{"id":55076,"date":"2024-02-02T20:34:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T20:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20"},"modified":"2024-02-02T21:33:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T21:33:58","slug":"facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20","title":{"rendered":"Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth that \u2014 despite perceptions of being for boomers and parents \u2014 continues growing and growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never forget the day that I ran up to my high school\u2019s Mac lab and signed up for Facebook,\u201d Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg told AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou simultaneously felt that you were part of this small, exclusive community where your parents, grandparents and teachers weren\u2019t \u2014 but also part of something much larger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launched as thefacebook.com by Mark Zuckerberg and three friends on February 4, 2004, the site was originally restricted to Harvard College students.<\/p>\n

It became available to students at other US universities before opening to anyone in 2006.<\/p>\n

Facebook became a venue for connecting with just about anyone, anywhere and by 2023 reported being used by more than 3 billion people monthly \u2014 a three percent growth over the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook, when it launched, was revolutionary,\u201d Enberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to overstate the impact that Facebook has had on shaping everything from pop culture to politics to how we behave online.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted Facebook\u2019s famous \u201cfeed\u201d that served up photos, comments, or other \u201cposts\u201d its algorithm figured would grab the attention of users.<\/p>\n

The more users engaged with the social network the more it could serve up money-making ads targeted using the vast amount of information people shared at Facebook.<\/p>\n

It is credited with having helped open the door for content to \u201cgo viral\u201d and fueled the trend of online-only news outlets.<\/p>\n

Ad behemoth <\/b><\/p>\n

Facebook gained a reputation for buying or copying potential rivals, now boasting a \u201cfamily\u201d of apps including Instagram and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg, who still heads the company, stuck to a strategy of investing heavily to gain users before integrating money-making methods that usually involved targeted ads.<\/p>\n

Along with Google, Facebook became an online advertising giant.<\/p>\n

In 2022 \u2014 a bad year for the Silicon Valley-based company \u2014 its profits reached $23 billion.<\/p>\n

The platform \u201cis part of the digital landscape\u201d, particularly for \u201cmillennials\u201d born in the 1980s or 1990s, according to Enberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt remains irresistible to advertisers, thanks to its reach and performance,\u201d the analyst said of Facebook.<\/p>\n

A business model built on using people\u2019s personal data to offer more attention-grabbing content and targeted ads has earned Facebook complaints and fines.<\/p>\n

Fresh off accusations that Russia used the platform to try to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, it became embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal.<\/p>\n

In 2021, it came under fire over whistleblower accusations that executives put profit over the safety and well-being of users.<\/p>\n

Despite it all, Facebook has continued to grow.<\/p>\n

And the tech titan\u2019s expansion has allowed it to invest in innovations including artificial intelligence and virtual reality.<\/p>\n

Facebook changed its parent company name to \u201cMeta\u201d in late 2021, saying it was due to Zuckerberg\u2019s vision of immersive, virtual worlds referred to as the \u201cmetaverse\u201d being the next major computing platform.<\/p>\n

\u2018My mom\u2019s friends\u2019 <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe might be less engaged, but we haven\u2019t walked away because there really isn\u2019t an alternative,\u201d Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said of the staying power of the aging social network.<\/p>\n

Facebook has also struck a chord with the addition of \u201cgroups\u201d that lets users create communities around common interests like sports, celebrities or farming that connect online but also in the real world.<\/p>\n

Also popular are marketplace features that let people buy or sell items.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went on Facebook because I knew my mom\u2019s friends would be interested,\u201d 18-year-old California babysitter Ruby Hammer said of using the social network to make money.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd also, Marketplace, because I\u2019m looking for a car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammer connects with peers by sharing photos on SnapChat and Instagram, not on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Analyst Enberg called buying Instagram in 2012 as part of a pivot to smartphone lifestyles one of the best business decisions made by Facebook.<\/p>\n

The move eliminated a rival, provided a new forum for ads, and appealed to younger internet users losing interest in Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all, it gives the company an app to rival Snapchat and TikTok\u201d, which are ultra-popular with teenagers,\u201d according to Enberg.<\/p>\n

Today, more than half of Facebook users are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, according to online insights company DataReportal.<\/p>\n

But how engaged users are with the social network remains difficult to gauge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go to Facebook very little, but what I post on Instagram automatically appears on Facebook too,\u201d said analyst Milanesi.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019m certainly counted as \u2018active\u2019… The figures may not reflect reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth that \u2014 despite perceptions of being for boomers and parents \u2014 continues growing and growing. \u201cI will never forget the day that I ran up to my high school\u2019s Mac lab and signed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-55076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nFacebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20 - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth tha ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth tha ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-02T20:34:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-02T21:33:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2024\/02\/sm_1706896355.983405.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-02T20:34:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-02T21:33:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20\"},\"wordCount\":775,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2024\/02\/sm_1706896355.983405.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/facebook-the-social-network-old-timer-turns-20\",\"name\":\"Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20 - 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