Top 10 Milestones in Facebook’s 20-Year Journey

These ten key points provide a comprehensive overview of Facebook’s 20-year anniversary, highlighting its achievements, challenges, and the influence it has had on individuals, communities, and the world at large.

1.      Facebook celebrated its 20th anniversary with 3.07 billion monthly active users, making it the world’s largest social networking site.

2.      Despite claims of its decline, Facebook continues to grow, with a 3% increase in users from the previous year.

3.      Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues at Harvard to connect people for friendship.

4.      Facebook has expanded beyond its initial purpose and now includes arms such as Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

5.      Scholars have highlighted both positive and negative aspects of Facebook’s impact. It has been a source of disruption, strengthening community, promoting democracy, but also undermining it and reinforcing capitalism.

6.      Concerns have been raised about Facebook’s potential for propaganda, data harvesting, and its involvement in a surveillance-industrial complex.

7.      On the positive side, Facebook has been correlated with voting behavior and has been utilized by many heads of government for political communication.

8.      Users have redefined Facebook to strengthen their ideas and engage in commerce, reflecting the centrality of culture and human agency in social media engagement.

9.      In 2021, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, signifying its ambition to become a virtual confluence for both work and play.

10.   Facebook’s 20-year journey has been characterized by growth, disruption, and a complex impact on society.