21 Years of Facebook: The Transformation of Social Media
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and three friends at Harvard University on February 4, 2004. Initially designed as a platform for Harvard students only, this social media giant inevitably transformed into a global social network when it was made available to anyone over the age of 2006 in 13. Facebook, in a short time MySpaceIt became the world's most popular social media platform in 2007, leaving behind Facebook. Facebook, which started trading on the stock exchange in 2012 by reaching 1 billion active users, made many strategic acquisitions in this process.
Strategic Acquisitions and Growth
Facebook, which acquired Instagram for $2012 billion in 1, strengthened its position in the technology sector by purchasing WhatsApp for $19 billion and Oculus for $2 billion in the following years. These moves increased the company's power in the social media field, data security ve competition violations, brought with it discussions such as.
Data Breaches and Criticisms
Facebook was in the news in 2016 with allegations of interference in the US election and controversy over the spread of fake news. Cambridge Analytica scandal led to criticism of its data privacy policies. The scandal involved allegations that personal data of 87 million Facebook users was collected without permission and used to influence the US presidential election and EU referendum. This incident caused a major crisis for Facebook on a global scale. In 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission imposed a $5 billion fine on Facebook for data breaches.
Transformation to Meta
Facebook, which changed its name to “Meta” in 2021, has launched a major transformation towards the metaverse. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, aimed to transform the company from a social media company to a metaverse company. This transformation accelerated efforts to develop innovative projects in the fields of virtual reality and augmented reality.
Financial Difficulties and Layoffs
The economic difficulties experienced after the Covid-19 pandemic led Meta to reduce its costs. The company, which announced that it would lay off more than 2022 thousand employees in 11, has gone into an unprecedented mass layoff process. It was shared that it will lay off 2023 thousand more employees and close 10 thousand open positions in the period declared as the “productivity year” as of 5. These steps were taken in order for Meta to perform better in the difficult economic environment.
Financial Performance and Investor Returns
Meta's revenue for 2024 was recorded as $164,5 billion. Revenue in 2023 reached $134,9 billion. The company's daily active users increased by 5% compared to the previous year, approaching 3,4 billion. Artificial intelligence The progress made in the field caused Meta's shares to increase by 2024% in 65. The company became the second company that earned its investors the most. Its shares gained nearly 2023% in 200. Meta's share price reached an all-time high on January 30.
Conclusion: The Future of Facebook
Facebook's 21 years are full of events that have left their mark on social media history. In the future, Meta, which aims to further enrich the user experience with the metaverse transformation, will come up with new technologies. The evolution of social media platforms will continue to change the way users interact.
