What Is Facebook?

Facebook is a social networking website and service where users can post comments, share photographs and links to news or other interesting content on the Web, play games, chat live, and even stream live video. Shared content can be made publicly accessible, or it can be shared only among a select group of friends or family, or with a single person. IN easy language it's  a network of networks.

• Marketplace - allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.
• Groups - allows members who have common interests to find each other and interact.
• Events  - allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track who plans to attend.
• Pages - allows members to create and promote a public page built around a specific topic.
• Presence technology - allows members to see which contacts are online and chat.

                                   History and Growth of Facebook

Facebook began in February of 2004 as a school-based social network at Harvard University. It was created by Mark Zuckerberg along with Edward Saverin, both students at the college.

One of the reasons credited for the rapid growth and popularity of Facebook was its exclusivity. Originally, to join Facebook you had to have an email address at one of the schools in the network. It soon expanded beyond Harvard to other colleges in the Boston area, and then to Ivy League schools. A high school version of Facebook launched in September of 2005. In October it expanded to include colleges in the U.K., and in December it launched for colleges in Australia and New Zealand. 

Facebook accessibility also expanded to select companies such as Microsoft and Apple. Finally, in 2006, Facebook opened to anyone 13 years or older and took off, overtaking MySpace as the most popular social network in the world.

In 2007, Facebook launched the Facebook Platform, which allowed developers to create applications on the network. Rather than simply being badges or widgets to adorn on a Facebook page, these applications allowed friends to interact by giving gifts or playing games, such as chess.

In 2008, Facebook launched Facebook Connect, which competed with OpenSocial and Google+ as a universal login authentication service.

Facebook's success can be attributed to its ability to appeal to both people and businesses, its developer's network that turned Facebook into a thriving platform and Facebook Connect's ability to interact with sites around the web by providing a single login that works across multiple sites.

  Some More Information 

Within each member's personal profile, there are several key networking components. The most popular are arguably the Wall, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board. Messages left on a member's Wall can be text, video or photos. Another popular component is the virtual Photo Album. Photos can be uploaded from the desktop or directly from a smartphone camera. There is no limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove inappropriate or copyrighted images.  An interactive album feature allows the member's contacts (who are called generically called "friends") to comment on each other's photos and identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is status updates, a microblogging feature that allows members to broadcast short Twitter-like announcements to their friends. All interactions are published in a news feed, which is distributed in real-time to the member's friends. 

Facebook offers a range of privacy options to its members.  A member can make all his communications visible to everyone, he can block specific connections or he can keep all his communications private. Members can choose whether or not to be searchable, decide which parts of their profile are public, decide what not to put in their news feed and determine exactly who can see their posts. For those members who wish to use Facebook to communicate privately, there is a message feature, which closely resembles email.

In May 2007, Facebook opened up its developers' platform to allow third-party developers to build applications and widgets that, once approved, could be distributed to the Facebook community. In May 2008, Facebook engineers announced Facebook Connect, a cross-site initiative that allows users to publish interactions on third-party partner sites in their Facebook news feed. 

                             

CEO OF FACEBOOK