Since its inception in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has come a long way. What began as a controversial platform for judging the attractiveness of fellow students has evolved into one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 2 billion users.
Since it is Facebook's birthday today, this article will provide an exhaustive rundown of the top ten Facebook facts you may not have known before.
Bigger Than Europe
Facebook has more users than the population of Europe: With over 2 billion users, Facebook has more people connected to it than the entire population of Europe, which is estimated to be around 446.8 million people as of 2022.
As per Meta's fourth-quarter earnings report, there are now 2 billion daily active users on the social network. Based on the report, Facebook has now surpassed 2 billion daily users for the first time after adding 16 million users in the previous quarter.
Record Earnings
Forbes reports that Facebook's fourth-quarter earnings surpassed estimates, which caused its share price to rise by 23%.
This spike in the share price led to a $12 billion increase in the net worth of Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, making it his biggest one-day increase since Facebook went public in 2012.
Zuckerberg still ranks as the 16th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $66.8 billion, despite experiencing some financial setbacks in 2022.
How Facebook Started
"The Facebook," as it was then known, was introduced by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004. Facemash, an online program that Zuckerberg was mainly responsible for making, was the first step on his way to creating Facebook in 2003.
The idea of the app was for students to rate their peers, who were also using the program, based on their attractiveness. With 450 students signing up right away, the website was initially successful. But if you watched the movie "The Social Network," you probably already know what happened next was rough for Mark.
A New Culture
Collins English Dictionary named "Facebook" its new word of the year in 2008. The following year, the verb "unfriend" was selected as the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. This demonstrates Facebook's enormous impact on the English language and the world at large. Also, the movie mentioned a while ago went on to win three Oscars.
Facebook is a Weird Place
In December 2022, a fugitive from Georgia assisted local law enforcement in apprehending him after commenting on the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office's Facebook page.
The Sheriff's Office had published a "Most Wanted List," to which a man named Christopher Spaulding replied, "How about me?" This comment resulted in his arrest.
Facebook Hackers for Hire
Normally, when dealing with hackers, websites would exercise extreme caution, but Facebook is something else. Facebook announced its Bug Bounty Program on July 29, 2011, which paid security researchers a minimum of $500 for reporting security holes.
The company said it wouldn't go after "white hat" hackers who found these flaws. This drew researchers from all over the world, including India and Russia.
Facebook Photo Uploads
According to an article published in Search Engine Journal, Facebook users have uploaded more than 250 billion photos, which equates to approximately 350 million photos being uploaded to Facebook every single day. That is a lot of photos to scroll through.
Download Your Facebook History
You can save a copy of everything you have ever posted on Facebook by going to "Settings," clicking on "Your Facebook Information," and then selecting "Download Your Information" from the drop-down menu that appears.
You will receive a copy of every chat conversation, every post you have shared on the platform, and anything else you have done while using the platform. Ready for a #ThrowbackThursday?
Facebook Addiction Disorder
Despite the fact that "Facebook addiction" is not officially recognized as a disorder, researchers say it is becoming more of a problem, particularly among young people.
According to a UK study, Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) fully mediated the significant positive relationship between narcissism and stress symptoms, demonstrating that narcissistic people are more likely to develop FAD.
Facebook Numbers
Based on Statista data, as of December 2022, 23.7 percent of Facebook users in the United States were between the ages of 25 and 34, constituting Facebook's largest audience in the country.
Meanwhile, teen users account for approximately one in every twenty Facebook users aged 13 to 17 years. Furthermore, women were slightly more likely than men to use the platform.
Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, has been under fire in recent years for a number of issues, including allegations of privacy breaches and the creation of strange metaverse avatars. However, despite these controversies, there are still many things to celebrate about Facebook.
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