By: iPadfanzz staff on February 4, 2013
The world's most popular social networking site, Facebook, has completed nine years on February 4. At present, Facebook has over one billion active users and the numbers are growing at a very steep pace.
Facebook was started on February 4, 2004, in the hostel room of Hardvard University by present CEO Mark Zuckerberg along with three other co-founders Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Initially the site was named called thefacebook.com but was later renamed to Facebook.
Initially, it was a college network but the networking site soon started to grow by expanding to various other colleges and universities. The expansion met with thundering success and in October 2007, software giant Microsoft bought a 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook for $240 million. Behind Google, it's the number one most-visited site worldwide.
The growing popularity of the social networking site soon captured the attention of various investors, but the company declined bids from firms such as NBC and the Washington Post Group to MySpace and Viacom. In In 2008, Zuckerberg was reportedly in talks with Yahoo for a potential sale, but he turned down an offer for $1.6 billion, saying the bid was too low.
While the United States has the most users per nation (165 million), about 70 percent of all users are outside the U.S.
Till now, Facebook has relied heavily on the desktop web experience to grow to the current level, but the company has now understood well that mobile is crucial to its success on almost all levels. The mobile strategy has paid off the company well as mobile ads comprised of 84 per cent of the company’s revenue this quarter. Facebook grew its mobile revenue from 14 percent of all ad revenue in Q3 2012 to 23 percent in Q4 2012. Over the quarter, Facebook's overall ad revenue rose 41 per cent to $1.33 billion from a year ago, with mobile ads making up 23% of the total. In the prior quarter, mobile revenue was $153 million, or 14 per cent of total advertising revenue.
"Today there is no argument Facebook is a mobile company," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had said.
In view of competitive environment in the country, Facebook continue to face challenges, whether it is growing new streams of revenues, keeping its existing customers happy with more value added features or trying out different things on new platform.
Hits and misses in Facebook history over the years:
March 1, 2004, Facebook expands beyond the Harvard network
December 30, 2004, Facebook reaches one million members
September 2, 2005, Facebook opens up to US high schools
October, 1, 2005, international expansion
September 5, 2006, the launch of the ‘news feed’
March 1 2007, Facebook reaches one million users in the UK
May 24, 2007, Facebook Platform launches
April 2008: Facebook Chat introduced.
February 2009: Facebook introduces "Like," allowing people to endorse other people's posts.
June 2009: Facebook surpasses News Corp.'s Myspace as the leading online social network in the U.S.
September 21, 2009, Facebook shuts down Beacon, its advertising platform
July 21, 2010, Facebook reaches 500 million members
August 2010: Facebook launches location feature
September 17, 2010, Facebook Places launches in the UK
June 2011: Google launches rival social network called Plus.
September 2011: Facebook introduces Timeline, a new version of the profile page.
November 2011: Facebook agrees to settle federal charges that it violated users' privacy by getting people to share more information than they agreed to when they signed up to the site.
January 2012: Facebook begins making Timeline mandatory.
February 2012: Facebook files for an initial public offering of stock.
April 2012: Facebook announces plans to buy Instagram, a photo-sharing social network, for $1 billion in cash and stock.
May 2012: Facebook sets a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, then raises it to $34 to $38. On May 17, Facebook prices its IPO at $38 per share, and the stock begins trading the next day. The following week, the stock price starts dropping amid concerns about Facebook's ability to keep growing revenue and sell ads on mobile devices.
August 2012: Facebook updates its app for iPhones and iPads to make it speedier and less clunky.
September 2012: Facebook closes on Instagram deal.
October 2012: Facebook says it has 1 billion active users.
December 2012: Facebook rolls out a messaging app called "Poke" to lukewarm reviews.
January 2013: Facebook unveils a search feature
The world's most popular social networking site, Facebook, has completed nine years on February 4. At present, Facebook has over one billion active users and the numbers are growing at a very steep pace.
Facebook was started on February 4, 2004, in the hostel room of Hardvard University by present CEO Mark Zuckerberg along with three other co-founders Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Initially the site was named called thefacebook.com but was later renamed to Facebook.
Initially, it was a college network but the networking site soon started to grow by expanding to various other colleges and universities. The expansion met with thundering success and in October 2007, software giant Microsoft bought a 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook for $240 million. Behind Google, it's the number one most-visited site worldwide.
The growing popularity of the social networking site soon captured the attention of various investors, but the company declined bids from firms such as NBC and the Washington Post Group to MySpace and Viacom. In In 2008, Zuckerberg was reportedly in talks with Yahoo for a potential sale, but he turned down an offer for $1.6 billion, saying the bid was too low.
While the United States has the most users per nation (165 million), about 70 percent of all users are outside the U.S.
Till now, Facebook has relied heavily on the desktop web experience to grow to the current level, but the company has now understood well that mobile is crucial to its success on almost all levels. The mobile strategy has paid off the company well as mobile ads comprised of 84 per cent of the company’s revenue this quarter. Facebook grew its mobile revenue from 14 percent of all ad revenue in Q3 2012 to 23 percent in Q4 2012. Over the quarter, Facebook's overall ad revenue rose 41 per cent to $1.33 billion from a year ago, with mobile ads making up 23% of the total. In the prior quarter, mobile revenue was $153 million, or 14 per cent of total advertising revenue.
"Today there is no argument Facebook is a mobile company," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg had said.
In view of competitive environment in the country, Facebook continue to face challenges, whether it is growing new streams of revenues, keeping its existing customers happy with more value added features or trying out different things on new platform.
Hits and misses in Facebook history over the years:
March 1, 2004, Facebook expands beyond the Harvard network
December 30, 2004, Facebook reaches one million members
September 2, 2005, Facebook opens up to US high schools
October, 1, 2005, international expansion
September 5, 2006, the launch of the ‘news feed’
March 1 2007, Facebook reaches one million users in the UK
May 24, 2007, Facebook Platform launches
April 2008: Facebook Chat introduced.
February 2009: Facebook introduces "Like," allowing people to endorse other people's posts.
June 2009: Facebook surpasses News Corp.'s Myspace as the leading online social network in the U.S.
September 21, 2009, Facebook shuts down Beacon, its advertising platform
July 21, 2010, Facebook reaches 500 million members
August 2010: Facebook launches location feature
September 17, 2010, Facebook Places launches in the UK
June 2011: Google launches rival social network called Plus.
September 2011: Facebook introduces Timeline, a new version of the profile page.
November 2011: Facebook agrees to settle federal charges that it violated users' privacy by getting people to share more information than they agreed to when they signed up to the site.
January 2012: Facebook begins making Timeline mandatory.
February 2012: Facebook files for an initial public offering of stock.
April 2012: Facebook announces plans to buy Instagram, a photo-sharing social network, for $1 billion in cash and stock.
May 2012: Facebook sets a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, then raises it to $34 to $38. On May 17, Facebook prices its IPO at $38 per share, and the stock begins trading the next day. The following week, the stock price starts dropping amid concerns about Facebook's ability to keep growing revenue and sell ads on mobile devices.
August 2012: Facebook updates its app for iPhones and iPads to make it speedier and less clunky.
September 2012: Facebook closes on Instagram deal.
October 2012: Facebook says it has 1 billion active users.
December 2012: Facebook rolls out a messaging app called "Poke" to lukewarm reviews.
January 2013: Facebook unveils a search feature
