Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard and eventually expanded to other universities. It became popular for its profile pages, photo sharing features, groups, and events. While originally a hobby project, Facebook is now a massively successful social network with over 1.5 million photos uploaded daily. It continues expanding its tools and user base, with rumors it may eventually be acquired for billions of dollars.

1. History of Facebook a Social Networking ProgramBy Alexis DiazElectronic Communications

2. And so it begins..Facebook was founded by former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, while he was still attending the UniversityStarted the social networking program as one of his hobby projects and it eventually extended throughout all of Harvard, and then to Yale, and Stanford where it was widely endorsed.Mark was then joined by fellow Harvard students, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes who helped take the site to the next level. In 2005 Zuckerberg and Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard to run the site full time, and the domain facebook.com was purchased for a reported $200,000 in August 2005

3. The Profile..As Facebook has evolved, so has it’s profile pages.Before you were given a place for a picture of yourself and a few slots to provide information describing who you are, there are now new fields where users can share more informationA typical Facebook profile consists of a number of different sections, including Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes, Groups, and The Wall.

4. PhotosFacebook’s most popular feature is the ability to upload photos. Over 1.5 Million Photos are uploaded daily.Users can upload unlimited photos from their cell phone or through its Java-based web interface.Facebok is one of the few services to offer an unlimited amount that can be uploaded -this is much appreciated by Facebook’s college demographic.The simple process allows users to create albums which they can assign limitations to (e.g. visible to my friends only) and upload photos within them. The album is then put into their profile, and other users with right credentials have the ability to see and comment on them.Facebook also gives the feature to share the photos with a simple web link or send them via AIM or by e-mail. What’s more, users can also order prints online through a simple integrated interface

5. GroupsAlong with other social networking sites, Facebook offers it’s users ‘groups.’Users can create new ones or join and participate in existing ones. This is also displayed in their profile and is a good indication of hobbies and interests a person might have.There are two kind of groups, a normal group and a secret group, which isn’t shown on the profile. A normal group is just like any other, but users can also create and invite others into secret groups.These can be used for collaborating on university projects, and provide a way to have closed discussions. 80% of the groups are ‘fun-related’ and companies can even sponsor groups – as is the case with, for example, the Apple users group.

6. EventsAnother Facebook success is their ‘events’ feature, which provides the ability to organize, be part of, and plan for events. Along with organizing and joining events, users can also invite and recommend others to an event. This feature, however, has raised some controversy as it is generally the start of underage drinking and dry campus violations. Colleges and universities use the feature to catch planning of such events before hand and investigate those that are over. It’s one of the most popular features of the service and even beats some of the competing products made specifically for this purpose.

7. Facebook in The FutureFacebook is a massively successful social networking service that grew to prominence in virtually no time. It’s features and tools are highly appealing, and Facebook users are extremely well networked in real life. Rumors of an acquisition continue to circulate, with some estimates putting the price in the billions of dollars. In the short term, however, Facebook plans to go it alone, continuing to build out one of the world’s most successful social networks.