Facebook facts for kids
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Mark Zuckerberg's profile (viewed when logged out)
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Type of site
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Social networking service |
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| Available in | Multilingual Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Cebuano, Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Dutch (België), English (UK), English (US), English (upside down), Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), Frisian, Fula, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Guarani, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Japanese (Kansai), Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Kyrgyz, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian (bokmal), Norwegian (nynorsk), Odia, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sardinian, Serbian, Shona, Silesian, Simplified Chinese (China), Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorani Kurdish, Spanish, Spanish (Spain), Swahili, Swedish, Syriac, Tajik, Tamazight, Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Tetun, Thai, Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh and Zaza |
| Founded | February 4, 2004 in Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Area served | Worldwide, except blocking countries |
| Owner | Meta Platforms |
| Founder(s) |
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| CEO | Mark Zuckerberg |
| Registration | Required (to do any activity) |
| Users |  2.94 billion monthly active users (as of 31 March 2022[update]) |
| Launched | February 4, 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | C++, Hack (as HHVM) and PHP |
Facebook is a popular social media and social networking service website. It is owned by an American technology company called Meta. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 with four other students and roommates from Harvard University. Their names were Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
The name "Facebook" comes from special directories called "face books." These books often had pictures of students and were given out at American universities. At first, only Harvard students could join Facebook. Then, it slowly opened up to other universities in North America. Since 2006, anyone aged 13 or older can sign up for Facebook. However, in a few countries, the age limit is 14.
As of late 2022, Facebook had almost 3 billion people using it every month. In October 2023, Facebook was the third most visited website in the world. About 22.56% of its visitors came from the United States. It was also the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.
You can use Facebook on many devices that connect to the Internet. This includes personal computers, tablets, and smartphones. After you sign up, you can create a profile and share information about yourself. You can post text, photos, and videos. These can be shared with your friends or, depending on your privacy settings, with everyone.
Users can also talk directly with each other using Messenger. You can join groups that share your interests. Facebook also sends you notifications about what your friends are doing and what pages you follow.
Facebook has faced many criticisms. People have worried about things like user privacy, especially after events like the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. There have also been concerns about how it might be used to spread political messages. Some people worry about how Facebook affects addiction and self-esteem. There have also been issues with fake news, conspiracy theories, and hate speech on the platform.
How Facebook Started and Grew
Early Days: From Facemash to TheFacebook
In 2003, while at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg created a website called "Facemash." This site was like "Hot or Not." It showed two photos from online "face books" and asked users to pick the "hotter" person. Facemash got 450 visitors and 22,000 photo views in just four hours. Harvard shut it down a few days later. Zuckerberg faced trouble for breaking security rules and privacy. But the charges were eventually dropped.
Zuckerberg then worked on a social study tool. He put art images with comment sections on a website for his classmates. A "face book" is a student directory with photos and personal details. In 2003, Harvard only had paper versions or private online ones. Zuckerberg thought he could do better.
In January 2004, Zuckerberg started coding a new website called "TheFacebook." It was inspired by an article that said a central website was needed. Zuckerberg met with Harvard student Eduardo Saverin. They each put in $1,000 to start the site. On February 4, 2004, "TheFacebook" officially launched at thefacebook.com.
Six days after launching, some Harvard seniors said Zuckerberg stole their ideas. They claimed he used their plans for a social network called HarvardConnection.com to build his own. They later sued him. In 2008, they settled for 1.2 million shares of Facebook, which were worth $300 million when Facebook first offered shares to the public.
At first, only Harvard College students could join. Within a month, over half of the students had signed up. Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help manage the website's growth. In March 2004, Facebook expanded to other universities like Columbia, Stanford, and Yale. Soon, it was available to most universities in the United States and Canada.
In mid-2004, Napster co-founder Sean Parker became the company's president. He helped Facebook get its first investment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. In 2005, the company bought the name Facebook.com for $200,000 and dropped "the" from its name.
In May 2005, a company called Accel Partners invested $12.7 million in Facebook. A version of the site for high school students launched in September 2005. It then expanded to include employees of companies like Apple Inc. and Microsoft.
Growing Big: Public Access and New Features
In September 2006, Facebook became open to anyone at least 13 years old with a valid email address. By late 2007, many companies were using Facebook pages to promote themselves. In October 2007, Microsoft bought a small part of Facebook for $240 million. This made Facebook worth about $15 billion. Microsoft also got the right to place ads internationally.
In May 2007, Facebook launched its Developer Platform. This allowed other software developers to create apps that worked with Facebook. By July 2008, there were 33,000 apps and over 400,000 developers.
Facebook won awards, like being in "Top 100 Classic Websites" by PC Magazine in 2007. In 2008, Facebook redesigned its look, making it cleaner and easier to use. In January 2009, a study showed Facebook was the most used social network worldwide. China blocked Facebook in 2009.
In 2009, a Russian investor named Yuri Milner's DST Global invested $200 million in Facebook. This valued Facebook at $10 billion. In September 2009, Facebook started making enough money to cover its costs. In July 2010, Facebook announced it had 500 million users. Half of them used Facebook daily. In November 2010, Facebook was valued at $41 billion, becoming the third largest American web company.
In 2011, Facebook bought the domain name fb.com for $8.5 million. In February 2011, Facebook announced it would move its headquarters to Menlo Park, California. In March 2011, Facebook was removing about 20,000 profiles daily to fight spam and underage users. In June 2011, Facebook reached one trillion page views, making it the most visited website tracked by DoubleClick.
Big Milestones: IPO and One Billion Users
In March 2012, Facebook launched its App Center. This was a store for apps that worked with the website. It was available on iPhones, Android devices, and mobile web.
Facebook first offered its shares to the public on May 17, 2012. Each share cost $38. The company was valued at $104 billion, which was the largest valuation at that time. This sale raised $16 billion, making it one of the biggest in U.S. history. Facebook joined the Fortune 500 list in May 2013.
In October 2012, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had one billion monthly active users. This included 600 million mobile users. Users had uploaded 219 billion photos and made 140 billion friend connections.
New Tools and Growth: 2013-2014
On January 15, 2013, Facebook launched Facebook Graph Search. This tool helps users find "precise answers" by using data already on the site. It only shows results from content shared with the user. On April 3, 2013, Facebook showed off Facebook Home, a special look for Android phones that worked closely with Facebook.
In April 2013, Facebook teamed up with legal groups to give teenagers and parents tools to manage their social networking profiles. Facebook also updated its logo slightly. In June, Facebook added clickable hashtags. This helps users follow trending discussions.
Facebook joined the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) in October 2013. This group, led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, aims to make Internet access cheaper in developing countries.
The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in February 2014. By January 2014, over one billion users connected through a mobile device. By September, Facebook's value had grown to over $200 billion.
Fighting Fake News and New Technologies
Around 2015, Facebook changed its system to try and filter out false or misleading content, like fake news. It relied on users to report such stories. In April 2016, Zuckerberg shared his 10-year plan, focusing on artificial intelligence, better global internet, and virtual and augmented reality.
After the 2016 United States presidential election, Facebook said it would fight fake news. It would use fact-checkers and make it easier for users to report hoaxes. In April 2017, Facebook launched Facebook Spaces, a virtual reality version of Facebook for Oculus VR headsets. Users could meet in a virtual space using their avatars. In September, Facebook said it would spend up to $1 billion on original shows for its Facebook Watch platform.
In May 2018, Facebook announced its own dating service, Facebook Dating. It included privacy features, so friends couldn't see dating profiles. In July, Facebook launched a new company in China, but its registration was later withdrawn. In November, Facebook launched smart displays called Portal and Portal+. These devices included video chat using Facebook Messenger.
In January 2019, the "10-year challenge" became popular. Users posted photos of themselves from 10 years ago and a recent one. In March 2019, Facebook said it would provide "authoritative information" about vaccines to fight vaccine hesitancy.
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In May 2019, Facebook announced a new vision: "the future is private." They redesigned the website and mobile app, called "FB5." They also planned to improve groups, the dating platform, and add end-to-end encryption to messages.
In August 2019, it was found that Facebook had hired people to listen to and transcribe users' audio messages. Facebook confirmed this but said the program was stopped. In September 2019, Facebook launched Facebook Dating in the United States. Facebook News, which shows stories from news organizations, launched in October.
In November 2019, banking data for 29,000 Facebook employees was stolen from a car. The data was on unencrypted hard drives. Employees were told about it in December.
In June 2020, several big companies paused their ads on Facebook. This was to support the "Stop Hate For Profit" campaign, which said Facebook wasn't doing enough to remove hateful content. In August 2020, Facebook started combining Instagram's direct messaging with Messenger. In September 2020, Facebook launched a climate science information center. It provides facts and data from trusted organizations about climate change.
Recent Changes: New Name and Challenges
In October 2021, Facebook's parent company, Facebook, Inc., changed its name to Meta Platforms, Inc., or simply "Meta." This change shows its new focus on building the "metaverse." The name of the Facebook social network itself did not change.
In November 2021, Facebook said it would stop showing ads based on sensitive data like health, race, political beliefs, and religion. This change affects all apps owned by Meta Platforms.
In February 2022, Facebook's daily active users dropped for the first time in 18 years. The company also warned that its revenue growth would slow down. This was due to competition from apps like TikTok and YouTube.
On March 10, 2022, Facebook temporarily changed its rules to allow violent speech against "Russian invaders." Russia then banned all Meta services, including Instagram.
In September 2022, a reporter noted that Facebook was struggling. Users were leaving, and advertisers were spending less. The reporter also mentioned that Mark Zuckerberg was focusing a lot on the metaverse, which costs billions but doesn't bring in much money yet.
Global Outage in 2021
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On October 4, 2021, Facebook had its worst outage since 2008. All Facebook services, including Instagram and WhatsApp, stopped working worldwide for about six hours. This affected around three billion users. Experts said the problem was with Facebook's own internet routing system.
The outage also stopped Facebook's internal communication systems. This made it hard for employees to fix the problem. The outage greatly affected people in developing countries who rely on Facebook's "Free Basics" program for communication and business. Facebook's chief technology officer apologized for the long downtime.
Facial Recognition Changes
On November 2, 2021, Facebook announced it would shut down its facial recognition technology. It also said it would delete data from over a billion users. However, Meta later said it plans to use similar technologies in future products, like the metaverse.
This change also meant Facebook's automatic alt text system would stop working. This system helped visually impaired users by describing images on the platform. In February 2023, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would start selling blue "verified" badges on Instagram and Facebook.
How Facebook Works
Technical Details
Facebook's main color is blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red–green colorblind. Facebook was first built using PHP, a programming language for web development. PHP helped create dynamic content and manage data. As Facebook grew, it faced challenges with PHP's speed. So, Facebook engineers created a tool called HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM) to make PHP run much faster.
In 2012, Facebook was built as one big application. It compiled into a large file that was sent to servers using a special system. This process took about 30 minutes and allowed changes to be rolled out daily without stopping the service.
Facebook uses a system called HBase to store data across many computers. When you do something on Facebook, like liking a post, that action is recorded. This data is then processed and shown to users. Facebook uses different tools to handle many requests and to make sure pages load quickly.
Content Delivery
Facebook uses its own content delivery network (CDN) to deliver static content like images and videos. This network helps speed up how quickly content loads for users around the world.
Hack Programming Language
On March 20, 2014, Facebook announced a new open-source programming language called Hack. A large part of Facebook was already using this new language before it was released to the public.
Your Profile and Timeline
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Every Facebook user has a personal profile. This profile shows their posts and content. In September 2011, the look of user pages changed and became known as "Timeline." This is a chronological feed of a user's stories, including updates, photos, and events. The new design let users add a "cover photo." Users also got more privacy settings.
In 2007, Facebook launched Facebook Pages for brands and celebrities. This allowed them to connect with their fans. In June 2009, Facebook added a "Usernames" feature. This let users choose a unique nickname for their profile's web address, making it easier to share.
In February 2014, Facebook added more gender options. Users could choose from a wide range of gender identities. They could also pick which gender-specific pronouns should be used for them on the site. In May 2014, Facebook added a feature that lets users ask for information not shared by other users on their profiles.
News Feed
The News Feed is on every user's homepage. It shows important information like profile changes, upcoming events, and friends' birthdays. At first, some users didn't like the News Feed because it seemed too cluttered or made it too easy for others to track their activities. Mark Zuckerberg apologized for not having enough privacy features. Now, users can control what information is shared and with whom.
On February 23, 2010, Facebook got a patent for parts of its News Feed. This patent covers News Feeds where users can interact with each other's activities. The order of stories in your News Feed is decided by a system called EdgeRank.
The Photos feature lets users upload albums and photos. Each album can hold 200 photos. You can set privacy for each album. Users can also "tag" friends in a photo. The tagged friend gets a notification with a link to the photo.
On June 7, 2012, Facebook launched its App Center. This helped users find games and other applications. On May 13, 2015, Facebook launched "Instant Articles" with news portals. This allowed users to read news directly in their News Feed without leaving Facebook.
In January 2017, Facebook launched Facebook Stories. Like Snapchat and Instagram stories, this feature lets users upload photos and videos that appear above friends' News Feeds and disappear after 24 hours. In October 2017, Facebook added "3D Posts" for interactive 3D content. In January 2018, Facebook announced it would change the News Feed to show more content from friends and family, and less from media companies.
In February 2020, Facebook said it would spend $1 billion to license news material from publishers. This was to pay for news content appearing on the platform.
The Like Button
The "like" button, which looks like a "thumbs up," was added on February 9, 2009. It lets users easily interact with updates, comments, photos, videos, and links. When a user clicks "like," that content is more likely to show up in their friends' News Feeds. The button also shows how many other users have liked the content. In February 2016, Facebook added "Reactions," allowing users to choose from five emotions: "Love," "Haha," "Wow," "Sad," or "Angry." In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new "Care" reaction was added.
Instant Messaging with Messenger
Facebook Messenger is an instant messaging service. It started as Facebook Chat in 2008 and became a separate mobile app in August 2011. It's still part of the user page on web browsers.
With Messenger, users can make one-on-one and group voice and video calls. The Android app supports SMS and "Chat Heads," which are small profile photo icons that appear on your screen no matter what app you're using. Both apps support multiple accounts and conversations with optional end-to-end encryption.
In April 2020, Facebook launched Messenger Rooms. This video chat feature lets up to 50 people chat at once. In July 2020, Facebook added a feature for iOS users to lock their chats using Face ID or Touch ID. This feature, called App Lock, improves privacy and security. In October 2020, Messenger introduced cross-app messaging with Instagram.
Businesses can also use Messenger to interact with customers. Third-party developers can create apps that work inside Messenger. Developers can also build chatbots for Messenger, which can do things like deliver news.
Privacy on Facebook
Facebook's data policy explains how it collects, stores, and shares user data. Facebook lets users control who sees their posts and profile using privacy settings. Your name and profile picture are always public.
Facebook makes money from targeted advertising. This means it analyzes user data to show ads that are most relevant to each person. Facebook also buys data from other companies to add to its own user information. Facebook says it does not share personal information, like your name or email, with advertisers unless you give permission. Instead, it gives advertisers general information about groups of people who saw their ads.
As of October 2021, Facebook shares user data with third-party apps, websites, and integrations that you choose to use. For example, if you play a game with Facebook friends, the game developer can get information about your activities. However, Facebook is working to limit how much data developers can access to prevent misuse.
Facebook will also share data with law enforcement if needed. Facebook's privacy policies have changed many times over the years. This is due to concerns about how it protects user data and what access it gives to other companies or governments. Some countries have specific laws, like the European Union's GDPR, that require more privacy protections.
Bug Bounty Program
On July 29, 2011, Facebook started its Bug Bounty Program. It pays security researchers at least $500 for reporting security flaws. The company promised not to take legal action against "white hat" hackers who found these problems. This program encouraged researchers from many countries, especially India and Russia, to help make Facebook more secure.
Facebook's Impact on the World
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Wide Reach
One writer said that Facebook is a "massive store of information." It shows how people react to events and how customs change. This gives historians a much clearer and more detailed picture of our lives than ever before.
Economy and Jobs
Facebook offers many services that can be used by many people at once without them competing for it. This is different from most goods, where only a limited number of people can use them. Facebook has a big economic impact in three main areas: platform competition, its marketplace, and user data.
Facebook has also worked to reduce its carbon footprint. In 2021, Facebook announced that its global operations are powered by 100% renewable energy and have reached net zero emissions.
Facebook provides a platform for many social games, communication tools, and other online applications. This has created many new businesses and thousands of jobs worldwide. For example, Zynga Inc., a leader in social gaming, grew because of Facebook. One study found that Facebook's app development platform added over 182,000 jobs in the U.S. economy in 2011.
Society and Connections
Facebook was one of the first large-scale social networks. Its structure makes it hard to replace because of its "network effects." This means the more people who use it, the more valuable it becomes. As of 2016, about 44% of the U.S. population gets news from Facebook.
Mental and Emotional Health
Studies have shown that social networks can have both good and bad effects on emotional health. Some studies link Facebook to feelings of envy. This often happens when people see vacation photos or posts about family happiness. These feelings can make people feel unhappy with their own lives. One study found that one out of three people felt worse after visiting Facebook.
However, there are positive effects too. Facebook can help people show "virtual empathy" to online friends. It can also help shy people learn social skills. A study in 2020 found that taking a break from Facebook led to increased happiness. Facebook itself noted in 2017 that just reading the News Feed without interacting could lead to negative feelings. But interacting with messages seemed to improve well-being.
Politics and Public Voice
In February 2008, a Facebook group helped organize a large protest in Colombia against a group called FARC. In August 2010, North Korea's official news agency joined Facebook.
During the Arab Spring, many journalists said Facebook played a big role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. A Facebook page called "We are all Khaled Said" invited Egyptians to peaceful protests. Facebook became a main tool for connecting protesters. This led the Egyptian government to block Facebook and other websites. After 18 days, the uprising led to the president's resignation.
In the Bahraini uprising of 2011, Facebook was used by the government to find and arrest citizens involved in protests. In 2011, Facebook created a political action committee called FB PAC. This allows employees to support political candidates who share their goals.
During the Syrian civil war, a group called the YPG used Facebook to recruit people from Western countries to fight against ISIL.
In recent years, Facebook's News Feed system has been criticized for causing political division. It has also been accused of spreading 'fake news' and extreme views.
Facebook first played a role in American politics in January 2008. It teamed up with ABC and a college to let users give live feedback during political debates. A study suggested that Facebook increased voting rates and political involvement among young voters.
By the 2016 election, political advertising to specific groups became common. Facebook offered advanced tools for targeting ads. There were concerns when it was found that advertisers could target people based on hateful interests.
Facebook has tried to encourage users to register and vote. In 2012, an experiment showed that users who saw pictures of friends who voted were more likely to vote themselves. In 2020, Facebook aimed to help four million voters register in the US.
The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal showed another example of attempts to influence elections. The Guardian reported that Facebook knew about a security breach for two years but didn't act until it became public.
Facebook banned political ads to prevent voter manipulation in the US November election. However, experts noted that misinformation can still reach voters in other ways on social media. In March 2024, former US President Donald Trump said that getting rid of TikTok would help Facebook, which he called the "enemy of the people."
Facebook in India
Before the 2019 elections in India, Facebook removed many pages and accounts from Pakistan and India. It found that some Pakistani accounts were linked to the military and were posting about Indian politics while hiding their identity. Facebook also removed pages and accounts linked to the Indian Congress party for similar reasons.
Culture and Influence
Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have been featured in music, books, films, and TV shows. The 2010 film The Social Network was about Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook.
In 2008, the Collins English Dictionary named "Facebook" its new Word of the Year. In 2009, the New Oxford American Dictionary chose the verb "unfriend" as its word of the year. This means to remove someone as a "friend" on a social networking site like Facebook.
Internet.org
In August 2013, Facebook started Internet.org with six other tech companies. Their goal was to help build affordable Internet access for developing countries. The service, called Free Basics, included free access to basic apps like news, weather, and health information. However, it faced strong opposition in India and was banned there in 2016. In 2018, Zuckerberg said that Internet.org had helped almost 100 million people get online.
Environment
In 2021, Facebook announced it would work to stop false information about climate change. The company will use trusted sources like universities for information. It will also expand its climate information hub to 16 countries. Users in other countries will be directed to the United Nations Environment Programme for information.
Images for kids
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Aerial view of Meta HQ in Menlo Park, California
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A Facebook "White Hat" debit card, given to researchers who report security bugs
See also
In Spanish: Facebook para niños
- Ambient awareness
- Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland
- Cyberstalking
- DARPA LifeLog
- Double Irish tax scheme
- Facebook malware
- Six degrees of separation
- Social graph
- Timeline of social media
- Surveillance Capitalism
