Facebook
launched on February 4, 2004 and became the juggernaut of social media. Here in
the United States, for example, 67% of Internet users are on Facebook. In the
United Kingdom, that number is a staggering 82%. Facebook has also become the
most popular social media app on smartphones and accounts for 66% of all social
media sharing on iPhones. And you know you’ve hit the big time when a
major Hollywood motion picture is released that storifies the origins and rise
of your business.
Of
course, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the social media site.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg was accused of
stealing the idea and has earned a reputation for being able to flawlessly fire
people. It’s also been estimated that scammers can earn $200 million per year
on Facebook. And, companies have sold user profiles along with someinstances of human
trafficking and extortion.
Even the future of Facebook is in doubt. A study through
Princeton University discovered that the site may lose around 80% of its users
over the next three years. There was another recent study that found between
January 2011 and January 2014, Facebook lost over 3 million users in the age 13
to 17 year old demographic.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for
Facebook. As of today, the site remains one of the most popular in the world.
In fact, Alexa has ranked Facebook second in its Top 500 Global Sites right behind search
engine powerhouse Google.
So,
in honor of Facebook’s decade-long dominance, here are 25 things that you
should know about the social network.
- In 2007, Facebook
underwent a major homepage redesign which replaced a man’s partly obscured
face behind a cloud of binary code. But, who was the mystery “Facebook
guy”? David Kirkpatrick revealed in his book The
Facebook Effect that the image is actually a manipulated photo
of legendary actor Al Pacino. The effect was created by a friend and
classmate of Mark Zuckerberg.
- During Facebook’s first summer, the Zuckerberg
family spent $85,000 to keep the company afloat. As of September 2013,
Mark Zuckerberg is worth $19 billion.
- When Facebook began selling stock to the public and
trading on the NASDAQ on May 18, 2012, its shares were priced at $38,
which meant the company was valued at over $100 billion. It also meant
that Facebook was worth more than eBay, Yahoo, Groupon, LinkedIn, Netflix,
IAC, AOL, Zynga and Pandora… combined.
- Facebook’s first corporate partnerships, launched
May 2006, were Apple and Microsoft along with Intel, EA and Amazon. Some
of the other early partnerships also included Accenture, Gap, Intuit,
Pepsi, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the non-profit organization Teach for
America. Everyone else had to wait until September 2006 to join Facebook.
- Napster co-founder Sean
Parker transitioned Facebook from a college project into an actual
company. As dramatized in the 2010 film The
Social Network, Parker changed the site’s name from
Thefacebook.com by acquiring the domain Facebook.com for $200,000.
Furthermore, it was Parker who insisted that the site add its most popular
feature: photo sharing.
- Who’s on Facebook? 42% of users are male, however,
the site is more gender neutral than Pinterest and Google +. About 75% of
all U.S. Internet users have had some sort of college education. 73% of
users in the U.S. have incomes above $75,000 (compared to 17% on Twitter,
and 13% on Pinterest).
- The most checked-in locations in the U.S. during
2013, excluding transportation hubs, were: Disneyland & Disney
California Adventure, Anaheim, Calif.; Times Square, New York City; Epcot
Center, Walt Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.; Dodger Stadium, Los
Angeles; AT&T Park, San Francisco; Rangers Ballpark, Arlington, Texas;
Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal City, Calif.; Fenway Park, Boston;
MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas; Houston Livestock Show &
Rodeo, Houston.
- As of September, 2013 the percentage of 15-34 year
olds on Facebook are 66%. Interestingly, 45% of internet users who are 65
years or older are also on Facebook. And, don’t be embarrassed if you’re
Facebook friends with your parents; 70% of users are friends with their
parents.
- Every morning when they wake up, 48% of 18-34 year
olds check their Facebook account. 28% of that demographic actually check
Facebook before they even get out of bed.
- Users are exposed to 1500 pieces of potential
content every day.
- Approximately 7.5 million sites contain the the
Facebook Like or Share Buttons.
- California is the most social state with 15,267,160
users. That means 41% of the state’s population is in Facebook. Texas is
second with 9 million users and New York comes in at third with 8 million.
- In the United States, the five most popular brands
on Facebook are: Walmart, Target, Amazon, Samsung Mobile USA and Subway.
- Despite being blocked, there are roughly 95 million
Facebook users in China.
- Approximately 86% of their daily active users are
outside the U.S. and Canada, with 29% logging in from Asian countries.
- There are 70 different languages available for users
on Facebook.
- In 2013, the Super Bowl was the most talked about
topic in the United States. Globally, the most talked about topic was Pope
Francis.
- The average person spends between 18 and 20 minutes
viewing their Facebook account. If you combine every user, that what would
be around 20 billion minutes!
- Originally, engineers wanted to call the “Like”
button the “Awesome” button.
- Every 20 minutes on Facebook 1 million links are
shared, 2 million friends are requested and 3 million messages are sent.
- The most common life event added for users in 2013
was: Relationship/Got Engaged/Got Married. This was followed by Traveled,
Moved, Ended a Relationship and First Met a Friend.
- Between 2012 and 2013, there was an increase in
Facebook users by 22%.
- Ever since Facebook launched there have been a 150
billion friend connections, 1.13 trillion likes and 250 billion photos
uploaded.
- On a daily basis there are 350 million photos
uploaded, 4.5 billion likes, 10 billion messages sent and 22 billion times
that the Like or Share buttons are viewed.
- Total monthly users: 1,310,000,000 with 680 million
of them on mobile devices.
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