Overview
Facebook is a social networking service (SNS) founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg together with colleagues while he was a student at Harvard University. With roughly 3 billion monthly active users worldwide, it is the largest social platform in human history, and after its parent company changed its name to Meta Platforms, Inc. in October 2021, it has formed a vast platform ecosystem together with Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. Its advertising-based business model makes it a pillar of the world's largest digital advertising market.
Key Details
Founding and Early Growth
The service began on February 4, 2004, in a Harvard dormitory under the name TheFacebook. The founding members included Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. At first only Ivy League university students could join, but after it opened to all internet users aged 13 and older in 2006, it grew explosively. In May 2012 it was listed on Nasdaq, raising about $16 billion—one of the largest initial public offerings by a U.S. company at the time.
Evolution of Core Features
- News Feed: A personalized feed introduced in 2006 that later became the platform's central interface.
- Like button: Introduced in 2009, it became an interaction standard that spread across the web.
- Messenger and Groups: Provided real-time messaging and community features, increasing time spent on the platform.
- Reels and Stories: Short-form video features responding to TikTok that became a growth driver in the 2020s and after.
- Marketplace: Built-in person-to-person secondhand trading that expanded the platform into commerce.
Business Model
Most of Facebook's revenue comes from targeted digital advertising. Its key competitive strengths are precise targeting using user interest and behavioral data, conversion tracking via the advertising pixel, and measurement that links to offline sales. Meta's total revenue was about $134.9 billion in 2023 and increased to about $164.5 billion in 2024, confirming a recovery in the advertising market.
Major Acquisitions
- 2012 acquisition of Instagram (about $1 billion)
- 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp (about $19 billion)
- 2014 acquisition of Oculus VR (about $2 billion)
- Launch of new in-house services such as Threads from 2019 onward
Controversies and Criticism
Facebook has repeatedly been at the center of social controversy during its growth. In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed that the personal data of tens of millions of people had been used without authorization for political consulting, and issues were also raised about the spread of disinformation in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum. In 2021, whistleblower Frances Haugen released the so-called Facebook Files, criticizing the deterioration of adolescents' mental health and an algorithmic structure that prioritized profit. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit alleging violations of antitrust law, and the European Union has strengthened regulation through the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Transition to Meta
In October 2021, the company changed its name to Meta and announced a metaverse vision, making large-scale investments in its Reality Labs segment. As competition in generative AI subsequently intensified, the center of gravity of its strategy shifted to its own large language model, the Llama series, and the Meta AI assistant.
Latest Trends (2024–2025)
- A major shift in content policy: In January 2025, Meta announced that it would end its third-party fact-checking program in the United States and switch to a community notes approach, and stated a stance of easing censorship of political content. This sparked debate among both regulators and advertisers.
- Reorganization around AI: The Meta AI assistant surpassed 1 billion monthly users, and its strategy of Llama-based open-weight models became central to industry-standard debates.
- Strong advertising results and expanded capital expenditure: Capital expenditure in 2025 is reaching tens of billions of dollars due to AI infrastructure investment, while advertising revenue continues to grow solidly.
- Growth of Threads: The text-based competing service Threads surpassed 300 million monthly users, establishing itself as an alternative to X (formerly Twitter).
- Regulatory risk: The U.S. FTC antitrust trial proceeded in earnest in 2025, and in the European Union, Australia, and elsewhere, age-restriction regulations for the protection of minors have been introduced, increasing pressure to change platform design.
- Realignment of brand assets: As younger users' time spent shifts to Instagram and TikTok, Facebook itself is increasingly taking on the character of a messenger, groups, and marketplace platform centered on middle-aged and older users.
Related Topics
- [[Meta Platforms]]
- [[Mark Zuckerberg]]
- [[Instagram]]
- [[WhatsApp]]
- [[Social Media]]
- [[Threads]]
- [[Big Tech]]
- [[Privacy]]