In 2004, the social network “TheFacebook” was launched by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates at Harvard University. It quickly grew in popularity, becoming the largest social media network in the world, with over three billion monthly active users today.
The idea for Facebook came from one of Zuckerberg’s previous projects, Facemash, a website that allowed users to rate female Harvard students’ faces. After the site was shut down by the university, Zuckerberg and his roommates created a new networking site for Harvard students, which soon spread to other college campuses.
In 2012, Facebook reached one billion users and went public, valued at $104bn. The platform’s market share has since grown to about $474.
In 2021, Facebook was rebranded as Meta Platforms, Inc. The company owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, among other products and services.
With three billion active monthly users, Facebook remains the world’s most popular social media platform, accounting for more than half of the world’s internet users and more than one-third of the world’s population.
Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with Insider Intelligence, notes that Facebook’s younger users have been dwindling, with individuals aged 65 and above outnumbering those aged 13-17.
Despite government scrutiny and a dwindling younger audience, Meta reported a revenue of $40.1bn and a profit of $14bn for the fourth quarter of last year, far surpassing analysts’ forecasts. Meta is preparing to unleash its own AI chips later this year to be used in energy-hungry generative AI products it plans to integrate into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.