From a Harvard dorm to Meta: the Facebook story

On 4 February 2004 a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg launched a website called TheFacebook. It was meant to help students find and connect with each other. Two decades later, the company it grew into — now called Meta — is used by billions of people every day.

Early life

Zuckerberg was born on 14 May 1984 in White Plains, New York. He began programming as a child and, as a teenager, built a messaging program for his father’s dental practice and a music app. He went to Harvard in 2002 to study computer science and psychology.

Facemash

In 2003 he created Facemash, a site that asked students to compare photos of classmates. It became popular quickly but was shut down by the university, and Zuckerberg was criticised for using photos without permission. It showed, however, how fast students would adopt a social website.

TheFacebook

TheFacebook launched in February 2004 for Harvard students. Zuckerberg’s co-founders were Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Andrew McCollum. Within a month more than half of Harvard’s undergraduates had signed up, and the site soon spread to other universities.

Moving to Silicon Valley

In mid-2004 Zuckerberg and several colleagues moved to Palo Alto, California. Napster co-founder Sean Parker became the company’s president, and investor Peter Thiel made its first major outside investment. Zuckerberg left Harvard to run the company full time.

The company dropped “The” from its name in 2005.

Opening to everyone

In 2006 Facebook opened to anyone aged 13 and over with an email address. It introduced the News Feed the same year, which showed updates from friends in one stream. Facebook passed 1 billion monthly users in 2012.

Disputes

Twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their partner Divya Narendra claimed Zuckerberg had used their idea for a social network. The case was settled in 2008. Eduardo Saverin also sued after his stake was diluted and reached a settlement. These stories were dramatised in the 2010 film The Social Network.

Sheryl Sandberg

In 2008 Zuckerberg hired Sheryl Sandberg from Google as chief operating officer. She built Facebook’s advertising business, which made the company highly profitable. She left the role in 2022.

The IPO and mobile

Facebook went public in May 2012 at $38 a share, raising about $16 billion. Early trading was disappointing, partly because of concerns that Facebook was not ready for smartphones. Zuckerberg reorganised the company around mobile, and within a few years most of its advertising revenue came from phones.

Big acquisitions

• Instagram (2012), the photo app founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, for about $1 billion.
• WhatsApp (2014), founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, for about $19 billion.
• Oculus (2014), the virtual-reality company co-founded by Palmer Luckey, for about $2 billion.

Scandal and scrutiny

In 2018 it emerged that the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had obtained data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. Zuckerberg testified before the US Congress, and in 2019 the Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion over privacy failures. Debates about misinformation, mental health and political content continue.

Becoming Meta

In October 2021 Zuckerberg renamed the company Meta Platforms, signalling a focus on the “metaverse” — virtual and augmented reality. More recently, Meta has made artificial intelligence its top priority.

Philanthropy

In 2015 Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, a paediatrician, launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and pledged to give away 99% of their Meta shares over their lifetimes, with a focus on science and medicine.

The legacy

From a dorm-room project to one of the world’s most valuable companies, Facebook’s story is one of the defining business stories of the internet age — admired for its scale and ambition, and debated for its influence on society.