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It has been 15 years since a 19-year-old college student launched a website that would go on to define and dominate the internet era.
The social network, originally called TheFacebook, is now used by almost a third of the world’s population and its most recent figures show that it’s continuing to grow.
A series of scandals in recent years has resulted in calls for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to be subpoened , while others believe he should step down as CEO.
Yet under Mr Zuckerberg’s guidance, the company continues to evolve into arguably the most successful company of the internet era.
With revenue of around $55 billion in 2018, Facebook would be the 76th wealthiest country in the world.
Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social networkShow all 15 1 /15Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Facebook is born On 4 Feb, 2004, 19-year-old Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched a website called 'TheFacebook' from his dorm. Within 24 hours the college social network had more than 1,000 users
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Winklevoss twins sue Zuckerberg Within one week of launching, fellow Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea. It would be four years later when the resulting lawsuit was finally settled
Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Open for business The social network finally opened it platform to everyone on 26 September, 2006. The move proved the catalyst in supercharging the site's already explosive growth
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Billion-dollar bid Yahoo offered $1 billion to buy Facebook in September 2006 but Zuckerberg turned it down. 'I don’t know what I could do with the money,' Zuckerberg reportedly said. 'I’d just start another social networking site'
Reuters
Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network In the money In September 2009, almost five years since the site launched, Facebook turned a profit for the first time
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Taking the lead Facebook overtook MySpace in 2010 to become the world’s most popular social network
Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Taking on the tech giants In 2011, Google launched its own social network that it hoped would knock Facebook from its perch. Despite its initial success, Google+ ultimately failed and will be shut down completely in 2019
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Facebook goes public On 18 May, 2012, Facebook went public. The initial public offering raised $16 billion – the third largest in US history
Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Gobbling up the competition Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 for $1 billion, consolidating its position as the world's leading social network
Reuters
Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network One billion users On 4 October, 2012, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had hit 1 billion users. 'If you’re reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honour of serving you,' he wrote in a blog post
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Expanding its empire In February 2014 Facebook acquired the messaging app WhatsApp for $19.3 billion
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Two billion users In June 2017, Facebook passed the 2 billion user milestone
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Privacy scandal On 17 March 2018, news broke that UK firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested data from around 87 million Facebook users for the purpose of political profiling in the build up to the 2016 US presidential elections
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Record profits Despite the scandals and subsequent #DeleteFacebook campaign, Facebook posted record profits just before its 15th anniversary, the equivalent of $7.37 from each of its 2.32 billions users
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Facebook birthday: 15 defining moments for the social network Unhappy users A study found that people are happier when they don’t use Facebook, adding to mounting evidence surrounding the impact social media has on mental health
Rex Features
So how did a dorm room project go on to be one of the world’s largest technology companies? Here are 15 moments that defined Facebook .
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