The creation of "the Facebook" or Facebook as we know it was a huge technological advancement that gave people the opportunity to connect with each other in a way that unheard of during this time.
There were other social media websites like MySpace, but as an article from The Guardian says:
“Facebook's promise is that it "helps you connect and share with the people in your life". The point here is that you already have a social network. Facebook exists only to support communication with the people in it. Compare this to the MySpace slogan: "A place for friends". The difference is subtle but significant. While Facebook is a tool intended to support communication and networking, MySpace is a thing, a place, a new hangout site – a kind of virtual alternative to the mall beloved by teenagers.”
I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Facebook was meant to communicate and network with people you already know while MySpace was created to simply hang out with people. The article compares MySpace to a mall while Facebook “showcases the result of all that hanging out.”
Facebook now is drastically different from what it was back when it was created in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg and a few other Harvard students created Facebook to connect Harvard students, alumni, and professors together. Its original use was a mix between LinkedIn and Blackboard. Students and professors could talk about classes, assignments, and use it as a networking site between alumni and students.
In the first 24 hours, 1,200 people from Harvard signed up, and over half of the Harvard undergrads had a profile in a month. Facebook soon expanded to other schools in the Boston area and eventually almost every campus in the US. The transition from more of an experimental phase to a commercial phase was when Facebook opened up to anyone with an email address instead of a school email address.
Another article I read explained that Facebook’s timing was a larger factor to it becoming a success. A creator’s timing has to be perfect, it can’t be too early or late. Zuckerberg was not the first person to think of this idea, nor will he won’t be the last. Facebook seemed to be a solid base for other social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. When Instagram was first released, many thought that it would become the new Facebook since it was on a small decline. Two years after Instagram launched in 2010, Facebook bought it and now caters to both the younger generations who use Instagram and the “older” ones that use Facebook.
By 2007, people could give gifts to their friends, post free classified ads, and even develop their own apps. In 2012, over 1 billion people were using Facebook, and in 2020 there over 2 billion active accounts. That amount of growth in a short amount of time is shocking.
One thing that Facebook did to stay relevant during a rapidly evolving time was veering away from the academic and professional aspects and integrate into a more casual form. A year after the worldwide expansion, users could give gifts to friends, post free classified ads and develop their own apps. In 2009 Facebook added the like button, in 2010 the newsfeed was created and Facebook even bought Instagram in 2012. After buying Instagram in 2012, Facebook bought another multibillion-dollar company called WhatsApp. Between the buyouts, new features, and the basic principle of connecting with friends and family, Facebook isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
Link to Article Mentioned:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jun/23/facebook-myspace-social-networks#:~:text=The%20difference%20is%20subtle%20but,then%20MySpace%20offers%20exactly%20that