The worldwide popular social network Facebook has not gone unnoticed by anyone. Mark Zuckerberg and the company are now successful icons in terms of social networking. Since you are aware of the founder and the company, so you should be aware of why is Facebook called Facebook?
From kids (13+) to adults and even the aged of 21st century have their accounts on it. Some of you are running a business and earning profit whereas some use it to stay in touch with their beloveds.
The story behind the name Facebook is as straight as a line but the making of it isn’t.
Why Is Facebook Called Facebook?
The name wasn’t misheard but referred to a directory at Harvard College in the United States. This directory, called Face Books, contained photos and details of students. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched a website called ‘The Facebook,’ inspired by the concept of this directory at Harvard University.
In 2005, when the company registered its domain ‘www.facebook.com’ for $2,00,000, it dropped ‘The’ from it. It is believed that Sean Parker proposed the idea of dropping ‘The’. Some claim that the company was waiting to have enough money to register a domain.
Why Is It Called Facebook?
On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg rolled out ‘TheFaceook’. His fellows Eduardo Saverin assisted him as the co-founder; Dustin Moskovitz as the programmer; Andrew Mccollum as the site’s graphic artist; and Chris Hughes as the spokesperson.
As per Zuckerberg, the website was something the students from Harvard were looking for. Since he had the potential to make it real; he decided to make it online and, in 2004, launched what is now known as Facebook.
However, it wasn’t a straight track. His seniors namely, the Winklevoss brothers (Cameron and Tyler) and Divya Narendra claimed that it was their idea of creating HarvardConnection. Later, the matter was settled.
Before this, Mark Zuckerberg created a website named ‘Facemash’ which was the first step towards making of Facebook.
FashMash
It was launched in 2003 and got terminated within a few days of its launch. The idea was to rate the attractiveness of peers by comparing two pictures on the website. Within hours of its launch, it got huge traffic and fell into controversy. Consequently, Zuckerberg has to face serious charges of breach of security, violation of copyrights, and individual privacy. Further, he got suspended from the university for a temporary period and the charges dropped eventually.
Expansion
Initially, it was confined to Harvard Students yet it had 1200 members registered just in twelve hours.
Afterward, it was expanded to target other universities in the state. In the summer of 2004, it expanded its network to Standford, Columbia, Yale, and other schools in Boston.
Fascinated with the ideas, Sean Parker the founder of Napster approached Zuckerberg. He became an angel investor in the company and the company’s president at that time. Seeing the rapid growth Zuckerberg registered a domain.
As of 2005, this giant gained six million users. Until now, a join link was required to be a user of Facebook, which could be sent via mail.
In the last quarter of 2005, the employees of giants like Microsoft and Apple Inc. started joining the network. In 2006, to increase the outreach, the founder made the joining process effortless. Now, anyone aged above 13 can register on this popular social platform with a valid email address.
Unbeatable Success
Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire at the age of 24. With his skills and enthusiasm, he marked it on the pages of history.
The journey depicted why is Facebook called Facebook. Started with a few users to a venture accounting for 2.8 billion active users, this giant is unbeatable in this century. It began its journey with a $1000 investment is now has a net worth of approx $600 billion as of December 2020.
