Facebook started as thefacebook.com in 2004, designed and launched by Mark Zuckerberg and some of his Harvard classmates as a platform for Harvard college students to connect.
As a corporation, Facebook turned 10 years old last February. Writing for Bloomberg, Brad Stone and Sara Frier highlight the company's success in that time:
"Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chairman and chief executive officer, has many reasons to be grateful. His social network is used by 1.23 billion people around the world. The company is worth around $135 billion and will probably become the fastest in history to reach $150 billion" ("Facebook Turns 10: The Mark Zuckerberg Interview," Jan. 2014)
But it didn't start out so happily.
As a corporation, Facebook turned 10 years old last February. Writing for Bloomberg, Brad Stone and Sara Frier highlight the company's success in that time:
"Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chairman and chief executive officer, has many reasons to be grateful. His social network is used by 1.23 billion people around the world. The company is worth around $135 billion and will probably become the fastest in history to reach $150 billion" ("Facebook Turns 10: The Mark Zuckerberg Interview," Jan. 2014)
But it didn't start out so happily.
Contentious Beginnings
Controversy began within a week of the site's opening, according to Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider in a 2010 article citing evidence that Zuckerberg allegedly stole the idea from some classmates who had actually asked him to create a similar site for themselves.
These classmates sued, though judge did not agree with the accusers. The case was settled with undisclosed terms, but the controversy seems not to have been forgotten by some.
Controversy began within a week of the site's opening, according to Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider in a 2010 article citing evidence that Zuckerberg allegedly stole the idea from some classmates who had actually asked him to create a similar site for themselves.
These classmates sued, though judge did not agree with the accusers. The case was settled with undisclosed terms, but the controversy seems not to have been forgotten by some.
"Real" Identity
Facebook is a social networking platform for sharing photos, videos and other content with a network of user-vetted "friends." But what made Facebook unique, according to Stone and Frier, was its basis on real identity:
"At the time of Facebook’s founding, there was no such thing as real identity online. Facebook became the first place where people met one another as themselves, and the company was stubborn about asking users to sign in and share material with their own names. A Facebook account became a sort of passport to the rest of the Web, and with its success came new problems. ...[D]issidents in parts of the world where speaking freely can be incriminating avoided the service in favor of alternatives such as Twitter, where real names are optional."
Facebook is a social networking platform for sharing photos, videos and other content with a network of user-vetted "friends." But what made Facebook unique, according to Stone and Frier, was its basis on real identity:
"At the time of Facebook’s founding, there was no such thing as real identity online. Facebook became the first place where people met one another as themselves, and the company was stubborn about asking users to sign in and share material with their own names. A Facebook account became a sort of passport to the rest of the Web, and with its success came new problems. ...[D]issidents in parts of the world where speaking freely can be incriminating avoided the service in favor of alternatives such as Twitter, where real names are optional."
Diversifying The company has reached a huge size (some 1.23 billion monthly active users), and this has brought its own problems as well. But the company is trying to diversify by focusing on its mobile technologies first as well as launching standalone apps in the form of Facebook Creative Labs. Importantly, these will enable anonymous login. Facebook has been useful for business in a variety of ways, including the ability to target ads by certain audience criteria. |
"This is 21st-century word of mouth."
The Austin, Texas, Long Center for the Performing Arts successfully used Facebook's ad and targeted placement features to promote its Disney in Concert show. (The data here is taken from Facebook's case study website.)
The company's marketing team launched a link ad campaign by uploading five Disney pictures with links leading to ticket purchase. Then,
"[the team] targeted zip codes within a 50-mile radius of Austin, focusing on families with children whose interests included Disney songs, movies and princesses. ... Tracking engagement throughout the campaign, Heath later optimized the creative to focus on the 2 most popular images."
The result over the course of the campaign was a return on the ad expense of 5 times with a reach of almost 175,000 people.
Heath Riddles, the Long Center's marketing manager, says, "This is 21st-century word of mouth. I can’t imagine trying to market or promote our product without Facebook. If you’re not doing it, you’re behind."
The Austin, Texas, Long Center for the Performing Arts successfully used Facebook's ad and targeted placement features to promote its Disney in Concert show. (The data here is taken from Facebook's case study website.)
The company's marketing team launched a link ad campaign by uploading five Disney pictures with links leading to ticket purchase. Then,
"[the team] targeted zip codes within a 50-mile radius of Austin, focusing on families with children whose interests included Disney songs, movies and princesses. ... Tracking engagement throughout the campaign, Heath later optimized the creative to focus on the 2 most popular images."
The result over the course of the campaign was a return on the ad expense of 5 times with a reach of almost 175,000 people.
Heath Riddles, the Long Center's marketing manager, says, "This is 21st-century word of mouth. I can’t imagine trying to market or promote our product without Facebook. If you’re not doing it, you’re behind."