Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) 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 • Mark Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz , Chris Hughes , and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook on February 4. • 650 Harvard students joined thefacebook.com in the fi rst 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. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 367 N. Lee, Facebook Nation, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-1740-2 368 Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) June • Facebook receives its fi rst 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 headquarters to Palo Alto, California. August • To compete with growing campus-only service i2hub , Zuckerberg launches Wirehog . It is a precursor to Facebook Platform applications . September • Facebook launches Facebook Wall for users to post messages to their friends. • ConnectU fi les 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 fi rm Accel Partners invests $12.7 million into Facebook. Accel’s partner and president Jim Breyer also puts up $1 million of his own money. May • Facebook grows to support more than 800 college networks. 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. Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) 369 August • Facebook acquires Facebook.com domain for $200,000. September • thefacebook.com offi cially becomes Facebook.com • Facebook launches a high school version of the website. October • Facebook launches Facebook Photos . • 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 . • Facebook reaches 6 million users. 2006 January • Facebook rebuffs an offer from Viacom that gives Facebook a valuation of $750 million. April • Facebook launches Facebook for Mobile . • Greylock Partners , Meritech Partners , the Founders Fund , and Accel Partners invest $27.5 million into Facebook. May • Facebook expands to add work networks. June • Interpublic invests $5 million in Facebook. August • Facebook introduces the fi rst version of the Facebook API . September • Facebook and Yahoo! discussed possible acquisition of Facebook for $1 billion. Facebook eventually turned down the offer. • Facebook launches News Feed on user homepage and Mini-Feed on user profi le. 370 Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) • Facebook expands registration by accepting everyone aged 13 and over with a valid email address. December • Facebook reaches 12 million users, a 100% increase from a year ago. 2007 May • Facebook launches Facebook Platform to enable third-party developers to access Facebook user data. • Facebook launches Marketplace application for classifi ed listings. June • Facebook launches Facebook Video . September • Google expressed interest in buying a portion of Facebook. October • Microsoft invests $240 million into Facebook. • Facebook opens offi ce in London. • Facebook launches the Facebook Platform for Mobile November • Li Ka-Shing Foundation in Hong Kong invests $60 million into Facebook. • Facebook launches Beacon ., a self- service ads platform. • Facebook launches Facebook Pages for businesses, brands, and organizations. December • Facebook reaches 58 million users, a 383% increase from a year ago. 2008 January • European Founders Fund invests $15 million in Facebook. • Facebook and ABC News co- sponsor Republican and Democratic Presidential Debates in New Hampshire. • Facebook hosts Hackathon ’08 . Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) 371 March • Li Ka-Shing invests a second $60 million into Facebook. • Facebook launches in German. April • Facebook launches Chat . 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 Butterfl y project . The settlement effectively had Facebook acquiring ConnectU for $20 million in cash and over $1.2 million in shares, val- ued at $45 million based on $15 billion company valuation. July • Facebook launches iPhone app. • Facebook launches new redesign. August • Employees reportedly privately sell their shares to venture capital fi rms, 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 fi rst time. February • Facebook introduces the “ Like ” button. March • Facebook launches new redesigned home page. • Facebook launches SMS service for Facebook Pages for people to become a fan of Facebook Pages with a text message. April • Facebook has 200 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 13.33%. • Facebook announces fi rst-ever user vote on terms of service changes. 372 Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) May • Digital Sky Technologies invests $200 million into Facebook. • Facebook celebrates its annual Game Day for employees. • Facebook moves to new offi ces in Palo Alto, California. June • Facebook launches Facebook Usernames . Within one hour after release, over 1 million Facebook usernames had been snapped up. August • Facebook acquires social media real- time news aggregator FriendFeed . • Facebook opens New York offi ce. September • Facebook claims that it has turned cash fl ow positive for the fi rst time. • Facebook has 300 million registered users with a monthly growth rate of 9.38%. • Facebook shuts down Beacon . October • Facebook introduces “ memorialized ” profi les. December • Facebook partners with the AMBER Alert . • Facebook reaches 360 million users. 2010 January • Facebook breaks ground on fi rst custom- built data center in Prineville, Oregon. 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 launches the “Like” button. • Facebook announces the acquisition of photo-sharing service called Divvy-shot for an undisclosed amount. • Facebook introduces Community Pages that are populated with articles from Wikipedia . • Facebook introduces Instant Personalization , starting with Microsoft Docs , Yelp , and Pandora . Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) 373 June • Facebook employees sell shares of the company on SecondMarket , a U.S. fi nan- cial 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 launches “Facebook Questions for users to get recommendations, con- duct polls, and learn from Facebook friends. • Facebook introduces “Facebook Stories ” for sharing individual and collective experiences. August • Facebook launches “Facebook Places” to enable location-based functionality. September • Facebook opens offi ce in Hyderabad, India. October • Facebook introduces “Facebook Groups ” for small group communication. • The Social Network , a fi lm about the beginnings of Facebook directed by David Fincher is released. The fi lm is met with widespread critical acclaim as well as commercial success. However, Mark Zuckerberg says that the fi lm is a largely inaccurate account of what happened. December • Facebook reaches 608 million users, a 69% increase from a year ago. 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 con- tent aggregator Pixable estimates that Facebook will host 100 billion photos by summer 2011. 374 Appendix A: Facebook Timeline (October 2003 – August 2014) • Facebook adds new “civil union” option for gay partnerships. • Kleiner Perkins Caufi eld & Byers invest $38 million in Facebook. March • Mutual fund company T. Rowe Price invests $190.5 million in Facebook. • Yahoo! fi les a lawsuit against Facebook for infringing on ten of its patents cover- ing advertising, privacy controls and social networking. • Facebook launches fi rst annual Facebook Hacker Cup for worldwide