Facebook launched on February 4, 2004, from a Harvard University dorm room

Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook as a way for Harvard students to connect with each other online. The site was originally called "TheFacebook" and only worked for people with a Harvard email address. Within 24 hours, over 1,000 Harvard students had signed up. Within a month, more than half the undergraduate population had a profile.

The platform expanded to other universities in the months that followed — first to Stanford, then to Yale and Columbia, then to schools across the United States and eventually worldwide. In September 2006, Facebook opened to anyone aged 13 and older with a valid email address, which is when it became the global social network most people know today.

Key Takeaways

  • Facebook started on February 4, 2004, as a college networking site limited to Harvard students.
  • The platform spread to other universities before opening to the general public in 2006.
  • The name changed from "TheFacebook" to "Facebook" in 2005 when the site expanded beyond colleges.
  • Facebook went public on the stock market in May 2012, which is when it became a publicly traded company.

How Facebook expanded from one college to the whole world

After Harvard, Zuckerberg and his co-founders moved the company to California and began adding other universities one by one. By the end of 2004, Facebook had spread to 34 colleges. By mid-2005, the site had reached high schools in the United States. The company also launched versions for international universities, starting with the University of Oxford and other schools in the United Kingdom.

The turning point came in September 2006 when Facebook removed the college requirement entirely. Anyone with an email address could now create an account. This single change transformed Facebook from a niche college network into a mass-market platform. Within weeks, parents, grandparents, and people of all ages joined. By 2008, Facebook had more users than MySpace, which had been the dominant social network before it.

Why the name changed from TheFacebook to Facebook

The original name "TheFacebook" made sense when the site only served college students — it mimicked the printed directories that universities gave to freshmen. As the platform expanded beyond colleges, the name became outdated. In 2005, the company dropped "The" and became straightforward "Facebook."

The simpler name also worked better for a global audience. "TheFacebook" sounded tied to American universities, while "Facebook" could work anywhere in the world. The change happened quietly — most users barely noticed — but it signaled that the company was no longer just a college project.

The path to becoming a public company

For its first eight years, Facebook remained a private company owned by Zuckerberg and early investors. The company made money through advertising, selling space where businesses could reach Facebook's growing user base. By 2012, Facebook had over 1 billion users worldwide.

On May 18, 2012, Facebook held its initial public offering (IPO), which means it sold shares of the company to the public for the first time. This made Facebook a publicly traded company, meaning anyone could buy a piece of it through the stock market. The IPO raised $16 billion, making it one of the largest public offerings in history at that time.

What Facebook looked like in the early days

The original Facebook was much simpler than the version people use today. There was no News Feed — instead, users saw a list of their friends and could click on each person's profile to see their information. There were no likes, no comments, and no way to share photos or videos. Users could only post text and see basic profile information about their friends.

The News Feed, which shows a constant stream of posts from friends and pages, did not arrive until 2006. This feature changed how people used Facebook. Instead of visiting individual profiles, users could now see everything their friends posted in one place. Many users disliked the News Feed at first, but it became the core of how Facebook worked and how the company made money through targeted advertising.

How Facebook's growth changed the internet

Facebook's rapid growth made social networking mainstream. Before Facebook, most people did not have an online profile or regularly post about their lives. The platform normalized sharing personal information, photos, and thoughts with a network of friends and acquaintances. This shift changed how people communicate, how businesses reach customers, and how news spreads online.

The company also became one of the most valuable businesses in the world. As of recent years, Facebook (now called Meta Platforms after a rebrand in 2021) owns Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to Facebook itself. These three platforms combined have billions of users across the globe. The company's growth from a college project to a global technology giant happened in less than two decades.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Mark Zuckerberg invent the idea of social networking?

No. Websites like Friendster and MySpace existed before Facebook and let people create profiles and connect online. Zuckerberg's innovation was making a social network specifically for college students first, which created a tight community of real people who actually knew each other. This made Facebook more useful than earlier platforms.

Why did Facebook start at Harvard instead of somewhere else?

Zuckerberg was a Harvard student when he created it. He built the site to solve a problem he and his classmates faced — there was no straightforward way to find and connect with other students online. Starting at Harvard gave him a built-in user base of people who all had something in common and wanted to use the service.

How many people use Facebook today?

Facebook has over 3 billion monthly users as of recent counts, making it the largest social network in the world. This number includes people who use Facebook itself plus those who use Instagram and WhatsApp, which Facebook owns. The exact number changes month to month as people join and leave.

What does Meta mean, and why did Facebook change its name?

In October 2021, Facebook Inc. renamed itself Meta Platforms to reflect its focus on building the "metaverse" — a vision of virtual and augmented reality spaces where people interact online. The Facebook app itself kept its name, but the parent company became Meta. This is similar to how Google created Alphabet as a parent company above Google.

Is Facebook still the most popular social network?

Facebook remains one of the largest social networks by user count, though younger people increasingly use TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat instead. Facebook's user base skews older, with many users aged 30 and above. Different age groups and regions prefer different platforms for different reasons.