Facebook has now turned 22 years old. In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg and his friends created a website in a small dorm room at Harvard University, which would go on to transform the world of social networking. Initially available only to Harvard students this platform has now become one of the most popular and influential social media sites globally.

At Harvard, Zuckerberg worked closely with his peers, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Together they began developing the project and each of them invested $1,000 in the early stages. The site originally known as The Facebook was limited to students from Harvard, but its reach quickly expanded to other universities and colleges. Eventually it was opened up to anyone aged 13 and older.

By 2005 Facebook had already surpassed 6 million users and by 2010 the platform’s user base had grown to more than 300 million. The introduction of the News Feed feature in 2006 allowed users to view content that matched their interests further propelling its popularity. In 2007 Facebook started integrating advertisements and new revenue models and third app developers began creating apps for the platform.

Facebook’s growth was accelerated with major acquisitions, including Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. These acquisitions helped expand Facebook’s ecosystem and strengthened its position in the social media space.

However, in 2018, Facebook was at the center of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which rocked the tech world. It was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, had unlawfully harvested personal data from Facebook users and used it to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. In response Facebook took several steps to tighten its data security and improve its privacy policies.

In 2021, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta signaling a shift in focus to the future of digital communication including developments in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

Today, Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, with its user base exceeding 3 billion globally. While Facebook has seen a decline in popularity among younger audiences Meta continues to dominate the digital landscape.

The evolution of Facebook and Meta, along with their impact on digital communication has permanently reshaped the way people connect and interact in today’s world.