Facebook 20th Birthday: Mark Zuckerberg shares video of journey from ‘TheFacebook’ to ‘Meta’

Facebook, the social media giant that was one of the first to change the way we connect, share, and communicate, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, marked the occasion with a series of nostalgic posts and a grand celebration.

Zuckerberg took to Instagram to share a video montage that chronicled his journey with Facebook. The video was a reminder of Facebook’s beginnings in a Harvard dorm room and its evolution into a global phenomenon that has reshaped our digital landscape. Zuckerberg also updated his Facebook profile picture to one he first used on the platform. He also shared a screen grab of his old Facebook profile with all his details like his date of birth, education details and more. This was when Facebook was known as “TheFacebook”.

The montage video featured snippets from the past two decades. It included everything from the launch of the platform, the introduction of the iconic ‘like’ button, the social media brand’s public listing day to the acquisition of other social media platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp.

But the celebrations didn’t stop there. Zuckerberg also posted a video on his WhatsApp Channels, where he was seen blowing out candles on a massive cake shaped like the number ‘20’.

Biggest milestones in Facebook/Meta’s history

2004: Mark Zuckerberg, along with his college friends Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, founded Facebook in a Harvard dorm room.

2012: Facebook went public. This was a major milestone for the company, marking its growth from a college project to a publicly traded company.

2012: Facebook acquired Instagram, a popular photo and video-sharing platform. This was one of the first major acquisitions by Facebook, expanding its portfolio of social media platforms.

2014: Facebook acquired Oculus Virtual Reality. This marked the company’s entry into the field of virtual reality, signalling its ambitions beyond traditional social media.

2015: Facebook acquired WhatsApp, an instant messaging service. This acquisition further expanded Facebook’s reach into the realm of instant messaging.

2021: Facebook changed its name to Meta. The new name reflects the company’s focus on building the “metaverse”, a virtual reality environment where users can interact. The term “metaverse” was inspired by Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel, Snow Crash.

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