Facebook Evolution and Life Cycle!

Facebook is something that doesn’t needs an introduction. A social media having billions of active users has been doing great since the day it was launched. If you are an old  Facebook user then you will find this post interesting enough to refresh your old memories of using this social media site. Here is a list of all major changes that are of significant importance in the journey that Facebook started, back in 2004. Lets go back to those days and recall how Facebook gradually reached to somewhere, that is here!

Have a look!

2004: Welcome to Facebook.com, the originals

The original, Facebook was up for the students of Harvard only, comprising of used photos compiled from the online Facebook of nine houses, placing next to each other and asking which one is ‘hotter’. It attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo views in its first four hours online. Which was later expanded by introducing social study tool ahead of art history finals, and there on people start sharing notes.

2005: The original Facebook profile, the high-school version

Facebook.com received its first investment in June 2004 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and later the company dropped ‘The’ from its name, originating the tremendous social networking site, after purchasing its domain “Facebook.com’ in 2005 for $200,000. It has now gone to a senior level as Facebook launched a high-school version that required an invitation to join. It later expended membership eligibility to employees of various companies.

2006: Mark Zuckerberg’s profile, Personal profile of everyone

Everyone of age 13 or older with a valid email address could join the network. It’s when the Mark Zuckerberg brought the first major redesign, news feeds were popping up on the user’s homepage which allow users to track their friend’s Facebook updates and activity in real time and mini feeds were introduce on individual profile pages. The change was protested and for that Zuckerberg wrote an open apology letter. Microsoft purchased 1.6% shares of Facebook for $240 million and owns a right to place international ads on Facebook.

2008: Facebook’s home page

Within four years there were over 100 million users which were growing with a percentage of 178.38%. For such growing community, the Facebook launched a new user interface format, a complete layout redesign and brought changes in Facebook’s terms of Use, which remove the clause detailing automatic expiry of deleted contents.

2009: Facebook Homepage

Facebook removed the privacy controls for the news feeds and mini feeds. Users frenzy ensures when users can’t control the activities that are publish on their walls and freedom to post anything and limit to delete the posted posts ensures the mess, so here the Facebook took another turn and introduced Real-time stream. Facebook also start asking ‘what’s on your mind’, letting you to share more.

2010: Profile gets a Facelift

A new messaging platform, ‘Project Titan’ basically known as “Gmail killer’ was introduced that allow users to directly communicate with each other besides Facebook restore its profile pages again in 2010 with options of controlled and streamlined its privacy settings.

2010: Facebook pages

Celebrities getting on with social networking site, publicizing and moving step ahead to exponential growth of their fans by inviting fans and customers to connect with them on Facebook

2011: Ticker

Stalking has become a lot easier in 2011 when a real-time activity was introduced to the homepage. It also added the ability for users to provide a ‘Subscribe’ button on their pages.

2011: Video chat

Facebook moves from words to videos and voices, it launched its video calling services using Skype as its technology partner. It also allow to make live voice calls via Facebook Chats.

2011: Timeline hello

Zuckerberg now claiming to make navigation through profile easier and has made timeline mandatory though a large percentage of Facebook users have rejected the change.

2011: Facebook subscribers

Facebook have now moved to next level of socialism by connecting people without them being friends. Now your pictures, posts and other stuff that you wish to post on public could be seen by your followers a true gift for celebrities and heartthrobs of universities.

Facebook enable ‘subscribers’ option and now

2012: Facebook’s App Center

The social network giant Facebook finally have decided to sum up the world in a nutshell. An opportunity have been created for the developers to make their efforts worthy and successful in for of apps on the Facebook.

2012: Facebook acquires Instagram

Facebook bought alone the photo sharing app at whooping cost of $1billion. Instagram was winning millions of hearts after launching every single app so why would Facebook not acquire that after all, photo sharing and tagging are arguably what *made* Facebook.

2013: Graph Search

Mark Zuckerberg have finally promised that Facebook will now publish filtered, curated, and customized information on graph search pattern which will definitely connect many things together.

All for now, do share if I have missed something,

Wishes,