Facebook Launches

Setting the scene

By 2004, social networking existed—Friendster (2002) and MySpace (2003) were popular—but were cluttered and open to anyone. Mark Zuckerberg, a 19-year-old Harvard sophomore, had previously created Facemash, a site for rating students' attractiveness, which got him in trouble. He saw an opportunity for a clean, college-only network. With roommates Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg launched 'TheFacebook' on February 4, 2004, from his Harvard dorm room.

What happened

TheFacebook was initially limited to Harvard students with harvard.edu email addresses. It spread to other Ivy League schools within weeks, then to all colleges by fall 2004. The site was simple—profile photos, basic info, and a 'wall' for posts. Unlike MySpace, it required real names and had a clean interface. By December 2004, it had 1 million users. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard and moved to Palo Alto, raising $500,000 from Peter Thiel. In 2005, the company bought facebook.com for $200,000 and dropped 'The.' It opened to high schools in 2005 and to everyone over 13 in 2006.

Why it still matters

Facebook grew to become the world's largest social network, reaching 1 billion users in 2012 and 3 billion by 2023. It transformed how people connect, share news, and organize—enabling the Arab Spring, but also spreading misinformation. Facebook's business model—free service funded by targeted advertising based on user data—created the surveillance economy. The company, renamed Meta in 2021, acquired Instagram (2012) and WhatsApp (2014). Facebook has faced repeated scandals over privacy, misinformation, and its impact on mental health and democracy. It demonstrated that social networks exhibit powerful network effects and that connecting the world, while profitable, creates profound social and political challenges.

Background

It opened beyond college users in the following years.