**The Birth of Facebook: A Story That Changed How We Connect**
(When Was Facebook Created)
Imagine a world without Facebook. No news feeds, no friend requests, no endless scroll of vacation photos. It sounds strange now. Back in 2004, this was reality. The internet existed. People used email. Socializing online meant chat rooms or early sites like MySpace. Then came a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg. He changed everything.
Facebook started as a small project. Zuckerberg built a site called “Facemash” in 2003. It let students compare photos of classmates. It caused chaos. Harvard shut it down fast. Zuckerberg didn’t quit. He saw a bigger idea. People wanted to connect online. They wanted something real, not just profiles.
February 4, 2004, marked the official launch. The first version was called “TheFacebook.” Only Harvard students could join. It spread quickly. Within a month, half the school signed up. Colleges like Stanford and Yale wanted in. By December, it hit one million users.
The name changed to just “Facebook” in 2005. The company bought the domain “facebook.com” for $200,000. That same year, high school students got access. Then everyone over 13. The growth exploded. By 2006, it had 12 million users.
Features kept coming. The “Like” button arrived in 2009. It changed how people interacted. Clicking a thumbs-up became universal. Photos, status updates, events—everything felt alive. People shared birthdays, breakups, new jobs. Facebook became a digital scrapbook.
Not everything went smoothly. Early lawsuits claimed Zuckerberg stole the idea. He settled with some Harvard peers. Others accused him of copying their concepts. The drama even inspired a movie, *The Social Network*. Zuckerberg stayed focused. He kept building.
Money became a question. How would Facebook make profit? Ads were the answer. Businesses paid to reach users. Targeted ads used data people shared. It worked. By 2012, Facebook went public. Its value hit $104 billion. Critics worried about privacy. Few listened.
Big moments kept coming. Instagram bought in 2012 for $1 billion. WhatsApp followed in 2014 for $19 billion. Facebook wasn’t just a site anymore. It was an empire. People debated its power. Governments investigated data use. Scandals like Cambridge Analytica made headlines. Trust wobbled.
Through it all, Facebook kept growing. By 2023, over 3 billion people used it monthly. The name changed to “Meta” in 2021. Zuckerberg wanted a focus on the metaverse. Virtual reality, digital worlds—it was a new vision. But the original blue app stayed.
Looking back, Facebook’s rise feels inevitable. It filled a need. Humans crave connection. Zuckerberg gave them a tool. It wasn’t perfect. Privacy issues, fake news, addiction—problems piled up. But the impact is undeniable. Friends reunited. Families stayed close. Movements organized online.
Facebook’s birthday isn’t just a tech milestone. It’s a cultural shift. Life before 2004 feels ancient. Arguments about oversharing or screen time don’t erase the truth. Facebook rewrote how we live. Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it.
(When Was Facebook Created)
The story isn’t over. New apps rise. Trends shift. Facebook adapts. What stays is the core idea. Zuckerberg’s dorm-room project became a global heartbeat. It started with a simple question: *How can we bring people closer?* Two decades later, we’re still answering.
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