Facebook's evolution and struggle

This started in the social networking site of the Harvard campus in a few years. Rapid rise, and become a model to lead the world of the Internet social networking trend, and the old Internet overlord Google's most powerful challengers.

Facebook is how small to large to accomplish this transformation?Zuckerberg at the age of 28, the two options, he and Facebook and arrived at another stage.U.S. Eastern time May 18, 2012, the Facebook listing. The next day, Zuckerberg and native of China Xuzhou Chinese girlfriend the Pulli Sheila Chan married.Zuckerberg sounded the opening bell still casual dress to wear suits at the wedding, as has been claimed that "money is not an end", he ultimately chose public financing. These two seemingly contradictory appearance, perhaps Zuckerberg like Facebook, the result of evolution.

Founded eight years, Facebook completed the evolution from a dating tool to open interface to the social map several times, has helped more than 900 million people in the world to establish a contact more than one trillion. As masters, Zuckerberg also completed the transition from someone roommate to the programmer to product manager to corporate managers, and is firmly committed to openness, freedom and the realization of civil rights. Zuckerberg claimed that Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and integrated, which throughout its eight years of evolutionary history.

From two people to the world"While our mission, but from small, start from the relationship between two people." In the prospectus filed with the SEC, Zuckerberg described.February 4, 2004, Wednesday afternoon, Mark Zuckerberg, the 20-year-old Harvard dormitory, click on manager.com account link, Facebook has since start. The cost is only $ 120, $ 35 thefacebook.com domain is used to apply for the right to use the rest of the rental fee of $ 85 a month server storage space.

Simple function of the site purely in order to meet the strong demand for dating of the Harvard campus, in the initial very closed - Harvard mailbox users can not be registered, which differ materially from Zuckerberg later advocated an open concept. In order to ensure that this closeness and privacy, Zuckerberg "real-name registration" requirements, perhaps poorly thought out design, the core of the future "Facebook experience.

In 2004, the U.S. Internet community, social networking sites have been everywhere, Friendster and Myspace have been a minor celebrity, which has over 1 million users.

Facebook will soon win the competition, and rapid expansion in the U.S. college and high school institutions, only five months time, the United States 80% of the students had a Facebook user. This early success depends largely on the work Zuckerberg sense of proportion. Face of enthusiastic users' needs, he consciously control the speed of web site development, to avoid a sharp expansion of catastrophic downtime.

2006, Zuckerberg has been ready to abandon the differentiation open to non-student users.This caused great controversy within the Facebook, rooted campus has been seen as Facebook's unique, but Zuckerberg has demonstrated his determination and perseverance, Facebook officially opened registration on September 26, 2006, its use were now free to build friendships.

Rapidly rising amount of users and the range of users, and sketched out Zuckerberg continues to open up the view of the world. With the surge of users, Facebook's products while continuing to upgrade its users gradually experience the message wall, groups, photo sharing, news subscription, add various functions such as fans, Facebook has become a fascinating mixture of the developers they created and had completely different things, far beyond their imagination.

The public square on the InternetFacebook's first shift out of the campus. The launch of an open platform, completed the second of Facebook completely.

As early as May 2004, Zuckerberg have Facebook into the idea of ​​an open platform, until the album features a great success, he began to really put the concept of "platform" into Facebook's core values. He wants to create a global village, city square, and let Facebook become a software platform to allow all applications running.

May 24, 2007, the f8 Developer Conference held in San Francisco, Facebook, officially launched an open platform, Zuckerberg announced that it will set up a "do not tend to our internal procedures ecosystem, so that all software developers in the above dance .Year after the launch, over 52,000 applications running on the platform, developed by over 1 million registered developers from 180 countries.

Since then, Zuckerberg also constantly openness of the platform outward expansion.The end of 2008, Facebook launched Association Facebook account to log it possible to make use of any website. "Facebook Effect," a book records an evaluation: "The Facebook fraternity basically is your passport - online passport. Theory, only the government can issue passports, but Facebook will provide a global citizenship".

In April 2009, one of the most radical change - the open stream API, this service provides the experience of the use of Facebook functionality outside the Facebook service site, for example, the user access to streaming music site Pandora, you can immediately start listening to their Facebook "like" and automatically select songs.

This new feature will be open to the concept to the extreme, also internal controversy, some people think Zuckerberg shared the company's most valuable user resources. The face of controversy, Zuckerberg insists, "most of sharing anyway Facebook Station, in that case, Facebook, go in front".

A question of moneyZuckerberg claims that the development services, not to make money, but to make money in order to better service ".

Initially, almost every sum of external financing, and Zuckerberg are in the situation of "forced" to take action. In 2004, Facebook for the first time access to external financing of about $ 600,000. This is a rapidly growing start-ups, is essential for the "timely rain".

After that, Facebook has been at least six external financing. $ 240 million (the total valuation of $ 15 billion) investment in 2007, Microsoft (microblogging), more support Facebook spent the worldwide depression of the 2008 financial crisis.

Not every Internet company can be so lucky. SNS sites in China - the school network because of financing difficulties is the founder of Wang sold to Thousand Oaks.

Each financing, Zuckerberg are simply struggling to worry about the company investors, took to deviate from his ideal direction, or eventually sell the. Several times to volunteer after, Zuckerberg seems to have change. On the one hand, the help of experienced partners and consultants, through the unique design of the equity, Zuckerberg to ensure absolute control of the company, on the other hand, he is no longer the pursuit of business profits, self-condemnation. "My goal is definitely not just to create a company, many people will misread this, as if I do not care about income, profit, or something similar, in fact, to get any sense of success, these things are indispensable less. "

This change is also reflected in the Zuckerberg started to attach importance to find Facebook's profit model.

Facebook said in offering the book in 2011, its revenue was $ 3.711 billion, including advertising revenues of 3.154 billion, accounting for was more than to become the Facebook main source of income.

Facebook's first batch of ads, to appear in July 2004, that site was founded only five months later. At that time, that does not match and the humor of the students on the website playful, Zuckerberg even declined in some companies, including Goldman Sachs advertising.This traditional banner ads, which challenges the the Zuckerberg attaches great importance to the bottom line of the user experience, he has to find a kind of "Facebook, unique forms of advertising. Google's former executives working to Facebook in March 2008, the 42-year-old Sherry Sandberg has played a key role.

Sandberg found such an advertising concept: like people use to define their own identity information of commercial value. Zuckerberg's "trust and this recommendation coincides with the accurate information in the social graph the effective value has been established as Facebook's unique business model for advertisers.

Transparent borderZuckerberg would like to do more. In an open letter addressed to shareholders, he stressed that Facebook wants to improve the relationship between people and government to achieve a more honest and transparent dialogue with the Government and the direct authority of the people.

28-year-old Zuckerberg believes that "a high degree of transparency of the world, the organization will be better and more fair".

Facebook constantly improve the product structure, the same strain with this concept. But this transparent border repeatedly been questioned.

2006, dynamic news service, who have been strong protests from people dissatisfied with any of their own movements are immediately informed friends; 2008, the lighthouse service has once again aroused controversy. Dynamic will this service outside of Facebook, Facebook friends, Massachusetts, a man subnet purchase a ring, this information is displayed in his wife's Facebook page, misleading, and he just wanted to give his wife a Christmas surprise.Facebook users to share content to the advertiser's profit model has been subject to the privacy challenges. Facebook holds even more personal information than the government. This information is extremely opaque. In 2009, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched the allegations of violations of user privacy on Facebook, called in to adjust the user privacy settings, users' personal information to default to open. The two sides eventually reached a settlement in 2011, Facebook has agreed to the FTC privacy review as long as 20 years of the company.

In addition to privacy posed by the troubled, after the listing on Facebook a central challenge is not yet entered the Facebook market of the territory included, to ensure the continued growth of the number of users, including China. This obviously has been a serious challenge for local business, political and cultural. Governments around the world are trying to study how to control Facebook given the excessive freedom of the people.

Another challenge comes from the mobile Internet. Facebook frankly stated that the mobile business capabilities has not been established. " How to make Facebook's development out of the Facebook site, and also be a solution of the question.

With the continuous expansion of the number of users, how to balance commercial interests and protection of user privacy, Facebook facing long-term test.

As Zuckerberg said Facebook is still in the initial stage to promote the opening up and integration of the world.


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