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Facebook is an online social media and networking service founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg along with his fellow Harvard college roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Chris Huges and Dustin Moskovitz. Facebook was initially made available for Harvard University students and later it was expanded for other colleges, schools and universities. It was made available to everyone above the age of 13 in the year 2006. According to the company's website, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. While attending the Harvard University as a second year student Zuckerberg wrote a program called 'Facemash' that used compiled photos that was gained by Zuckerberg by hacking into Harvard's computer network and copying the images. He then placed two photos at a time and asked the users to choose the 'hotter' person. The site was then forwarded to several other campuses and servers. However, the site was shut down by Harvard University and Zuckerberg had to face expulsion. After returning to the university, Zuckerberg in the next semester got inspired by an editorial in The Harvard Crimson about the Facemash incident and then Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook" website on 4th February 2004 and it was located at the facebook.com. Membership of Thefacebook was initially for the students of Harvard College and it later was opened to other universities like the University of Columbia, Stanford and Yale and later it was opened for most of the universities in Canada and United States. Zuckerberg's informal advisor Sean Parker became the company's president in mid 2004 and in 2005 Thefacebook dropped 'the' from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook.com for US$200,000. The company moved to Palo Alto in California in June 2004 and the next month the company received its first investment from Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal. Later in May 2005, Facebook received investment of $12.7 million from Accel Partners and $1 million from Jim Breyer. Facebook then launched a a high-school version in September 2005 and was also made available to the employees of Apple Inc. and Microsoft. Gaining steady popularity, the forum was opened to general public on September 26, 2006. Anybody above the age of 13 with a valid email id could open a Facebook account. Facebook gained popularity in no time and by January 2009 a study by ompete.com ranked Facebook as the most used networking service on the basis of monthly active users. The company continued to gain traffic and by July 2010, the company announced that it has crossed the 500 million users mark to become the largest online social network in the world at the time. By November 2010, Facebook's value was marked at $41 billion based on SecondMarket Inc. study. This made Facebook the third largest American web company. Facebook filed for an Initial Public Offering on 1st February 2012 and negotiated a share price of US$38. This valued the company at $104 billion, the largest valuation for a newly listed public company. As of September 2016, Facebook's headquarter is located at 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California and as of June 30 2016, Facebook has 14,495 employees working. The company has on average 1.13 billion daily active users, and a total of 1.71 billion monthly. With over 84.5% of daily active users outside the US and Canada, the social media behemoth is easily one of the largest influence on the internet today. Facebook also owns WhatsApp and Instagram that has 1 billion and 500 million monthly users respectively. Facebook has been able to create a social impact on human life. Facebook allows people to connect to different people worldwide and enabling them to continuously can stay in touch with their relatives and friends. It also helps in uniting people with common interest and they can create their own open or closed private groups. Facebook also has been able to change the way people communicate. People now use images and videos to communicate and his friends or colleagues can respond to their posts through 'likes' or various other emoticons that were recently introduced by Facebook. Facebook also has been able to create a political impact and majority of the major political parties around the globe have their presence on Facebook. However, Facebook also has been a subject to many criticisms around the globe. According to a report released by Geenpeace on 21st April 2011, Facebook was the most reliant on coal for electricity for its data center and it consumes up to 2% of all global electricity and the amount was projected to increase in the future. Facebook was condemned in India for its Free Basics offer in collaboration with Reliance Communications. Issue of privacy and security bug also has been a major reasons creating negative image of Facebook. Facebook has been blocked temporarily or permanently in many countries. The government of Bangladesh has been blocking Facebook, WhatsApp and many other social media apps since 18th November 2015. To boot, it has been the center of many billion dollar lawsuits. Irrespective of all this, the social networking site continue to grow and is easily one of the largest influence today.

Facebook now lets you control how apps and websites share your data for ad-targeting
Staff | August 21, 2019 12:30 PM IST
Facebook has unveiled new tools, which will let users control the data that apps and websites share ...
Facebook now lets you control how apps and websites share your data for ad-targeting
indiacom
2019-08-21T01:30:05+00:00
2019-08-21T01:30:05+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Linking Aadhaar to Social Media Profile: Supreme Court Issues Notice to Centre, Twitter, Google
India.com News Desk | August 20, 2019 12:59 PM IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to Centre, Twitter, Google and YouTube over a...
Linking Aadhaar to Social Media Profile: Supreme Court Issues Notice to Centre, Twitter, Google
indiacom
2019-08-20T01:59:16+00:00
2019-08-20T03:00:17+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Facebook and Twitter suspend several China-backed fake accounts: All you need to know
IANS | August 20, 2019 11:15 AM IST
As pro-democracy protests gain momentum in Hong Kong, Twitter and Facebook have suspended several ac...
Facebook and Twitter suspend several China-backed fake accounts: All you need to know
indiacom
2019-08-20T00:15:03+00:00
2019-08-20T00:15:03+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp new features: Check out 3 newly added features on iOS and Android apps
Staff | August 19, 2019 1:15 PM IST
WhatsApp, which is used by over 1.5 billion users globally, adds a host of new features on a weekly ...
WhatsApp new features: Check out 3 newly added features on iOS and Android apps
indiacom
2019-08-19T02:15:03+00:00
2019-08-19T02:30:10+00:00
Facebook
India.com
'WhatsApp from Facebook' tag added in latest beta: Report
IANS | August 19, 2019 12:45 PM IST
WhatsApp is adding an update to its latest beta that adds the "WhatsApp from Facebook" tag to the ap...
'WhatsApp from Facebook' tag added in latest beta: Report
indiacom
2019-08-19T01:45:03+00:00
2019-08-19T01:45:03+00:00
Facebook
India.com
TikTok becomes the top downloaded social media app on App Store in July, fails to beat Facebook overall
Staff | August 19, 2019 11:45 AM IST
TikTok, the popular short-video sharing app, has emerged as the most download social media app on th...
TikTok becomes the top downloaded social media app on App Store in July, fails to beat Facebook overall
indiacom
2019-08-19T00:45:10+00:00
2019-08-19T00:45:10+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Instagram reportedly testing new Boomerang features, Layout in Stories and more
Staff | August 16, 2019 12:30 PM IST
Facebook's F8 conference this year brought quite a few announcements, and in recent months we have s...
Instagram reportedly testing new Boomerang features, Layout in Stories and more
indiacom
2019-08-16T01:30:03+00:00
2019-08-16T01:45:06+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Facebook now allows anyone to create custom face filters for Instagram Stories
Staff | August 14, 2019 3:15 PM IST
Facebook's augmented reality effects builder tool, Spark AR, will now let anyone create a custom fac...
Facebook now allows anyone to create custom face filters for Instagram Stories
indiacom
2019-08-14T04:15:12+00:00
2019-08-14T04:15:12+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Facebook let people listen to your Messenger chats: Report
Staff | August 14, 2019 12:45 PM IST
Facebook has become the latest tech giant paying third-party contractors to transcribe and listen to...
Facebook let people listen to your Messenger chats: Report
indiacom
2019-08-14T01:45:13+00:00
2019-08-14T01:45:13+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Facebook’s Dark Mode is underworks for Android: Report
Staff | August 13, 2019 3:30 PM IST
In case, you haven't noticed, Facebook has gradually pushed out new design to its apps and web platf...
Facebook’s Dark Mode is underworks for Android: Report
indiacom
2019-08-13T04:30:07+00:00
2019-08-13T04:30:07+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp has three critical flaws and only one is fixed: Check Point Research
Staff | August 13, 2019 10:00 AM IST
WhatsApp remains one of the most popular social messaging platforms in the world. With over 1.5 bill...
WhatsApp has three critical flaws and only one is fixed: Check Point Research
indiacom
2019-08-12T23:00:04+00:00
2019-08-12T23:00:04+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp yet to fix a flaw that allows hackers to edit or change messages
Staff | August 9, 2019 12:15 PM IST
WhatsApp is yet to address a security flaw that was pointed out a year ago by Check Point, an Israel...
WhatsApp yet to fix a flaw that allows hackers to edit or change messages
indiacom
2019-08-09T01:15:06+00:00
2019-08-09T01:15:06+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp may soon support third-party stickers: Report
Staff | August 6, 2019 10:00 AM IST
It looks like the developers behind WhatsApp are working on adding new features to the desktop versi...
WhatsApp may soon support third-party stickers: Report
indiacom
2019-08-05T23:00:10+00:00
2019-08-05T23:00:10+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Facebook to add its name to WhatsApp, Instagram
IANS | August 5, 2019 12:45 PM IST
In a first step towards merging all its platforms into one unified experience for users, Facebook is...
Facebook to add its name to WhatsApp, Instagram
indiacom
2019-08-05T01:45:06+00:00
2019-08-05T02:00:08+00:00
Facebook
India.com
FTC Facebook antitrust investigation will focus on its acquisitions: Report
Staff | August 2, 2019 6:30 PM IST
Some details about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust investigation on social media giant ...
FTC Facebook antitrust investigation will focus on its acquisitions: Report
indiacom
2019-08-02T07:30:08+00:00
2019-08-02T07:30:08+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp rolls out 'Frequently forwarded' message label: All you need to know
Staff | August 1, 2019 11:30 AM IST
WhatsApp has rolled out its 'Frequently Forwarded' feature in India. Earlier this month, it was repo...
WhatsApp rolls out 'Frequently forwarded' message label: All you need to know
indiacom
2019-08-01T00:30:03+00:00
2019-08-01T00:45:05+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp offering 1000GB free ‘internet data’ on its birthday is a hoax, all you need to know
Staff | July 30, 2019 4:15 PM IST
Have you received a WhatsApp message offering 1000GB free Internet data? Beware, as it is a scam tha...
WhatsApp offering 1000GB free ‘internet data’ on its birthday is a hoax, all you need to know
indiacom
2019-07-30T05:15:03+00:00
2019-07-30T05:30:07+00:00
Facebook
India.com
Facebook Removes Instant Games From Its Messenger App, Introduces it in Gaming Tab
ANI | July 28, 2019 1:07 PM IST
New Delhi: Facebook has announced that it is removing Instant Games from Messenger to integrate it i...
Facebook Removes Instant Games From Its Messenger App, Introduces it in Gaming Tab
indiacom
2019-07-28T02:07:03+00:00
2019-07-28T02:07:03+00:00
Facebook
India.com
WhatsApp Pay confirmed to launch in India later this year
IANS | July 26, 2019 9:30 AM IST
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is all set to launch its UPI-based Pay service in India sometimes later this...
WhatsApp Pay confirmed to launch in India later this year
indiacom
2019-07-25T22:30:03+00:00
2019-07-25T22:30:03+00:00
Facebook
India.com
With 2.41 Billion Users, Facebook Posts Strong Results in Q2
IANS | July 25, 2019 2:02 PM IST
Despite paying a record $5 billion fine to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over privacy violat...
With 2.41 Billion Users, Facebook Posts Strong Results in Q2
indiacom
2019-07-25T03:02:28+00:00
2019-07-25T03:02:28+00:00
Facebook
India.com