Happy birthday Facebook! Okay, it’s not their birthday. But they have reached a milestone very few online companies will ever see. Now that’s worth celebrating!
Earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced back on Monday, August 24, one billion users logged on Facebook in one day. That’s the first time any social media network has accomplished such a feat. Facebook was launched in 2004 at Harvard University. It was exclusive to Harvard as an online directory. But by the end of 2005, Facebook had over 2,800,000 users and available on 800 campuses. That same year, Zuckerberg and his creation got their first piece of national notoriety. The New York Times released an article called “Student Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million”. ?Venture capitalist Jim Breyer believed in young Facebook so much he invested $13 million in Zuckerberg‘s dream. It was probably one of the best investments in US history. Around this time, MySpace was launched and became the premier social website. But by the end of the 2000s decade, MySpace was left in the dust and Facebook became social media king. Back in 2012, Facebook had one billion active monthly users. That was a tremendous feat. But now, 1 in 7 people, almost 15%of the world’s population, are now using Facebook on a daily basis.
So far this decade, Mark Zuckerberg was awarded Time’s Person of the Year (2010). Facebook is now worth over $250 billion. It’s been involved in humanitarian efforts like reporting the 3/11/11 tsunami in Japan and raising funds for it’s victims. Though Facebook’s stock market started shaky, they now trade at over $90 a share. What makes this so phenomenal is that 40% of the world’s population still is without Internet service. That mean nearly half of the world’s population can’t even get access to Facebook, yet 15% of the global population are using Facebook on a daily basis. What if the whole world had access to the Internet? How?much?more powerful would Facebook be?