Launched on 4th February 2004, Facebook is one of the oldest and the most popular Social Media network. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow Harvard mates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz & Chris Huges, Facebook was limited only for the Harvard students. Later the founders expanded it to higher education institutions in the Boston area, the Ivy League schools, and Stanford University. Earlier Facebook was supposed to be a platform where youngsters create their profiles, share their personal experiences, likings and most importantly get to know each other.
With passing time Facebook gained more and more popularity especially amongst the youth. A Social Media platform introduced by a few Harvard roommates was slowly taking a form of a full-fledged organization. Today after 14 years after its launch, Facebook has become the most used social media network and one of the most prestigious & valuable organization. From being a simple “get to know each other platform” to “a business tycoon” Facebook has come a long way. Let’s have a look at Facebook’s journey so far.
1) Most used Social Media Network
On September 26, 2006 Facebook was open for all. For creating a Facebook profile all you needed was to be at least 13 years or older and a valid Email address. In July 2010, Facebook registered 500 million active users across the globe. Half of these users used Facebook daily for an average of 34 minutes whereas 150 million users browsed the site on a mobile phone. According to a report released by DoubleClick Facebook reached 1 trillion page views in the month of June 2011, making it the most visited website. In 2011 Facebook became the second most accessed website after Google.
2) Changing Trends
Early in its days text content was very popular on Facebook. Later text content was replaced by Photos over a period of time. The users weren’t shy to share personal photos and information but, recently over the last 20 months Instagram is the preferred social media network for sharing personal videos or photos. After a recent study, sharing video content has become a new trend on Facebook. The number of videos posted and the views for the videos has increased subsequently. This change in trend has encouraged businesses to promote their services by the means of video marketing. The “see more” option at the end of every video takes the user to similar or related videos on Facebook. This has made video viewing an addiction.
3) Frequent Updates
Facebook has always strived towards improving the User Interface and User Experience (UI & UX). With each new update, Facebook has provided its users something new. Earlier Facebook allowed you to share text, pictures and videos only. Today you can express your feelings, tell the world about what song you are listening to, where are you travelling. You can even go live on Facebook and share your adventures with your friends or family who couldn’t join you. With each new update, Facebook tries to improve the user experience keeping in mind the latest trends. As mentioned above, sharing videos has become the latest trend; Facebook has improved the quality and experience of video viewing. Hence there is no doubt over it being the most used social media network across the globe.
4) Change in Purpose
Facebook was launched with a view of getting to know the people in your surroundings better. With passing time this focus has shifted towards a more commercial goal. In 2007 Facebook had over 100,000 company pages. A new concept of company pages was launched for businesses to promote themselves and attract customers. Today there is hardly a business without its Facebook page. Majority of Facebook’s revenue is generated through the advertisements the business pages use to promote their services and attract new customers. From being a get to know each other social media platform to the most effective business promotion tool, the purpose behind Facebook has shifted towards commercialization.
5) Most Important Digital Marketing Tool
After shifting its focus towards commercialization lately, Facebook has become one of the most important Digital Marketing tool. Digital Marketing, a new and advanced marketing technique has taken over traditional marketing for the promotion of the businesses. Facebook being one of the most popular and the most used social media networks has also become an important tool of promotion for businesses irrespective of its size. The best advantage of using Facebook for marketing is it is absolutely free of cost. It can save fortunes for a large scale organization as well as a small startup. Facebook provides you with the option of paid advertisement campaigns which allows you to reach the specific and the appropriate audience and is considered as one of the most Important Digital Marketing Tool.
From being limited to the students of Harvard University to being the most used social media channel across the globe. From being a small idea to becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world, this is how Facebook has grown down the years. Do you like the latest update of Facebook? What else would you like to add to the current version? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.