Facebook Timeline
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Facebook Timeline 2003 October • Mark Zuckerberg releases Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook. It was described as a Harvard University version of Hot or Not. 2004 January • Zuckerberg begins writing Facebook. • Zuckerberg registers thefacebook.com domain. February • Zuckerberg launches Facebook on February 4. 650 Harvard students joined thefacebook.com in the first week of launch. March • Facebook expands to MIT, Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, and Yale University. April • Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin form Thefacebook.com LLC, a partnership. June • Facebook receives its first investment from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel for US$500,000. • Facebook incorporates into a new company, and Napster co-founder Sean Parker becomes its president. • Facebook moves its base of operations to Palo Alto, California. N. Lee, Facebook Nation, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-5308-6, 211 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 212 Facebook Timeline August • To compete with growing campus-only service i2hub, Zuckerberg launches Wirehog. It is a precursor to Facebook Platform applications. September • ConnectU files a lawsuit against Zuckerberg and other Facebook founders, resulting in a $65 million settlement. October • Maurice Werdegar of WTI Partner provides Facebook a $300,000 three-year credit line. December • Facebook achieves its one millionth registered user. 2005 February • Maurice Werdegar of WTI Partner provides Facebook a second $300,000 credit line and a $25,000 equity investment. April • Venture capital firm Accel Partners invests $12.7 million into Facebook. Accel’s partner and President Jim Breyer also puts up $1 million of his own money. July • News Corp acquires MySpace, spurring rumors about the possible sale of Facebook to a larger media company. Zuckerberg stated he did not want to sell Facebook. August • Facebook acquires Facebook.com domain for $200,000. September • Facebook launches a high school version of the website. October • Facebook expands to universities in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. December • Facebook expands to universities in Australia and New Zealand. 2006 January Facebook Timeline 213 • Facebook rebuffs an offer from Viacom that gives Facebook a valuation of $750 million. March • A potential acquisition of Facebook is reportedly under negotiations. Facebook reportedly declined an offer of $750 million. April • Greylock Partners, Meritech Partners, the Founders Fund, and Accel invests $27.5 million into Facebook. June • Interpublic invests $5 million in Facebook. September • Facebook and Yahoo! discussed possible acquisition of Facebook for $1 billion. Facebook eventually turned down the offer. • Facebook is open to everyone aged 13 and over with a valid email address. 2007 May • Facebook launches the Facebook Platform to enable third-party developers to integrate with the Facebook Open Graph. September • Google expressed interest in buying a portion of Facebook. October • Microsoft invests $240 million into Facebook. November • Li Ka-Shing Foundation in Hong Kong invests $60 million into Facebook. • Facebook launches Beacon. 2008 January • European Founders Fund invests $15 million in Facebook. March • Li Ka-Shing invests a second $60 million into Facebook. June • Facebook settles both lawsuits, ConnectU vs. Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg et al. and intellectual property theft, Wayne Chang et al. over The Winklevoss Chang Group’s Social Butterfly project. The settlement effectively had Facebook 214 Facebook Timeline acquiring ConnectU for $20 million in cash and over $1.2 million in shares, valued at $45 million based on $15 billion company valuation. August • Employees reportedly privately sell their shares to venture capital firms, at a company valuation of between $3.75 billion to $5 billion. • Facebook has 100 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 178.38 %. October • Facebook sets up its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. 2009 January • Facebook surpasses MySpace to become top social network site for the first time. April • Facebook has 200 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 13.33 %. May • Digital Sky Technologies invests $200 million into Facebook. August • Facebook acquires social media real-time news aggregator FriendFeed. September • Facebook claims that it has turned cash flow positive for the first time. • Facebook has 300 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 9.38 %. • Facebook shuts down Beacon. December • Facebook partners with the AMBER Alerts. 2010 February • Facebook acquires Malaysian contact-importing startup Octazen Solutions. • Facebook has 400 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 6.99 %. April • Facebook announces the acquisition of photo-sharing service called Divvy-shot for an undisclosed amount. Facebook Timeline 215 • Facebook introduces Community Pages that are populated with articles from Wikipedia. • Facebook introduces Instant Personalization, starting with Microsoft Docs, Yelp, and Pandora. June • Facebook employees sell shares of the company on SecondMarket, a U.S. financial marketplace online, at a company valuation of $11.5 billion. July • Facebook has 500 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 4.52 %. • Facebook introduces ‘‘Facebook Questions.’’ October • The Social Network, a film about the beginnings of Facebook directed by David Fincher is released. The film is met with widespread critical acclaim as well as commercial success. However, Mark Zuckerberg says that the film is a largely inaccurate account of what happened. 2011 January • Facebook receives $450 million investment from Goldman Sachs, $50 million from Digital Sky Technologies, and $1 billion from Goldman’s overseas clients. • Facebook has 600 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 3.57 %. • President Barack Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union Address, called America ‘‘the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers’’ and ‘‘of Google and Facebook.’’ February • Facebook becomes the largest online photo host. Facebook application and content aggregator Pixable estimates that Facebook will host 100 billion photos by summer 2011. • Facebook adds new ‘‘civil union’’ option for gay partnerships. • Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invest $38 million in Facebook. March • Mutual fund company T. Rowe Price invests $190.5 million in Facebook. • Yahoo! files a lawsuit against Facebook for infringing on ten of its patents covering advertising, privacy controls and social networking. May • Facebook has 700 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 3.45 %. 216 Facebook Timeline August • Facebook overtakes Orkut as top social networking site in Brazil. September • Facebook partners with Heroku for Facebook application development using the Facebook Platform. • Facebook collaborates with Cartoon Network in launching the ‘‘Stop Bullying: Speak Up’’ social pledge application. • Facebook has 800 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 3.73 %. October • Facebook launches iPad app. December • Facebook launches its new profile user interface, Facebook Timeline. 2012 February • Facebook files for an initial public offering (IPO) seeking to raise $5 billion. March • Facebook introduces sponsored stories. April • Facebook acquires picture sharing and social network, Instagram, for $1 billion, the largest acquisition to date. • Facebook has 900 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 1.74 %. May • Facebook unveils organ donation initiative. • Facebook acquires ambient location app Glancee. • Facebook sets IPO price at $38 a share, giving the company a $104.2 billion market value. • Facebook IPO raises $16 billion, making it the third largest in U.S. history, trailing only Visa in March 2008 and General Motors in November 2010. • Facebook stock ends its first full week of trading at $31.91, a 16.5 % decline. • In a dozen of lawsuits, Facebook shareholders sue Facebook and its underwriters for misleading private investors in the purchase of Facebook’s stock. June • Facebook acquires facial recognition company Face.com for between $55 and $100 million. Facebook Timeline 217 • Facebook announces real-time ad bidding Facebook Exchange. • Facebook tests Find Friends Nearby feature. • Facebook and its underwriters file a motion in New York to consolidate the outstanding shareholder lawsuits against them. • Facebook has 955 million monthly active users, 81% of whom are outside the U.S. and Canada. About the Author Newton Lee is CEO of Newton Lee Laboratories LLC, president of the Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships, and founding editor-in-chief of ACM Computers in Entertainment. Previously, he was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories, senior producer and engineer at The Walt Disney Company, and research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses. He earned a B.S. and M.S. degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech, and received an A.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and honorary doctorate from Vincennes University. He is the co-author of Disney Stories: Getting to Digital. N. Lee, Facebook Nation, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-5308-6, 219 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Index 1 5 1960 U.S. Presidential Election, 115 500 Startups accelerator program, 97, 166 1984 National Security Decision Directive, 3 1992 Los Angeles riots, 178 A 1995 Data Protection Directive, 64 Abbottabad, 70 Abraham-Lincoln-patented-Facebook hoax,