Facebook 'Lookback': A Social Network 10 Years In The Making

Let's 'Lookback' At Facebook

Facebook is today celebrating a decade in existence - at least.

So while Facebook looks back at you via your own customised video, let's take a look back at Facebook.

Here is a potted history of the 10-year-old social media behemoth.

  • Founded in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and his college room mates;
  • The ultra-exclusive site was rolled out to a mainstream audience on September 26 2006, for those at least 13 years old with a valid email address;
  • By June 2009, users were given the chance to register their own personalised domain with Facebook, in the same way Twitter has user-specific handles;
  • In January 2012, Facebook announced plans to introduce the timeline facility - prompting suggestions it was moving closer to Twitter;
  • Facebook Inc began selling stock to the public and trading on the Nasdaq in May 2012;
  • According to latest figures, around 9% of users are reckoned to be fake;
  • It joined the Fortune 500 list - a compilation for investors to gauge the relative size of the operations of companies - for the first time on the list published in May 2013, being placed at position 462;
  • In September, Facebook apologised after a dating advertisement featuring the photo of a Canadian teenager who died after months of bullying was posted on its site;
  • Plans announced in October allowing users to open their profiles to strangers angered campaigners, who voiced concerned about cyber-bullying and sexual predators;
  • That month, David Cameron said Facebook bosses had some explaining to do, describing them as ''irresponsible'', for lifting a ban on videos of beheadings being posted on its site;
  • Social media users were also warned, at the end of last year, they could be inadvertently breaking the law by commenting on court cases online;
  • In December, Facebook rolled out plans to allow video adverts to appear in news feeds, already playing the content.
  • As of January 2014, the company has about 1.2 billion monthly users.
Close

What's Hot