The Web site Facebook was launched (as TheFacebook.com)
On 4 February 2004, Facebook.com was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Its name derives from the face book directories, which are often given to American university students. It began as a social network only for Harvard students but since then it gradually expanded to other universities across North America and later on throughout the whole world. As of 2022, Facebook claimed to have more than 2.89 monthly active users.
Nobody could have ever expected how popular and revolutionary the platform will become. Facebook made it possible for people from all around the globe to stay connected, to freely share information, to organize and promote events of all kinds. Of course, like everything else it has its own dark side. As it is claimed in Wikipedia: "The subject of numerous controversies, Facebook has often been criticized over issues such as user privacy (as with the Cambridge Analytica data scandal), political manipulation (as with the 2016 U.S. elections), mass surveillance, psychological effects such as addiction and low self-esteem, and content such as fake news, conspiracy theories, copyright infringement, and hate speech. Commentators have accused Facebook of willingly facilitating the spread of such content, as well as exaggerating its number of users to appeal to advertisers."
However, Facebook has made an immense impact on contemporary global media and culture. After its appearance in the sphere of communication, many other platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Youtube, Whatsup, Pinterest, and TikTok were created. It completely changed the way we communicate, how we perceive information, and even how we think and speak to each other. We are still unaware of all the consequences that social media platforms have caused but one is sure, they are here to stay.
On 28 October, the Facebook company re-branded as Meta. Facebook is now just one of the platforms, such as Instagram and Whatsup, which are owned by Meta.