Facebook was open to students at other U.S. universities before opening it to everyone in 2006.
USA:
Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout for young people, Facebook has become a battle-hardened behemoth that continues to grow despite the perception that it was for baby boomers and parents.
“I’ll never forget the day I ran into the high school Mac lab and signed up for Facebook,” Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg told AFP.
“You simultaneously feel like you’re part of this small, unique community that your parents, grandparents and teachers weren’t — but also part of something bigger.”
The site, called thefacebook.com, was created by Mark Zuckerberg and three friends on February 4, 2004, and was initially limited to Harvard students.
It was first opened to students from other universities in the United States before opening to everyone in 2006.
Facebook has become the place to connect with anyone, anywhere, and it is reported that by 2023, more than 3 billion people will use Facebook every month, a 3% increase from the previous year.
“Facebook was revolutionary when it launched,” Enberg said.
“It’s hard to overstate Facebook’s influence in shaping everything from pop culture to politics to how we behave online.”
She noted that Facebook’s famous “feed” features photos, comments or other “posts” that its algorithms believe will grab users’ attention.
The more users that participate in a social network, the more it can tap into the wealth of information people share on Facebook to serve up targeted, money-making ads.
It is credited with helping open the door for content to go viral and fueling the trend towards online-only news outlets.
– Advertising giant –
Facebook is known for acquiring or copying potential competitors and now has a “family” of apps including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg remains the company’s leader, sticking to a strategy of investing heavily to win over users before integrating money-making methods that often involve targeted advertising.
Facebook joins Google as an online advertising giant.
In 2022 — a bad year for the Silicon Valley-based company — its profits hit $23 billion.
Enberg said the platform “is part of the digital landscape,” especially for “millennials” born in the 1980s or 1990s.
“Because of its reach and performance, it remains irresistibly attractive to advertisers,” the analyst said of Facebook.
Facebook has been hit with complaints and fines for a business model that uses people’s personal data to deliver more compelling content and targeted ads.
Russia had just been accused of using the platform to try to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and was subsequently embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica data collection scandal.
In 2021, the company faced criticism after whistleblowers accused executives of putting profits over user safety and well-being.
Still, Facebook continues to grow.
The tech giant’s expansion has allowed it to invest in innovations such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Facebook changed the name of its parent company to “Meta” in late 2021, saying it was driven by Zuckerberg’s vision for immersive virtual worlds, known as the “metaverse,” to become the next major computing platform.
-“My Mom’s Friend”-
“We may have less engagement, but we’re not giving up because there’s really no other option,” Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said of the aging social network’s staying power.
Facebook is also resonating with the addition of “Groups,” which allow users to create communities around shared interests such as sports, celebrities or farming that allow them to connect not just online but in the real world.
Also popular are marketplace features that let people buy or sell items.
“I use Facebook because I know my mom’s friends would be interested,” Ruby Hammer, an 18-year-old California nanny, said of using the social network to make money.
“And Marketplace, because I’m looking for a car.”
Hammer connects with peers by sharing photos on SnapChat and Instagram instead of Facebook.
Analyst Enberg called the 2012 acquisition of Instagram one of Facebook’s best business decisions as part of a shift to a smartphone lifestyle.
The move eliminates competitors, provides a new advertising forum and attracts younger Internet users who have lost interest in Facebook.
“Most importantly, it gives the company an app that can compete with Snapchat and TikTok,” which are hugely popular among teenagers,” Enberg said.
Today, more than half of Facebook users are between the ages of 18 and 34, according to online insights firm DataReportal.
But user engagement on social networks remains difficult to measure.
Analyst Milanesi said: “I rarely go to Facebook, but what I post on Instagram will automatically appear on Facebook.”
“So, of course I’m counted as ‘active’…the numbers may not reflect reality.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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