Facebook is a social networking website launched in February 2004
that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc., with more than
500 million active users in July 2010, which is about one person for
every fourteen in the world.[6][N 1] Users can add people as friends
and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify
friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized
by workplace, school, or college. The website's name stems from the colloquial
name of books given to students at the start of the academic year by
university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students
to get to know each other better. Facebook allows anyone who declares
themselves to be aged 13 or older to become a member of the website.
How it got started
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and
fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and
Chris Hughes.[7] The website's membership was initially limited by the
founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the
Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added
support for students at various other universities before opening to
high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over.
What makes up Facebook
Facebook, the product, is made up of core site functions and applications.
Fundamental features to the experience on Facebook are a person’s Home
page and Profile. The Home page includes News Feed, a personalized feed
of his or her friends updates. The Profile displays information about
the individual he or she has chosen to share, including interests, education
and work background and contact information. Facebook also includes core
applications – Photos, Events, Videos, Groups, and Pages – that let people
connect and share in rich and engaging ways. Additionally, people can
communicate with one another through Chat, personal messages, Wall posts,
Pokes, or Status Updates.
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