Zuckerberg’s Early Years
Mark Zuckerberg began his journey at a very young age, recognizing the significance of coding early on. His father, Edward, introduced him to Atari BASIC programming. It didn’t take long for Zuckerberg’s talent to shine through. At just 11 years old, his parents hired a software developer, David Newman, to tutor him. Newman still refers to Zuckerberg as a “prodigy.”
Within a few years, Zuckerberg developed ZuckNet, a highly practical program. His father, who ran a dental practice from home, needed a way for the receptionist to contact him without shouting across the house. ZuckNet served as an internal messaging system to meet this need.
While at Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious boarding school, Zuckerberg’s passion for creation continued to grow. He caught the attention of both AOL and Microsoft, who wanted to purchase Synapse, a program he had developed with a friend that used AI to learn and predict a user’s music preferences. Both companies also offered him jobs.
However, Zuckerberg declined their offers, setting his sights on Harvard. It was there that the seeds of Facebook were planted—a decision that, in hindsight, he’s unlikely to regret.
Harvard and Facemash
After turning down offers from two of the world’s largest tech companies, Zuckerberg arrived at Harvard in 2002, clearly with bigger ambitions in mind. He chose to major in psychology, although he also took numerous computer science courses. At first, this may seem like an odd decision—why not focus solely on programming?
However, when considering Facebook’s design, particularly its addictive nature with features like likes, comments, and pokes, the psychology background starts to make more sense. Facebook is built to pull users in, encouraging them to share personal information and seek interaction. To create something like this requires an understanding of human behavior.
Zuckerberg’s first major controversy came in October 2003 when he launched Facemash, a website that allowed Harvard students to rate each other’s attractiveness. The concept was similar to the “Hot or Not” website that had emerged a few years earlier. However, Zuckerberg didn’t have permission to use student photos, and many were understandably upset.
In just a few hours, the site racked up 22,000 photo views, but it was quickly shut down. Zuckerberg was summoned to the Harvard Administration Board, facing the threat of expulsion. Ultimately, the board decided to allow him to stay after a public apology. Undeterred by his first clash with authority, Zuckerberg moved on to his next big project.
Introducing Thefacebook
It didn’t take long for the world to see the first version of what would become a global phenomenon. In February 2004, Thefacebook launched. While the name was slightly different, the concept was similar to what we know today. The platform allowed users to create profiles, upload photos, share interests, and connect with others. It also featured a network visualization of connections.
Initially, the site was exclusive to Harvard students, and within the first month, 50% of the student body had signed up. However, Zuckerberg quickly found himself facing a major issue—he was being sued.
Zuckerberg had previously worked on a similar project with fellow students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra. He eventually left the project to focus on Thefacebook, but his former collaborators claimed he had stolen their concept and ideas, seeking compensation. In 2008, the dispute was settled, with the trio receiving 1.2 million shares in the company.
Thefacebook quickly became a hit, and its user base grew rapidly. By the end of 2004, the platform expanded to include nearly all universities in the US and Canada, and interest was sky-high.
In June 2004, Zuckerberg relocated the company’s operations to Palo Alto, California, securing crucial investment. Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, joined the board and invested $500,000.
The following year, the company secured additional funding—$12.7 million from Accel and $1 million from venture capitalist Jim Breyer. Facebook was now attracting significant attention.
In August 2005, the company officially dropped the “the” from its name, becoming Facebook. The company also purchased the facebook.com domain for $200,000. In September, the platform expanded to high school students, and employees from major companies like Microsoft and Apple were allowed to join. Facebook was now expanding beyond its initial student base.
By November 2005, Zuckerberg made a significant decision about his future. After taking a semester off from Harvard, he officially announced he would leave the university to focus on Facebook full-time. He returned briefly to hire new employees, and with substantial investment and growing membership, Zuckerberg was ready to fully dedicate himself to the company as CEO, shifting from programmer to leader.
With Mark Zuckerberg fully at the helm, Facebook’s expansion continued at a rapid pace. In December 2005, universities in Australia and New Zealand were added to the platform, along with high schools from Mexico, the UK, and Ireland. By this point, Facebook had expanded to 2,500 colleges and 25,000 high schools.
However, it wasn’t until September 2006 that Facebook became open to everyone—well, anyone over 13 with a valid email address. Facebook had now gone truly global. The platform’s membership growth was astonishing:
- December 2006: 12 million users
- April 2007: 20 million users
- July 2007: 30 million users
- October 2007: 50 million users
In May 2007, Facebook launched Marketplace, a platform that allowed users to post classifieds for selling products and services. This was followed by the introduction of the Facebook Application Developer Platform, which enabled third-party developers to create their own applications and games integrated with Facebook.
At the same time, Facebook began focusing on how businesses could use the platform. By the end of 2007, over 100,000 companies had joined Facebook, and the platform introduced Pages for Businesses to help companies engage with their audiences. Facebook was also beginning to explore advertising as a significant revenue stream, aiming to make it accessible even for the smallest businesses.
The year 2008 marked another big leap for Facebook. In April, Facebook rolled out Facebook Chat, allowing users to instantly message friends and family—essentially the same concept as ZuckNet, which Zuckerberg had developed years earlier. Other features, such as People You May Know, Facebook Wall, and Facebook Connect, were also introduced that year.
As the user base grew, Facebook’s numbers continued to skyrocket:
- August 2008: 100 million users
- January 2009: 150 million users
- February 2009: 175 million users
- April 2009: 200 million users
- July 2009: 250 million users
- September 2009: 300 million users
Along with the growth came the launch of one of Facebook’s most popular games. Farmville, released in June 2009, became an instant hit despite being similar to a game called Farm Town. By August 2009, Farmville boasted 10 million daily active users, with millions of virtual crops being harvested every day.
The world’s greatest
In December 2009, Facebook reached a significant milestone, becoming the most popular social platform in the world with 350 million registered users and 132 million unique monthly users. However, the company wasn’t planning to stop there.
The following year saw a series of improvements and updates, including the introduction of the ability to like comments and enhancements to photo tagging. By July 2010, Facebook’s registered user count soared to 500 million. At the end of the year, the company’s valuation hit an impressive $41 billion, and it had become the third-largest web company in the US, just behind Google and Amazon. This rapid growth was achieved in under five years, with no signs of slowing down.
In June 2011, Facebook hit another huge milestone, reaching 1 trillion page views, according to a study by DoubleClick. By the end of the year, Nielsen reported that Facebook was the second most visited website in the United States, further cementing its place in the digital landscape.
August 2011 saw the launch of Facebook Messenger as a standalone app. This followed the company’s acquisition of Beluga, a group messaging service, earlier in the year.
Buy, Buy, Buy and Sell, Sell, Sell
2012 marked one of the most pivotal years in Facebook’s relatively short history.
In April, Facebook made a game-changing acquisition—Instagram. For $1 billion, Facebook demonstrated the vast resources at its disposal. This acquisition came just a month before the major event of the year: the IPO.
By May 2012, Zuckerberg was ready to take Facebook public. The company was valued at $104 billion. When the IPO was all said and done, it raised an impressive $16.1 billion. However, trouble was just around the corner.
The IPO was plagued with allegations of improper behavior from underwriters, along with technical glitches. The company’s stock lost a quarter of its value in a matter of days. By the end of May, the IPO was declared a “fiasco” by the Wall Street Journal. By June 6, investors had lost a staggering $40 billion.
In response, over 40 lawsuits related to the IPO were filed. There were accusations that underwriters such as Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs acted inappropriately. Reports suggested that they secretly lowered revenue estimates during the IPO process, and there were claims that Facebook had fed them information that allowed the underwriters to cash out.
Despite these setbacks, Facebook pressed on. By October of the same year, the platform reached another major milestone: its 1 billionth registered user.
Joining the Big Leagues, and Drowning in Hate
In 2013, just a year after the tumultuous IPO, Facebook made its way into the Fortune 500, ranking at number 462. There was no longer any doubt that the company had become a major institution, particularly as its global reach expanded. However, with growing popularity came significant challenges.
An open platform for everyone may sound like a great idea on the surface, but “everyone” includes a large number of people who use the internet to spread hate and engage in harmful behavior. Facebook quickly found itself grappling with a major issue—abuse and hate speech. The platform seemed ill-prepared to handle the scale of the problem.
Groups like the Everyday Sexism Project and widespread complaints from users forced Facebook to take action. In a blog post, the company admitted that its moderation efforts had “failed to work as effectively” as they had hoped. In response, they announced several changes to tackle the issue:
- A review and update of the guidelines used to evaluate reports of hate speech.
- An overhaul of the training for the teams responsible for moderating content.
- Increased accountability for creators of “cruel and insensitive” content, requiring them to reveal their true identity.
- Greater collaboration with groups already working against hate speech.
Despite these efforts, as we will see, these measures were not enough to completely eliminate the problem.
A decade of Facebook
By February 2014, Facebook was celebrating its 10-year anniversary, having achieved remarkable success since its early days in a Harvard dorm room. So, what was next for the company?
The first big milestone was the strong performance on mobile. Facebook had prioritized a great mobile experience for years, and this focus paid off as the platform saw 1 billion users log in through mobile devices in just the first three months of the year.
Another major acquisition came in February 2014, when Facebook announced its purchase of WhatsApp for an eye-watering $19 billion. Although Facebook already had its own messaging system, this acquisition allowed the company to tap into WhatsApp’s younger and international user base.
The following month, Facebook made another significant acquisition: Oculus VR, a virtual reality company. In a post, Zuckerberg emphasized that the Oculus VR headset would “enable even more useful, entertaining, and personal experiences.”
In April 2014, Facebook made another notable change. Despite already owning a competing app, the company decided to remove Messenger from the main Facebook app, making it a standalone application. This required users to download Messenger separately. By April 2017, Messenger had become a major success, boasting 1.2 billion active users.
However, not everything was smooth sailing. In June 2014, it was revealed that Facebook had been conducting experiments on its users. The platform manipulated content shown to users to influence their moods, which understandably upset many. After backlash, Facebook agreed to change the way it conducted experiments but stopped short of offering a full apology.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s market capitalization continued to soar, reaching $200 billion by September, demonstrating that the company was still advancing both in terms of user growth and financial performance.
Cleaning Up the Fake news
The year 2015 started off with more good news for Facebook’s financials. In Q4 2017, Facebook reported profits of $701 million, marking a 34% increase year-on-year.
Before the term “fake news” became a household phrase, it was already a growing issue. Social platforms, including Facebook, were flooded with fake news stories and misinformation on a wide range of topics. These stories were often written by websites aiming to drive traffic for ad revenue or to push a political agenda. In both cases, the truth was far from the priority.
This posed a problem for Facebook, which had long emphasized how many people regularly used its platform. Now, millions of users were being exposed to lies on the site. Facebook realized they needed to take action.
In January 2015, the company introduced a new feature allowing users to flag articles as “fake news .” If enough users flagged a story, a notification would be added to warn other users that the article had been flagged as fake. Facebook’s algorithm would also consider these reports in its decision-making process.
However, as we all know, this system didn’t quite work as intended. Fake news simply evolved into a more complex issue, with the term itself becoming a broader concept. This wouldn’t be the last attempt by Facebook to tackle the problem.
On a more positive note, Facebook introduced Reactions in 2015, allowing users to go beyond just liking posts. Now, users could also add a “love,” “hate,” “haha,” “disgust,” “sad,” or “wow” reaction. While this wasn’t a groundbreaking update, it showed that Facebook was still focused on improving its original features.
In May, Facebook launched Instant Articles, allowing publishers to host versions of their articles directly on Facebook. This change dramatically improved load speeds, while also allowing publishers to earn revenue through advertising.
In July, an impressive statistic was revealed: Half of the world’s internet users were using Facebook. This was based on Facebook’s report for the three months ending in June, which showed 1.49 billion active users.
Other notable developments in 2015 included the introduction of video calling in Messenger, the launch of Facebook Live for verified public figures, and the release of 360-degree video.
Cleaning up the fake news, part two
As 2016 progressed, the issue of false news stories and hoaxes continued to plague Facebook. Despite this, the company announced impressive statistics: 1.5 billion daily users, 3 million advertisers, and a profit of $3.69 billion in 2015. These strong numbers were hard to argue with, but instead of focusing on the good, people began arguing on their timelines.
In June, Facebook made a significant change to its algorithm, marking one of the first steps that would affect the organic traffic for publishers and companies. The new algorithm prioritized posts from friends and family in users’ news feeds. This change was great for sharing family holiday photos but less favorable for news outlets.
However, in August, Facebook offered publishers a lifeline with another algorithm adjustment. This time, the platform began determining which stories were informative and then promoted them to users based on their interests. While this move was a step forward for publishers, those producing high-quality journalism must have been frustrated to see fabricated news continue to gain traction.
Amidst these changes, Facebook introduced Workplace, a new platform designed for organizations. It served as an internal social network for companies, allowing employees to communicate with one another in a more collaborative environment.
In September, Facebook found itself in hot water after it was revealed that the company had been publishing misleading metrics. Facebook was forced to apologize after miscalculating video views and the amount of time users spent watching videos. This controversy came at a particularly bad time, as the company was already battling accusations of spreading disinformation on its own platform.
By the end of the year, the term “fake news” was dominating conversations. After the US elections, discussions of fake news were everywhere, with many blaming platforms like Facebook and Twitter for the spread of misinformation, even suggesting that it may have played a role in swaying the election in favor of Donald Trump and exacerbating political polarization both in the US and globally.
Zuckerberg responded by rejecting the idea that Facebook had influenced the election. Regardless of the truth, fake news received far more engagement than traditional media outlets in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. By December, Facebook seemed to shift its approach, announcing plans to focus more on their community reporting functionality. They also revealed they would be working with fact-checking organizations and adjusting their advertising policies to tackle ads promoting fake news. Although still in the testing phase, this move indicated that Facebook was concerned about its damaged reputation after months of negative press.
Despite the controversy, Facebook’s financial performance remained strong. In 2016, the company reported over $10 billion in profits (largely from ads), with 1.86 billion people logging into the platform each month.
In April 2017, Facebook outlined a comprehensive plan to address the spread of false information. The company’s approach involved three key strategies:
- Disrupting economic incentives by reducing traffic to sites that promoted fake stories and hoaxes.
- Developing new products, such as ranking changes, user reporting, and continued collaboration with fact-checkers.
- Helping users make better decisions through the Facebook Journalism Project and a global consortium aimed at helping people identify fake news.
Among the updates, Facebook Spaces was launched. This VR app allowed users to interact with their friends in a virtual environment. The app was built on the success of more immersive 360 photos and videos released earlier that year, which worked with VR headsets.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s user numbers and financials kept improving. In the first quarter of 2017, Facebook posted a profit of over $3 billion, a 76% increase year-on-year. In June, the company announced it had reached a staggering 2 billion members.
Over the next few months, additional updates were rolled out. Facebook continued refining its efforts to combat fake news and video clickbait, made some design tweaks to the news feed, and improved its click and impression reporting. And then, Facebook made a significant move: it went to Congress.
In September 2017, Facebook revealed it would provide Congress—who was investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US elections—with ads linked to the Internet Research Agency. This Russia-based organization ran approximately 3,000 ads between 2015 and 2017.
In October, Facebook provided a detailed breakdown of these ads in a blog post. The company revealed that the ads had been viewed by 10 million US citizens, with 3-5 million seeing them before the election. These ads covered a range of topics, including race issues and gun rights.
Another issue that resurfaced was harassment. In December, Facebook introduced new tools to tackle this ongoing problem. The company vowed to be more proactive in preventing unwanted contact, and also made it easier for users to ignore Messenger conversations without blocking the sender.
Challenges Looming
In Europe, Facebook faced legal action for tracking people across the internet without being transparent about it. The company was found to be violating the law regarding user tracking, which added to the mounting pressure on the platform.
In February 2018, concerns were also raised about Onavo, a VPN tool that Facebook had acquired in 2013. Onavo allowed users to browse the web without their internet provider tracking their activities. However, Facebook integrated Onavo within its app under the “Protect” menu option.
The issue? Onavo didn’t just function as a VPN. It collected extensive data on users’ activities across the internet and their phone usage, sending that data directly to Facebook. For example, it could track which apps users were using. This raised significant privacy concerns and was met with backlash from users who didn’t want Facebook gathering this kind of data.
The Cambridge Analytica Scandal
On March 17, 2018, a major story broke that rocked Facebook’s reputation. The New York Times and The Guardian reported that data from tens of millions of Facebook users—up to 87 million—had been harvested through an app called “This Is Your Digital Life.”
Users who interacted with the app not only shared their own personal information but also that of their Facebook friends. As more people used the app, seemingly for fun, it amassed an enormous amount of data.
While the practice itself was troubling, what made it even worse was how the data was later used for political purposes. The information gathered was leveraged to support various political campaigns, including those of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. It was also used by the Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum.
This revelation sent shockwaves through the public, with all eyes now on Facebook and the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. People were outraged. Calls for stronger regulations around personal data grew louder, and many users began searching for ways to delete their Facebook accounts.
The surge in searches for “delete Facebook” highlighted just how deeply concerned people were about their privacy and the misuse of their personal data.
If the scandal wasn’t bad enough, Facebook also lost a staggering $70 billion in market value due to the fallout, while advertisers began to grow increasingly cautious and concerned.
Zuckerberg publicly apologized for the breach and suspended Cambridge Analytica (which ceased operations on May 1), along with a series of apps that were identified as part of the data harvesting issue.
The scandal continued to unfold, leading to Zuckerberg’s testimony in front of Congress. In addition, Facebook was slapped with a $663,000 fine by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office. The company struggled to reassure both users and advertisers.
The scandal left a bad taste in many people’s mouths, heightening concerns about data privacy. This event has since been seen as a turning point in how people view social media platforms and their access to personal information.
Getting Hit Where It Hurts
At the end of July 2018, Facebook set a new record—but it wasn’t a good one. On July 25th, the company released its Q2 2018 earnings report, which revealed missed targets for both revenue and global daily active users.
Already reeling from privacy and data scandals, this disappointing report caused a massive market reaction. Facebook experienced the largest single-day loss in market value in U.S. stock market history. The company lost about $119 billion in value, with Mark Zuckerberg himself losing $15 billion.
Despite the significant losses, the report did show some positive trends. Revenue had increased by 42%, and the number of daily active users had risen by 22 million.
However, just a month later, Facebook was hit with another security issue. In September 2018, it was revealed that a vulnerability exposed the accounts of 50 million users, allowing others to take over their profiles. After months of privacy discussions, this breach further damaged public trust in the platform.
Facebook in the Home
In early October 2018, Facebook made a significant product announcement: Portal. Portal and Portal+ were video communication devices designed for home use, allowing people to make video calls. With Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant built-in, the devices were intended to provide hands-free calling and even follow users around as they moved.
Naturally, privacy concerns immediately arose.
Rafa Camargo, then head of Portal, reassured the public in an interview with the BBC, stating that “privacy was designed from the ground up.” Facebook also claimed that it did not record or listen to calls but made it clear that end-to-end encryption would not be used, which meant authorities could potentially gain access to the calls.
Additionally, Facebook admitted that data collected through Portal could be used to target ads. Given the year’s ongoing privacy setbacks and scandals, this was hardly reassuring to users.
Despite the controversies, Portal devices went on sale in November 2018.
As 2018 neared its end, Facebook encountered several more issues that further damaged its reputation.
First, a growing controversy surrounding a PR firm hired by Facebook to discredit George Soros came to a head. Definers Public Affairs, the PR firm in question, had been hired to help improve Facebook’s image after a year of scandals. However, reporters uncovered that Definers had orchestrated a campaign to blame Soros, the Hungarian philanthropist, for anti-Facebook movements. The campaign came after Soros had labeled Facebook a “menace to society.”
The level of involvement that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg had with the PR firm remains unclear. Zuckerberg denied any direct involvement, while Sandberg admitted that information about Definers might have “crossed her desk.”
To make matters worse, a new privacy scandal emerged in December. An investigation revealed that Facebook had ignored its own rules, allowing major clients like Netflix and Spotify to read and delete users’ private messages.
Facebook had granted some of its larger clients access to user data that would have been off-limits for smaller companies. While it appeared that the companies involved were unaware of the extra access they had, the revelation still tarnished Facebook’s reputation and added to the growing concerns about its handling of privacy.
Facebook – Future Plans
Following Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, the company is now positioning itself as “metaverse first,” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This shift means that in the future, users won’t necessarily need a Facebook account to access other Meta products.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin this next chapter,” Zuckerberg explained. “Facebook is an iconic social media brand, but it just doesn’t encompass everything that we do.”
The metaverse is set to become an embodiment of the internet itself, Zuckerberg believes, representing the next evolution in integrated virtual media following video (which evolved from photos and text). Instead of staring at a screen, users will be able to fully immerse themselves in these virtual environments. The defining characteristic of the metaverse, according to Zuckerberg, will be its ability to instill a strong sense of presence within a shared environment.
Though Zuckerberg has pledged to prioritize security and privacy within this new “social technology” network, it remains to be seen if he can convince users—particularly younger generations, who have been leaving Facebook—to embrace the metaverse. Many critics are questioning whether the new platform will simply recreate the same issues Facebook has faced, just in a different format.
By Zukhrakhon Mansurova
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