How did Facebook a Social Networking Site Become a Success?

Currently, when the world is continuously advancing digitally, only a bunch of people do not use Facebook, a social networking site. Initially, Facebook was only for college students but gradually became a vital tool for daily socializing and business professionals.

As you are a small business owner, you can use Facebook to hire compatible people, get new clients, or get an idea about your competitors’ performance. In contrast, you do not need to create a new Facebook profile for all these purposes.

Mark Zuckerberg and three other Harvard University students introduced the world to Facebook in 2004. Meta Platforms now own this online American social networking site. You can use Facebook for free, but the company earns a considerable income as people pay the platform to run their advertisements. After making an account on Facebook, a user can upload photos, join groups and make one.

Facebook aims to promote positivity and urges its users because it considers it vital for maintaining interpersonal relationships and exchanging information and suggestions, which empowers the whole society. It is easier for businesses to connect with their customers and learn about their preferences.

In this write-up, we will elaborate on how a social networking site like Facebook became a success, how it started, its business strategies, and much more if you stay till the end with us.

What Is Facebook’s, Startup Story?

Facebook is an online social networking site based in the USA launched on October 28, 2003, and Meta Platforms own this. This site has various features, like a Timeline or wall where you can post content on your friend’s profile, a news feed with stories, the content your friends posted, the pages you like, or the posts of groups you are a member. Friends can send each other messages. In December 2004, Facebook had one million active members.

So Facebook is basically for communicating with other people there through messages or calls. Even you can like content, comment on posts, and share them. Anyone more than 13 years of age can join Facebook with a valid email account. In October 2021, Facebook announced that they are changing its name to Metaverse.
Facebook Industry

The Facebook industry earns a substantial income from allowing businesses to advertise their products or services. According to statista.com, in the second quarter of 2022, Meta’s net worth amounted to 6.68 billion US dollars, decreasing over 34 percent compared to 2021.

Because of the pandemic, businesses have changed a lot and are still recovering from the results of Covid-19. Besides, many people started online businesses during a pandemic to manage their expenses and used Facebook mainly for advertising.

The Name, Logo, and Tagline of Facebook

David Kirkpatrick’s book “The Facebook Effect” mentioned that the co-founders chose the name Facebook because every Harvard student was handed it over, which had photos of their class fellows and were alluded to as Facebook.

Most of the Harvard University students got face book directories, having individuals’ names and pictures, and were distributed among the university students so they could know each other. So the aim is to connect people with their friends and family; that’s from where the name “Facebook” got birth.

The logo of Facebook is a small F sign on Facebook’s site and mobile application too. At the start, Facebook’s tagline was “It’s Free and Always Will be,” and it introduced a new one, “It’s Quick and Easy.” Facebook did not make an official announcement after changing its tagline and did not even give a reason behind it.

The Founding Team Behind Facebook
The founding members of Facebook are Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin.
Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and media magnate. The world knows him for co-founding Meta Platforms, previously referred to as Facebook. Mark is the chairman, CEO, and dominant shareholder of Facebook. Furthermore, he co-founded Breakthrough Starshot, a solar spacecraft development initiative, and is its board member.

Andrew McCollum

Before joining Philo, Andrew was among the founding team of Facebook and took an interest in the social design of products. However, Andrew McCollum was one of Philo’s early investors, an entertainment-focused OTT streaming service, before becoming its CEO in 2014. In the past, Andrew was also among its board of directors directing its co-founders.

Chris Hughes

Chris Hughes is among the Harvard co-founding team of the online social networking site Facebook. Likewise, Chris also served as editor-in-chief and publisher of The New Republic from 2012 to 2016. In June 2019, he bashed Facebook for launching Libra, a cryptocurrency.

Dustin Moskovitz

Dustin Moskovitz is among the co-founding team of Facebook and also the current CEO and Co-Founder of Asana, Good Ventures, and Open Philanthropy Project.

Eduardo Saverin

Eduardo Saverin is among the co-founding team and initial investors of Facebook. He is always interested in investing his money in technical developments and is a B Capital Group co-founder and partner.
Mission and Vision of Facebook

The mission of Facebook is to bring people close and empower people to build strong relations and a big community. However, the vision statement of Facebook also has a purpose as it signifies that “People use Facebook so they can remain in contact with their friends and family, and also to figure out what’s new with them, and share and express what matters to them.” So the company is worth more than a social networking platform as it helps gather information and exchange meaningful conversations among its users.

Facebook as an Advertising Tool
A large number of people use Facebook every now and then therefore, it is considered the most powerful tool for advertisements and promotions. Study shows that Facebook has more than 2.91 billion active users therefore, it is the best tool to promote any business. Facebook can connect you with millions of people through its page and provides information about your business, upcoming event, or any product or service. Facebook has its potential users therefore your ads on Facebook will help you to reach the maximum number of people around the globe. It gives an opportunity to small business owners to grow and promote their services, boosts sales, and increases customer support through the Facebook platform.
Business and Revenue Model of Facebook

Undoubtedly, Facebook makes most of the money by allowing businesses to display their commercials on Facebook. Ads almost made 98% percent of Facebook’s $86 billion revenue in 2020. The remaining 2% of profits were from Oculus and Portal device sales and development payment fees.

The business technique of Facebook is to facilitate its products and technologies to billions of users for free. It makes money by allowing businesses to show their advertisements to Facebook users. So the people who use Facebook’s services are not paying for it. Small businesses that advertise their products are the real clients of Facebook.
Facebook’s Monthly Active Users Are Growing

In a quarter of 2012, the number of registered Facebook users became more than 1 billion making it the first social network to gain this achievement. The company announced at the start of 2021 that almost 3.51 billion people use its virtual platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger every month. In 2006, Facebook began with just only 150 people working in the same firm, with the passage of time it has incredibly increased up to 71,970 full-time employees in December 2021
Challenges Facebook Had To Face
Facebook is a major and significant platform that many users bashed. This event happened because of internet privacy, face recognition software, unrestricted data retention, people using it too much, employers accessing their staff accounts, and the primary function of Facebook challenges it faces.

Hence, Facebook faced severe criticism for consuming electricity, paying less tax, asking users to verify their real names, censorship regulations, and participating in the US PRISM surveillance program.

People who scroll Facebook a lot turn out to be jealous, tensed, addicted, and negative individuals lacking focus. Facebook does not stop its users from posting illegal or indecent content and was condemned for this. There are no laws regarding uploading content against copyright and intellectual property infringement, hate speech, terrorism, rape, crimes, rape, murders, and streaming violent content live on Facebook.

To regain peace after anti-Muslim violence, Sri Lanka shut down the services of WhatsApp and Facebook in May 2019. Facebook worked to remove 3 billion fake accounts in 2018 and 2019.
Future Plans Of Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg renamed Facebook ‘Meta’ and announced that the firm would be “metaverse first,” and you will not need a Facebook profile to use other Meta products in the future. Moreover, Mark Zuckerberg still thinks much work is required to develop Facebook.

From now on, the company will split its ventures into two sections: one for its future platform attempts and the other for its application family. Their priority will be spreading their company’s identity with time instead of just associating it with a single product or service.