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Facemash released (predecessor to Facebook)
Mark Zuckerberg releases Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook. It is described as a Harvard University version of Hot or Not. -
The beginning stages of facebook
Mark Zuckerberg begins with his fellow co-founders writing Facebook. -
Facebook is Launched and formed
Zuckerberg launches Facebook as a Harvard-only social network. Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, and Eduardo Saverin form Thefacebook.com LLC, a partnership -
Facebook's first investiment/Big News for Facebook
Facebook receives its first investment from Peter Thiel for US$500,000. Facebook incorporates into a new company, and Sean Parker (early employee of Napster) becomes its president. -
Wirehog launched
To compete with growing campus-only service i2hub, Zuckerberg launches Wirehog. It is a precursor to Facebook Platform applications. -
Lawsuit against Zuckerberg
ConnectU files a lawsuit against Zuckerberg and other Facebook founders. -
Big achievement for Facebook and Investment
Facebook achieves its one millionth registered user. Accel Partners invests $13 million into Facebook -
Facebook Launches new version
Facebook launches a high school version of the website. Facebook expands to UK universities. -
New Facebook features
Facebook launches its photos feature with no restrictions on storage (but without the ability to tag friends) and Facebook introduces the ability to tag friends in photos -
Facebook Launches News Feed
Facebook launches News Feed. The original news feed is an algorithmically generated and constantly refreshing summary of updates about the activities of one's friends. The concept was relatively new at the time, with Twitter having launched only a few months in advance. -
Microsoft buys 1.6% of Facebook
Microsoft announces that it will purchase a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion. However, Microsoft also gained ad exclusivity in this deal, so the $15 billion valuation figure is disputed. -
Facebook settles lawsuits
Facebook settles both lawsuits, ConnectU vs Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg et al. and intellectual property theft, Wayne Chang et al. over The Winklevoss Chang Group's Social Butterfly project. The settlement effectively had Facebook acquiring ConnectU for $20 million in cash and over $1.2 million in shares, valued at $45 million based on $15 billion company valuation. -
International headquarters location and new facebook feature
Facebook sets up its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Facebook activates the Facebook like button -
Facebook redesign
Facebook launches a redesign that emphasizes the most important parts of someone's life, including one's biographic information, photos, education, work experience, and important relationships. It replaces the tabs at the top of each profile page with links on the left side of the page -
Facebook competitor
Google launches Google+, widely perceived as a competitor to Facebook. Commentators believe that Facebook's subsequent rapid release of new features and improvements may have in part been hastened due to competition from Google+.