Facebook Turns Eight | SocialExcerpts

SoEx

June 16, 2012

World’s largest social network, Facebook, completed eight years of existence last week. From founder Mark Zuckerberg’s dormitory room at Harvard University to their new headquarters at California – the journey has been phenomenal. Started mainly to cater to the students of Harvard University, it slowly expanded and included students from other universities too.

Initially launched as “thefacebook.com”, Facebook had three co-founders apart from Mark Zuckerberg. Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, all college roommates of Zuckerberg, have been the founding members of the social network. With almost 850 million users worldwide now, Facebook has become a part of life for all. After winning over the virtual world, last week Facebook took the stock market by storm by filing for an IPO, putting the valuation of the company to something between $75 billion to $100 billion. It hopes to raise $10billion from shares.

Likes, Share, Notes, Pages, Wall, and the latest Timeline – Facebook has every ingredient to engage users sans age, gender or occupation. Not only is it a medium to communicate with friends, Facebook provides excellent platform to businesses to promote their product. 85% of internet users have a Facebook account and 74% of those online spend time on Facebook.

Most users are increasingly depending on social media for most of their needs, and Facebook clearly emerges as the most sought medium for engagement with brands. 58% of Facebook users have liked a brand page on the site while 41% of the users are talking about a brand through posts or links. Facebook has also assumed an important role in job hunting. Not only do employers carry out background research of potential candidates on Facebook, increasing number of employees want access to social media (including Facebook) at work.

If Facebook were a country, it would be world’s third largest in terms of population. And the Facebook “community” is growing. Constantly changing itself to suit the times and keep itself away from the clutches of monotony, future looks promising for Facebook.

What do you think about Facebook’s journey through last eight years? Do you have a story to tell? Share with us in the comments box.