This Time in History – The Launch of Facebook

Nowadays, when asked what you were doing this time last year or two years ago, people are now accustomed to going back through their Timeline where they can find posts, videos, photos and events that were occurring and impacting their life at a particular point in time. If you asked Mark Zuckerberg what he was doing this day, February 4th, nine years ago, his Timeline would read:
“Launched a little known social network under the name ‘thefacebook.com’ which would turn into a billion dollar entity and engage over 500 million people throughout the world within a decade’s time.”

What was once a site created for Harvard students to connect with each other in their community, has turned into a billion dollar plus creation, connecting millions of people all over the world through the power of online social interactions, spawning countless other social media sites, a book, a award winning feature film and a worldwide phenomenon.

Facebook has forever changed the way we communicate and interact with each other. As the old saying goes, “Perception is reality” and while this still holds true, Facebook has recreated the concept of perception. Instead of going back to your ten or twenty year high school reunion wondering what the peers you grew up with are up to now, you already know what they ate for breakfast last Tuesday. We now ‘meet’ so many more people, become connected with and learn about them through the Internet. From all the information available, our ‘perception’ is now based on photos, likes and status updates. There should not be any big surprises at your high school reunion; you already know what your high school classmates are up to.

Mark Zuckerberg’s vision, creativity and efforts almost a decade ago has had more longevity and been more impactful then even he could have ever imagined. Facebook also shows no signs of slowing down, the social network’s team continuously adds and creates new features in order to keep Facebook relevant. Zuckerberg was able to tap into people’s personal intrigue, fostering creation within people while maintaining it in his successful system and through inner-connected marketing and word of mouth, ‘created a monster’ which has forever changed the way we think about news, business, marketing and even human interaction.

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