News Report 3

"Facebook turns 5- but can it survive?"
Simon Hooper, CNN
2/4/2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/04/facebook.anniversary/index.html?eref=rss_tech

The extremely popular website, “Facebook.com” celebrates its 5th year of success. This billion dollar global phenomenon was created by a nineteen year old Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg. When he launched the website from his dorm room in 2004, it was just simply for the purpose of keeping in touch with classmates; within 24 hours, over 1,000 of his classmates had signed up for the site. It quickly gained popularity, and half the campus had logged on to the site in a month worth of time. Now, five years later, the website has more than 150 million users worldwide. Zuckerberg was named youngest billionaire alive by Forbes magazine, with an estimated fortune of 1.5 billion dollars. Though Facebook has some competitors such as MySpace and Bebo, it holds its own with its revenue of social networking for the mainstream. Everyone, including politicians, companies, and celebrities have jumped on the Facebook bandwagon. Facebook is credited to helping Barack Obama get elected this past November; It allowed him to connect with younger, previously disengaged voters. Zuckerberg claims that Facebook is a safe way for people to share their information and interact more online. He also states that the site gives people a chance to express their ideas, and initiate a change. A Fortune magazine employee says that he is still not sold on the whole success of Facebook. He doesn’t believe it is bringing in profitable revenue through its advertisements. Zuckerberg is committed to making sure Facebook remains just as relevant in the future.


I was first introduced to facebook by my cousin who is one year older than me. She was in her freshman year of college, attending NC State, and wanted to show me a picture of a guy she liked. When she opened the website and started browsing through all of her “friends” I was shocked to see how many she had. Later on during my sophomore year at college is when I realized that you could add just about anybody to your “friends” list. But to say the least, my first impression with facebook was a good one. To think that the creator behind the phenomenon was just a young freshman away at college is incredible. For something so simple to grow into what it has become is amazing. Just about everyone and their brother knows about facebook, and they get recognition all over the world; commercials debuting new technology even refers to the website. It seems to me that facebook has been around a lot longer than just 5 years, but in those 5 years it has evolved so much. I think it is a wonderful way to keep in touch with family and friends, and share pictures and messages. I think that the media and press that are dissing the website and its creator need to realize that it was us, the users who made it what it is today. Mark Zuckerberg is just one lucky guy who wanted to keep in touch with his friends. It’s because of us that it has turned into a gold mine.