Facebook, Inc.
Type	Private
Founded	Cambridge, Massachusetts (February 4, 2004)[1]
Headquarters	Palo Alto, California
Key people	Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO Dustin Moskovitz, Co-founder Sheryl Sandberg, COO Matt Cohler, VP of Product Management Chris Hughes, Co-founder
Revenue	▲ US$150 million (est. The term privately held company refers to ownership of a business company in two different ways first referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations and second Cambridge Massachusetts is a City in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Events 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Palo Alto (ˌpæloʊˈæltoʊ from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high" i California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur An entrepreneur is a person who has possession over a company enterprise, or Venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator Dustin Moskovitz co-founded the Social networking website Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg and Chris Hughes. Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook Inc A chief operating officer or chief operations officer ( COO) is a Corporate officer responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the Corporation Product management is an organizational function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the Product lifecycle. Chris Hughes (born November 26, 1983) co-founded and served as Spokesperson for the online social directory Facebook, with Harvard In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been )[2]
Employees	500 (March 2008)[3]
Website	facebook.com
Type of site	Social networking
Advertising	Banner ads
Registration	Required
Available in	Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
Launched	February 2004
Current status	Active

Facebook (branded as "facebook") is a social networking website launched on February 4, 2004. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Online advertising is a form of Advertising that uses the Internet and World Wide Web in order to deliver Marketing messages and attract customers A web banner or banner ad is a form of Advertising on the World Wide Web. A human language is a Language primarily intended for communication among Humans The two major categories of human languages are Natural languages and Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Events 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The free-access website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. The term privately held company refers to ownership of a business company in two different ways first referring to ownership by non-governmental organizations and second Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. The website's name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some American colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus. A campus is traditionally the land on which a College or University and related institutional buildings are situated The United States of America —commonly referred to as the College ( Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an Educational Institution.

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while still a student at Harvard University. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur Website membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Ivy League. The Ivy League is an Athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. Peter Thiel was the first person to fund the company, with an initial investment of US$500,000. Peter Andreas Thiel (born 1967) is an American Entrepreneur, Hedge fund manager and venture capitalist The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Features include a Wall for posting messages and Photos for uploading digital photos. Digital photography is a form of Photography that utilizes Digital technology to make Digital images of subjects More than 70 million people worldwide visit the website regularly. ^[4]

Due to its popularity, Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked in several countries including Syria and Iran. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. Facebook 's growth as an Internet Social networking site has met criticism on a range of issues including the Privacy of users and unmoderated content affecting advertising

History

Mark Zuckerberg founded "The Facebook", originally located at thefacebook. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur com, in February 2004 while attending Harvard University as a sophomore. Sophomore is a term used to describe a second effort instance or release ^[1] The company dropped The from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook. In Computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain which is an administrative space managed according com in 2005. ^[5] Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, and within the first month, more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard were registered on the service. Harvard College is the undergraduate section and oldest school of Harvard University, a Private university in the United States founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts In some Educational systems undergraduate education is Post-secondary education up to the level of a Bachelor's degree. ^[6] Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes soon joined Zuckerberg to help promote the website. Dustin Moskovitz co-founded the Social networking website Facebook along with Mark Zuckerberg and Chris Hughes. Chris Hughes (born November 26, 1983) co-founded and served as Spokesperson for the online social directory Facebook, with Harvard In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale. Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. ^[7] This expansion continued from April to June when it opened to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, and all Ivy League schools. For similarly-named academic institutions see Education in Boston MA. For similarly-named academic institutions see Education in Boston MA. Northeastern University, abbreviated NU or NEU, is a private University in Boston Massachusetts. The Ivy League is an Athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. ^[7] At the end of the school year, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz moved to Palo Alto, California. Palo Alto (ˌpæloʊˈæltoʊ from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high" i California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. ^[7]

Facebook launched a high school version on September 2, 2005; Zuckerberg called it "the next logical step". Events 44 BC - Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[8] Initially, high school networks required an invitation to join,^[9] but this was changed fifteen days later to allow anyone to join. ^[9] By the end of the year, more than 2,000 colleges and over 25,000 high schools throughout seven countries including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom had networks on Facebook. ^[10][11] Facebook had expanded membership eligibility to employees of 10 preselected companies by April 26, 2006, including Amazon.com, Apple Inc., and Microsoft. Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Amazoncom Inc ( is an American electronic commerce ( E-commerce) company in Seattle Washington. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer ^[12] Facebook finally became open to everyone on September 11, 2006, with the only requirements being a valid email address and a minimum age of 13. Events 9 - The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends 506 - The Bishops of Visigothic Gaul Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Electronic mail, often abbreviated to e-mail, email, or originally eMail, is a Store-and-forward method of writing sending receiving ^[13][14]

Funding

Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California

Facebook received its first investment of US$500,000 in June 2004 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel in an angel round. Palo Alto (ˌpæloʊˈæltoʊ from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high" i The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been PayPal is an E-commerce business allowing payments and Money transfers to be made through the Internet. Peter Andreas Thiel (born 1967) is an American Entrepreneur, Hedge fund manager and venture capitalist An angel investor or angel (known as a business angel or informal investor in Europe) is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business ^[15] This was followed a year later by $12. 8 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, and then $25 million more from Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners. Venture capital (also known as VC or Venture) is a type of Private equity capital typically provided to immature high-potential growth companies Venture capital (also known as VC or Venture) is a type of Private equity capital typically provided to immature high-potential growth companies ^[15][16] A cash flow statement was leaked, showing that during the 2005 fiscal year, Facebook had a net loss of $3. Purpose The cash flow statement was previously known as the statement of changes in financial position or flow of funds statement. A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is a period used for calculating annual ("yearly" Financial statements in Businesses 63 million. ^[17] Microsoft approached Facebook in September 2007, proposing an investment in return for a 5% stake in the company. Microsoft would pay an estimated $300–500 million for the share. ^[18] Microsoft announced on October 24, 2007 that it purchased a 1. Events 69 - Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus the commander of the Danube armies loyal to Vespasian, defeat Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. 6% share of Facebook for $246 million. ^[19] On November 30, 2007, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing invested $60 million in Facebook. Events 1700 - Battle of Narva — A Swedish army of 8500 men under Charles XII defeats Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Not to be confused with Martin Lee Ka Shing, the vice-chairman of Henderson Land Development. ^[20]

BusinessWeek reported on March 28, 2006 that a potential acquisition of the website was under negotiation. BusinessWeek is a business Magazine published by McGraw-Hill. Events 37 - Roman Emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Facebook reportedly declined an offer of $750 million from an unknown bidder, and it was rumored the asking price rose as high as $2 billion. ^[21] With the sale of social networking website MySpace to News Corp on July 19, 2005, rumors surfaced about the possible sale of Facebook to a larger media company. MySpace is a popular social networking Website offering an interactive user-submitted network of friends personal profiles blogs groups photos music and News Corporation (often abbreviated to News Corp) (,,) is one of the world's largest media conglomerate companies by Market capitalisation Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[22] Zuckerberg had already said he did not want to sell the company and denied rumors to the contrary. ^[23] In late September, serious talks between Facebook and Yahoo! took place concerning acquisition of the social network, with prices reaching as high as $1 billion. A social network is a Social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency such as ^[24] Thiel, by then a board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebook's internal valuation was around $8 billion based on their projected revenues of $1 billion by 2015, comparable to Viacom's MTV brand, a company with a shared target demographic audience. MTV ( Music Television) is an American Cable television network based in New York City. ^[25] Other companies, including Google, expressed interest in September 2007 to buy a portion of Facebook. Google Inc is an American public corporation, earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online ^[26] Amid the rumors, Zuckerberg claimed that selling Facebook was unlikely because he wanted to keep it independent, stating on July 17, 2007, "We're not really looking to sell the company. Events 180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.  [. . . ] We're not looking to IPO anytime soon. Initial public offering (IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering" is when a company issues Common stock or shares to the public for the first It's just not the core focus of the company. "^[10]

Website

On the homepage for Facebook, a login form is shown on the left, and a registration form is shown on the right. The homepage (often written as home page) or main page is the URL or local file that automatically loads when a Web browser starts and when

Facebook users can choose to join one or more networks, organized by city, workplace, school, and region. ^[27] These networks help users connect with members of the same network. Users can also connect with friends, giving them access to their friends' profiles. ^[28]

The website is free to users, but generates revenue from advertising, including banner ads. A web banner or banner ad is a form of Advertising on the World Wide Web. ^[29] Users create profiles that often contain photos and lists of personal interests, exchange private or public messages, and join groups of friends. ^[30] The viewing of detailed profile data is restricted to users from the same network or confirmed friends.

Microsoft is Facebook's exclusive partner for serving banner advertising,^[31] and as such Facebook only serves advertisements that exist in Microsoft's advertisement inventory. A web banner or banner ad is a form of Advertising on the World Wide Web. An advertising network or ad network is a company that connects web sites that want to host advertisements with advertisers who want to run advertisements According to comScore, an internet marketing research company, Facebook collects as much data from its visitors as Google and Microsoft but considerably less than Yahoo! when compared with other web companies. comScore is an internet Marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses Marketing research or market research is a form of business research and is generally divided into two categories consumer market research and business-to-business (B2B market research which ^[32]

Features

Main article: Facebook features

The media often compares Facebook to MySpace, but one significant difference between the two websites is the level of customization. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website MySpace is a popular social networking Website offering an interactive user-submitted network of friends personal profiles blogs groups photos music and ^[33] MySpace allows users to decorate their profiles using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), while Facebook only allows plain text. HTML, an initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant Markup language for Web pages It provides a means to describe the structure In Computing, plain text is a term used for an ordinary "unformatted" sequential file readable as textual material without much processing ^[34]

Facebook has a number of features for users to interact with. They include the Wall, a space on every user's profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see,^[35] Pokes, which allows users to send a virtual "poke" to each other (a notification that tells a user that they have been poked),^[36] Photos, where users can upload albums and photos,^[37] and Status, which allows users to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website ^[38] A user's Wall is visible to anyone who is able to see that user's profile, which depends on their privacy settings. In July 2007, Facebook began allowing users to post attachments to the Wall, whereas the Wall was previously limited to textual content only. ^[35]

Over time, Facebook has added several new features to its website. On September 6, 2006, a News Feed was announced, which appears on every user's homepage and highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays related to the user's friends. Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website ^[39] Initially, the News Feed caused dissatisfaction among Facebook users; some complained it was too cluttered and full of undesired information, while others were concerned it made it too easy for other people to track down individual activities (such as changes in relationship status, events, and conversations with other users). ^[40] In response to this dissatisfaction, Zuckerberg issued an apology for the site's failure to include appropriate customizable privacy features. ^[41] Since then, users have been able to control what types of information are shared automatically with friends. ^[41] Users are now able to prevent friends from seeing updates about different types of activities, including profile changes, Wall posts, and newly added friends. ^[41]

One of the most popular applications on Facebook is the Photos application, where users can upload albums and photos. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website ^[37] Facebook allows users to upload an unlimited number of photos, compared with other image hosting services such as Photobucket and Flickr, which apply limits to the number of photos that a user is allowed to upload. An image hosting service allows individuals to upload Images to an Internet website Photobucket is an image hosting, Video hosting, Slideshow creation and Photo sharing website Flickr is an image and video hosting Website, Web services suite and Online community platform However, users are limited to 60 photos per album. Privacy settings can be set for individual albums, limiting the groups of users that can see an album. For example, the privacy of an album can be set so that only the user's friends can see the album, while the privacy of another album can be set so that all Facebook users can see it. Another feature of the Photos applications is the ability to "tag", or label users in a photo. A tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an Internet bookmark, digital image or Computer file) For instance, if a photo contains a user's friend, then the user can tag the friend in the photo. This sends a notification to the friend that they have been tagged, and provides them a link to see the photo. ^[42]

Facebook Notes was introduced on August 22, 2006, a blogging feature that allowed tags and embeddable images. Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Users were later able to import blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services. Xanga (ˈzæŋgə is a website that hosts weblogs, Photoblogs and social networking profiles. LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is a Virtual community where Internet users can keep a Blog, Journal or Diary. Blogger is a Blog publishing system. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003 ^[13] During the week of April 7, 2008, Facebook released a Comet-based^[43] instant messaging application called "Chat" to several networks,^[44] which allows users to communicate with friends and is similar in functionality to desktop-based instant messengers. Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common In Web development, Comet is a Neologism to describe a Web application model in which a long-held HTTP request allows a Web server

Facebook launched Gifts on February 8, 2007, which allows users to send virtual gifts to their friends that appear on the recipient's profile. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Events 421 - Constantius III becomes co- Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Gifts cost $1. 00 each to purchase, and a personalized message can be attached to each gift. ^[45][46] On May 14, 2007, Facebook launched Marketplace, which lets users post free classified ads. Events 1264 - Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured in France making Simon de Montfort the Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website ^[47] Marketplace has been compared to Craigslist by CNET, which points out that the major difference between the two is that listings posted by a user on Marketplace are only seen by users that are in the same network as that user, whereas listings posted on Craigslist can be seen by anyone. Craigslist is a central network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements – with jobs internships housing personals, erotic CNET Networks Inc is a media company based in San Francisco California, United States, and is part of CBS Interactive, owned ^[48]

Platform

Facebook launched the Facebook Platform on May 24, 2007, providing a framework for software developers to create applications that interact with core Facebook features. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. A software framework, in Computer programming, is an abstraction in which common code providing generic functionality can be selectively overridden or specialized by user A software developer is a person or organization concerned with facets of the software development process wider than design and coding a somewhat broader scope of Application software is a subclass of Computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer directly and thoroughly to a task that the user wishes to perform ^[49][50] A markup language called Facebook markup language was introduced simultaneously; it is used to customize the "look and feel" of applications that developers create. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Using the Platform, Facebook launched several new applications,^[49][50] including Gifts, allowing users to send virtual gifts to each other, Marketplace, allowing users to post free classified ads, Events, giving users a method of informing their friends about upcoming events, and Video, letting users share homemade videos with one another. Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website Facebook is a social networking Website. This is a list of features that can be found on the website ^[51][52]

Applications that have been created on the Platform include chess and Scrabble, both which allow users to play games with their friends. Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. The verb "to scrabble" also means to scratch scramble or scrape about see Wiktionaryscrabble. ^[53][54] These games are asynchronous, meaning that a user's moves are saved on the website, allowing the next move to be made at any time rather than immediately after the previous move. In Telecommunications, Asynchronous communication is transmission of data without the use of an external clock signal ^[55] Within a few months of launching the Facebook Platform, issues arose regarding "application spam", which involves Facebook applications "spamming" users to request it be installed. Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages ^[56] Application spam has been considered one of the possible causes to the drop in visitors to Facebook starting from the beginning of 2008, when its growth had fallen from December 2007 to January 2008, its first drop since its launch in 2004. ^[57]

Controversy

See also: Criticism of Facebook and Use of social network websites in investigations

Due to its popularity, Facebook has been involved in several controversial events. Facebook 's growth as an Internet Social networking site has met criticism on a range of issues including the Privacy of users and unmoderated content affecting advertising Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. In October 2005, the University of New Mexico blocked access to Facebook from its campus computers and networks. The University of New Mexico ( UNM) is a Public University in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ^[58] It cited a violation of the university's Acceptable Use Policy for abusing computer resources as the reason, stating the website forces use of the university's credentials for activity not related to the university. An acceptable use policy ( AUP; also sometimes acceptable usage policy) is a set of rules applied by network and website owners The school later unblocked Facebook after the website rectified the situation by displaying a notice on the login page stating the credentials used on the website are separate from the ones used for their school accounts. ^[59] The Ontario government also blocked access to Facebook for its employees in May 2007, stating the website was "not directly related to the workplace". Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec ^[60]

A notable ancillary effect of social networking websites like Facebook is the ability for participants to mourn publicly for a deceased individual. On January 1, 2008, a memorial group on Facebook posted the identity of murdered Toronto teenager Stefanie Rengel, whose family had not yet given the Toronto Police Service their consent to release her name to the media. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario The Toronto Police Service ( TPS) formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the Police force for the City of Toronto, Ontario ^[61] While police and Facebook staff attempted to comply with the privacy regulations by deleting posts mentioning her name, they noted it was difficult to effectively police individual users who repeatedly republished the deleted information. ^[62]

Due to the open nature of Facebook, several countries have banned access to it including Syria and Iran. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. ^[63][64] The Syrian government cited the ban was on the premise that the website promoted attacks on authorities. ^[63][65] The government also feared Israeli infiltration of Syrian social networks on Facebook. ^[63] Facebook was also used by Syrian citizens to criticize the government, and public criticism of the Syrian government is punishable by imprisonment. ^[63] In Iran, the website was banned because of fears that opposition movements were being organized on the website. ^[64]

Beacon

Main article: Facebook Beacon

Facebook announced Facebook Beacon on November 7, 2007, a marketing initiative that allows websites to publish a user's activities to their Facebook profile as "Social Ads" and promote products. Beacon is a part of Facebook 's advertisement system that sends data from external Websites to Facebook ostensibly for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements Beacon is a part of Facebook 's advertisement system that sends data from external Websites to Facebook ostensibly for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ^[66] When launching Beacon, Facebook stated "no personally identifiable information is shared with an advertiser in creating a Social Ad", and that "Facebook users will only see Social Ads to the extent their friends are sharing information with them. "^[67] After Facebook was criticized for collecting more user information for advertisers than was previously stated, Zuckerberg publicly apologized on December 5, 2007 for the way Facebook launched Beacon, saying, "The problem with our initial approach of making it an opt-out system instead of opt-in was that if someone forgot to decline to share something, Beacon still went ahead and shared it with their friends. Events 63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. "^[68][69]

ConnectU

Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss, and Tyler Winklevoss, owners of the social networking website HarvardConnection, changed its name to ConnectU in September 2004 and filed a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging Zuckerberg had illegally used source code intended for the website they asked him to build for them. In law a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a Court in which the party commencing the action the Plaintiff, seeks a legal or equitable remedy In Computer science, source code (commonly just source or code) is any sequence of statements or declarations written in some Human-readable ^[70][71] Facebook later requested the court case that ConnectU filed against them be dismissed, citing ConnectU's "broad brush allegations are unsupported by evidence". The case was dismissed by a United States federal judge. In the United States the title of federal judge usually refers to a Judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States ^[72] ConnectU filed another lawsuit against Facebook on March 11, 2008, continuing the case; a resolution is still pending as of May 2008. Events 1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common International holidays May 1 - Labour Day ( Pakistan) May 1 - Labour Day ( Singapore) ^[73]

Privacy

Several concerns have emerged regarding the use of Facebook as a means of surveillance and data mining. Data mining is the process of Sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information ^[74] Two MIT students were able to download over 70,000 Facebook profiles from four schools (MIT, New York University, the University of Oklahoma, and Harvard University) using an automated shell script, as part of a research project on Facebook privacy published on December 14, 2005. New York University ( NYU) is a private, Nonsectarian, Coeducational Research University in New York City. University of Oklahoma, abbreviated OU, is a Coeducational public Research university located in the U A shell script is a script written for the shell, or Command line interpreter, of an Operating system. Events 1287 - St Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses killing over 50000 people Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[75] The possibility of data mining remains open, as evidenced in May 2008, when the BBC technology program "Click" demonstrated that personal details of Facebook users and their friends could be stolen by submitting malicious applications. Click (previously Click Online) is a weekly BBC Television programme covering news and recent developments in the world of consumer ^[76]

Privacy proponents have criticized the site's privacy agreement, which states: "We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook Platform developers and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile. "^[77] Another clause that received criticism concerned Facebook's right to sell a user's data to private companies, stating: "We may share your information with third parties, including responsible companies with which we have a relationship. " This concern was addressed by Facebook spokesman Chris Hughes who said, "Simply put, we have never provided our users' information to third party companies, nor do we intend to. Chris Hughes (born November 26, 1983) co-founded and served as Spokesperson for the online social directory Facebook, with Harvard "^[78]

Concerns have also been raised regarding the difficulty of deleting user accounts. Previously, Facebook only allowed users to "deactivate" their accounts so that their profile was no longer visible. However, any information the user had entered into the website and on their profile remained on the website's servers. A server is a Computer dedicated to providing one or more services over a computer network typically through a request-response routine This outraged many users who wished to remove their accounts permanently, citing reasons such as the inability to erase "embarrassing or overly-personal online profiles from their student days as they entered the job market, for fear employers would locate the profiles". ^[79] Facebook changed its account deletion policies on February 29, 2008, allowing users to contact the website to request that their accounts be permanently deleted. Leap years Although the modern calendar counts a year as 365 days a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common ^[80]

Reception

Facebook has more than 70 million active users worldwide. ^[4] According to Alexa, the website's ranking among all websites increased from 60th to 7th in terms of traffic, from September 2006 to September 2007. Alexa Internet Inc is a California -based Subsidiary company of Amazon ^[81] Quantcast ranks the website 16th in terms of traffic,^[82] and Compete.com ranks it 20th. Quantcast is a Web site that is based on viewing the statistics of other Web sites Competecom is a United States Web traffic analysis service that publishes the approximate number of U ^[83] The website is the most popular for uploading photos, with 14 million uploaded daily. ^[4] On November 3, 2007, there were seven thousand applications on Facebook, with another hundred created everyday. Events 644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ^[84]

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries, including Canada^[85] and the United Kingdom. The following is a list of Sovereign states and territories where English is an Official language, in order of Population. ^[86] The website has won numerous awards and accolades, such as being considered one of the "Top 100 Classic Websites" by PC Magazine in 2007,^[87] and winning the "People's Voice Award" from the Webby Awards in 2008. PC Magazine (sometimes referred to as PC Mag) is a Computer magazine that is published monthly in the United States (until 2008 it was published ^[88] In a 2006 study conducted by Student Monitor, a New Jersey-based limited liability company specializing in research concerning the college student market, Facebook was named the second most popular thing among undergraduates, tied with beer and only ranked lower than the iPod. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. A limited liability company (abbreviated LLC or LLC) in the law of the vast majority of the United States is a legal form of business Company iPod is a popular brand of Portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc ^[89]

References

External links

• Official homepage