bit, but when I came to college, people posted more on Facebook than Twitter or Instagram!
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Yes I think that more people post on Facebook now because there are different ways to communicate like statuses, direct messages, video chatting, and even make phone calls through Facebook. It is crazy how much things are expanding through Facebook.
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Love that you brought up the slouch Facebook had a few years ago when our age was in high-school. Facebook has an amazing way of noticing when user engagement is lacking and developing new characteristics to bring them back in.
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Great content Nia! I think Facebook is the leading site because it offers anyone every single possibility you can think of. Whether it’s videos of pugs to quench your boredom during a study break, or finding that crush on campus you’ve seen a few times, you really can do anything on it. I think that’s going to continue just because SO many people use it, but I do think it reaching it’s peak is inevitable. A few years ago it was just us kids that commanded it, then parents came in and the site has becoming a site for mainly the 25-50 crowd. A place where people can say what they want while having time to think of an argument if someone disagrees will always be popular with the people. I do think Instagram and Twitter have begun to push it down to the bottom of the social media ladder though.
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I agree with you Ian about how convenient Facebook is is for everyone, but I am curious to see if the other social networks will take over and be the lead of social media since there are more people joining Facebook that are older. I know the younger generation will use Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter more, but will it surpass the use of Facebook from both the younger generation and the older? I think it will be interesting as to how it will play out in the years to come.
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I agree with you as well! I think that the reason Facebook is so big is because of ours and our parent’s generations.
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Why is Facebook still the leading social media to this day?
Facebook is continuously changing its approach to users. They have taken a simple media site designed to connect people around the world and turned it into a full-functioning advertising platform. With the constant change, people stay engaged and companies continue to become more involved.
With the statistics steadily rising, where do you think Facebook is heading?
While Facebook is at the top of every other social media site, there is little doubt that it will continue to soar in user numbers.
Do you believe that there may be a fee to be a member of the social site as it continues to grow?
I don’t think there will ever be a fee for Facebook. The site receives enough revenue from advertisers, and requiring a a fee would decrease users and ad engagement.
What is your thought as to how vast it has grown just from 2004?
Facebook’s growth is unbelievable, and is hardly at the end of its growth.
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In your opinion, why is Facebook still the leading social media to this day? With the statistics steadily rising, where do you think Facebook is heading? Do you believe that there may be a fee to be a member of the social site as it continues to grow? What is your thought as to how vast it has grown just from 2004?
It is because it is the biggest and because our parents generation loves it! We had it first and then our parents got it. That combination makes up a huge amount of the population. I think it will be around for awhile because it has already made it through all types of new social media apps. I sure hope they do not! I also do not think they will because it would cause such an uproar.
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