Facebook turns 20. Created by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard on February 4, 2004, it is the first and longest-running social network. Available in 100 languages in Italy it arrived in 2008. Its history has revolutionized online communication and made Zuckerberg one of the richest and most influential men in the world.
Its name comes from a university list which helped students socialize. Initially limited to Harvard students, it soon opened to other schools and later to the general public.
After twenty years, despite scandals and the migration of young people towards social networks considered younger (see TikTok), Facebook remains there numerically larger platform. According to the latest quarterly data, currently the subscribers to the platform are more than 3 billion (310 million in India alone) while they are 3,07 billion people connect monthly on social media. Facebook remains the third most visited site in the world after Google and Youtube.
User data is the true value of Facebook
In addition to the personal dimension, Facebook is a powerful social marketing and information platform. L'Facebook membership is free, but the real value for Mark Zuckerberg, in fact, lies in the personal data of users, from which he derives greater profit (compared to a possible registration fee). Facebook has also incorporated WhatsApp and Instagram over the years. Thanks to these social networks, it is able to profile users to offer valuable information to companies for advertising purposes, creating a transparent business, although the subject of debate on its ethics.
Over the years, social media has faced numerous controversies over privacy but despite this it continues to be an influential tool in socialization, online interactions and marketing.
February 4, 2004, The Facebook was born
The history of Facebook begins in February 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student, together with his college classmates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, launched a platform called “The Facebook”. The initial idea was to create an online social network for Harvard students, providing them with a tool to connect and share information.
Initially, access to the platform was limited to Harvard students, but success was so rapid that it soon spread to other universities in the Boston area, and later to Ivy League universities and Stanford University. As time went on, The Facebook became more and more popular, attracting users from high schools and, later, around the world.
In the 2005, the name was simplified to “Facebook”, and the site opened to the general public, allowing anyone claiming to be over 13 years of age to sign up.
The evolution over the years
In 2007, Silicon Valley giants begin to notice Facebook's potential. On October 24 of that year, Microsoft announces purchase of 1,6% of Facebook for 240 million dollars. At that time, the platform had 100.000 pages of business promotion, with a minimum membership age of 13. It introduces updates and a homepage to view friends' activities. Over the years, new features have been introduced such as the Timeline in 2011, the “Like” button in 2009. Its instant messaging application and platform was also launched in 2011, Messanger.
The acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp
In October 2012, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had reached one billion monthly active users, of which 600 million used the mobile app. The platform also boasts 219 billion photo uploads and 140 billion friend connections.
In the same year the first major acquisition of society, Instagram which was bought on April 9, 2012 in a deal worth approximately $1 billion, split between cash and shares. In September of the same year, Facebook's acquisition of Instagram was completed for $741 million. Today the most popular social network for photo sharing is valued at around $33 billion.
In 2014, however, theacquisition of WhatsApp, one of the most popular instant messaging services in the world, for approximately $19 billion. The acquisition is still the largest acquisition in the company's history to date.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal
Over the years, Facebook has had to fend off numerous accusations of violating privacy and spreading fake news. The biggest scandal occurs in 2018 with the Cambridge Analytica case. In fact, it emerges that this British consultancy firm had collected the personal data of millions of users from Facebook without their consent, mainly for political advertising purposes. Zuckerberg tries to address the situation, but user trust declines, causing the first drop in active users in Europe and a slowdown in global growth. On July 24, 2018, Facebook shares suffered the biggest crash in US stock market history, falling 20%, due to weakening profits and uncertainty about future growth, also attributed to new EU privacy regulation.
From Facebook to Meta
On October 29, 2021, the company Facebook Inc (not the social network) changes its name to Meta in line with his vision of create a metaverse shared. In his vision, Zuckerberg wants to change the traditional social network by directing it towards athree-dimensional and immersive digital experience. Recently the creator of Facebook has expressed a strong interest in artificial intelligence. the company has invested in Reality Labs, the division that deals with mixed reality viewers and in general in the field of AI.
Meanwhile, a new social network has been launched, Threads, that he wants to make X shoes, better known as Twitter.
Today Meta is one of the brightest stars on Wall Street with a market capitalization of 1,22 trillion dollars. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the company reported tripled profits, reaching 14 billion dollars, equivalent to 5,33 dollars per share. Revenue grew 25% to $40,1 billion, exceeding both the $32,2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the $39,2 billion consensus forecast. For the first time, Meta will distribute a dividend, with a coupon of $0,50 per share.
