Facebook Turns 15!!! Image Source: Google Play

Facebook Turns 15!!!

The most used and loved social media –Facebook turned 15 years old this Monday (4th February, 2019). Facebook is where most of our friendships started. The social media has created an entirely new category of relationship, one that simply couldn’t have existed.

Facebook is an American online social media which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg back on February 4, 2004. The social network reached one-billion user milestone back in October 2012. Facebook had more than 2.2 billion monthly active users as of January 2018. The social network has many components such as –Timeline, News Feed, Post Status, Games, Like Button, and more which makes the site more exciting and fun to use. In September 2004, Facebook added a new feature –The Wall to a member’s online profile. This feature allowed users to post information on their friend’s wall which became a key element in the social aspect of the network.

In the year 2005, the social networking site introduced the term – Tag. The idea of tagging people photos was introduced; with tags, people identified themselves and others in images that could be seen by other Facebook friends.

Fast forward to 2008, Facebook surpassed Myspace as the most-visited social media Website.

In February 2012, Facebook filed to become a public company. Its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in May raised $16 billion, giving it a market value of $102.4 billion. By contrast, the largest IPO of an Internet company to date was that of the search-engine company Google Inc., which had raised $1.9 billion when it went public in 2004. By the end of the first day of the stock’s trading, Zuckerberg’s holdings were estimated at more than $19 billion.

Facebook, arguably being the most famous networking sites, comes with its own pros and cons.

Pros:

Facebook is a really great tool for keeping connected with your family and friends and posting pictures to share with them. Among other things, it is also a great platform for organizing group events and letting everyone know what you are up to. The social media can be used as the perfect way to reach out to people. Many companies can use Facebook for marketing and advertising purposes. Facebook has become a powerful tool for political movements.

The real advantage of the social networking site is that it is a real-time social networking site. We can stay updated with the latest news and information. Major news usually goes viral on the site; one can follow or like a popular page to keep themselves aware of the latest updates.

Cons:

One of the major concerns of teh site has to do with its Privacy. In the past, the privacy issues had created a lot of buzz, but now Facebook has simplified its privacy settings.

Never give out too much personal information on any social media platform! All throughout the internet, we should always keep in mind the privacy of our personal data.

As we all know, the site is full of fake profiles. Most of them are created by stalkers. Be aware of these stalkers and make sure to keep your profile (account) private.

Out of all the disadvantages, I believe this is one of the major reasons why people delete or deactivate their profile. We spend too much time on Facebook as it offers many entertaining games and applications. Apart from that, chatting and scrolling through the feed can also be very time-consuming. Spending too much time on the site might make you a Facebook addict, and you might end up wasting too much time.

Lastly, congratulations Facebook for turning 15. The social network has transformed the world, for better and for worse, and its effect will be debated for years.