Facebook, the world’s most popular and largest social networking site, turned eight on February 4, 2012. Facebook has an estimated 845 million active users, and the social networking giant continues to grow, since its launch on February 4, 2004 and is most likely to cross the 1 billion users mark by August this year.

Facebook, initially built the service exclusively for Harvard students, has become a household name all over the world. Here is a quick peek at Facebook’s own Timeline – the journey from a dorm room to Nasdaq.

2004

• February 2004: Founded under the name thefacebook.com at Harvard University
• September 2004: Introduced the Facebook Wall, a forum for users to post quick witty messages to their friends. Lawsuit filed against Facebook claiming that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from a company co-founded by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and a third person at Harvard.
• 2004: Began to expand to colleges and university around the country, and recorded $382,000 in revenue.

2005

• May 2005: Grew to support more than 800 college networks.
• August 2005: “Thefacebook.com” officially becomes “Facebook.com,” after the Facebook domain is purchased for a whopping $200,000.
• September 2005: High school students are given the ability to join Facebook. Added international school networks and introduced Photos.
• December 2005: Facebook cross the one million users mark.
• 2005: Recorded $9 million in revenue.

2006

• April 2006: Launched Facebook Mobile.
• May 2006: Expanded Facebook’s availability to workplace networks, allowing people with corporate email address to join.
• July 2006: Mark Zuckerberg turns down an $800 million offer from Yahoo to acquire Facebook.
• September 2006: Facebook begins to let anyone over 13 years of age to join. Introduce News Feeds.
• November 2006: Launched Share feature on over 20 partner sites.
• 2006: Recorded $48 million in revenue.

2007

• February 2007: Facebook launches Facebook gifts, a virtual memento for a low cost of $1.
• May 2007: Facebook officially launches Facebook Platform, setting a stage for third-party developers to come in and build apps and games within Facebook’s network, and Facebook Pages.
• October 2007: Facebook agrees to sell a 1.6 percent stake to Microsoft for $240 million.
• November 2007: Launches ad platform “Beacon”, which post updates on users profile when users interact with partner sites. Users responded with a class-action lawsuit, prompting Facebook to shut the feature down in late 2009.
• 2007: Recorded $153 million in revenue

2008

• April 2008: Introduced Facebook Chat.
• July 2008: Facebook launches it first official mobile app, “Facebook for iPhone.”
• September 2008: Facebook officially switches all users over to the then “new profile,” or Facebook 3.0 – A Facebook profile like the one we had before Timeline, but with tabs for our wall, info, photos, and other apps….ah..you remember now… There were many users back then too, who were unhappy with the switch.
• December 2008: Launched Facebook Connect, the next iteration of the Facebook platform.
• 2008: Expanded to 23 languages offered including French, German, and Spanish.
• 2008: Recorded $272 million in revenue.

2009

• February 2009: Introduced the Like button, a lazy way for users to show their appreciation for things they care about both on and off Facebook.
• May 2009: Launched Facebook Payments.
• June 2009: Surpassed MySpace as the leading social network in the US.
• July 2009: Facebook crosses the 250 million active users mark.
• 2009: Recorded $777 million in revenue.

2010

• April 2010: Introduced Open Graph API and social plugins – a set of easy-to-use modules allowing anyone to integrate with the Facebook Platform.
• July 2010: Facebook’s active user base crosses the 500 million mark.
• August 2010: Facebook launches “Places,” a location-based service, allowing users to share where they are with their friends…..and strangers.
• October 2010: Launched Groups, a shared space for users to discuss common interests. “The Social Network,” a movie about Facebook, hit the theaters and went on to win 3 Academy awards.
• November 2010: Launches the new message system, where all of a user’s conversation history of messages, SMS, IM with a individual are combined into one communication string. Facebook users gets an @facebook.com email address.
• 2010: Recorded $1,974 million in revenue.

2011

• June 2011: The Winklevoss twins end their legal battle over the idea behind Facebook.
• July 2011: Facebook teams up with Skype and adds video chatting.
• September 2011: Introduced Timeline, an enhanced and updated version of the Facebook Profile. Launched the next iteration of Open Graph.
• 2011: Recorded $3,711 million in revenue.

2012

• January 2012: Facebook begins making Timeline mandatory.
• February 2012: Facebook files for its much-anticipated IPO, giving the company a valuation of nearly $100 billion.

Facebook turns 6 today.According to the website’s official Wikipedia page, February 4th, 2004 is marked as the launch date of Facebook. When the site first launched, it was called The Facebook, and was located at thefacebook.com.

While Mark Zuckerberg was at Harvard University, he along with few of his college roommates and fellow computer students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes founded Facebook.

The idea was to create a place where students could communicate and share photos with their friends and membership was limited initially limited to Harvard students, which was well received. Within a month, TheFacebook popularity grew, prompting its founders to include students from other well-respected colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include business organizations, university students, high school students and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and above. In 2005, TheFacebook was officially called Facebook and the domain facebook.com was reportedly purchased for $200,000.

Now Facebook is the No. 1 social-networking site in the world with more than 350 million users worldwide.

From a small college dorm to the whole world, Facebook have achieved a lot and come a long way. But  this unbelievable story of Facebook isn’t all fairy tale. Facebook has had its share of hiccups in the form of lawsuits, bans in places like Syria, China, Vietnam, Iran and at many work places. Privacy policies have also been a major issue. But, Facebook have risen above all that and continues to rise and spread and has become a household name in many places of the world.

Equally surprising is the way Facebook users use it. There are many unexpected ways and results of the way Facebook have been used by its users over the years and around the world. Some examples are:
1. Facebook users have made the word “friend” into a verb and also propelled the word “unfriend” to be the “Word of the year”.

2. Whether the earth rumbles in Palo Alto or the earthquake at Haiti, status updates send the news across the world even before most of the news organizations.

3. Facebook users also have shown how to used it for a good cause by coming together for victims of natural disasters, and in spreading awareness on lot of subjects and problems.

4. Though Facebook have been used as a place of prey by many cyber-criminals, Facebook has also contributed in nabbing a lot of offenders in the real world, connect long-lost siblings and families, and pets and their owners.

Facebook has, in its 6 years, exceeded a lot of expectations, became an indispensable part of millions of people and the story of Facebook itself is a source of inspiration for many young entrepreneurs around the world.

Facebook was launched in 2004 and was originally used by college and high school students to connect with one another online. Within a few years, it opened its doors so that anyone with a valid e-mail account could join its network. In fact, to sign up for facebook back in the day, it was required that you had a .edu university email address.

In the past 5 years since facebooks launch, the site has grown to nearly 300 Million users, a mark it will soon break.

Facebook is a website that serves as a free online community and connects people from all over the world. Originally, Facebook was only open to students of Harvard University, but eventually branched out to include all Ivy League schools, all college students, high schools, and eventually became a completely open service requiring only a valid email address.

It is estimated that the social network has more than 175 million active users and is mostly used to help people meet, stay in contact, and learn more about each other. Widespread search features allow people to locate one another but require approval from the user to maintain security. Other elements of Facebook include the ability to upload and share an unlimited number of photographs, videos, and links. Notes, the marketplace, and personalized gifts are just several options that make Facebook a unique and multipurpose network. Profiles with personal information are the main component although groups and events also help organize and educate members.

All of these facets combine to make Facebook one of the most successful and fastest growing internetphenomenons. In the United States, Facebook is the 7th most frequented website and accounts for 85% of college students. According to some studies, at least 85% of registered Facebook users log onto their accounts at least once a week.