Facebook first came into being as a spin-off of a rating site called Hot or Not back in 2003. It was created by a Harvard University student named Mark Zuckerberg. Facemash, as it was then called, was used to compare people by showing photographs and allowing users to vote on them. It was a satire website of sorts, in that it sometimes showed one picture of an animal and another of a person for comparison.
Over time, as more and more people caught on to the idea and members registered by the hundreds, Facemash faced trouble as Zuckerberg was charged by the Harvard Administration with multiple offenses. Facemash was shut down immediately afterwards, but thankfully, the creator was not. The project was revived in 2004 when Zuckerberg teamed up with Eduardo Saverin and Andrew McCollum. Facemash was revamped into Facebook, and more features were added to the website, supplanting the satire image of its former inception, and quickly becoming a worldwide hit.
The Easy Endeavor
It is stated that around 70 million people (and growing) use Facebook every day and not just for personal use, but to create opportunities that branch out into the categories of business and self promotion. The idea of using social networking sites for marketing enterprises has certainly been around, but Facebook takes full advantage of this and creates even more possibilities and concepts. Continue reading »