A Harvard Student Launches Thefacebook

On February 4, 2004, Harvard College undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg launched a website known as Thefacebook from his Cambridge dorm room. Earlier that year, Zuckerberg had discussed creating a centralized online directory with fellow student Eduardo Saverin, and each agreed to invest 1,000 dollars to finance the project. The platform took its name from the traditional paper directories featuring photographs and personal information distributed to incoming university students. Initial membership was strictly limited to Harvard students, but the service quickly incorporated fellow undergraduates Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes to assist in managing its expansion to other North American colleges and universities.

During the summer of 2004, the expanding venture relocated its operations to Palo Alto, California, where Sean Parker became the company president and Peter Thiel supplied its first outside investment. The company simplified its public identity in 2005 by purchasing the domain name Facebook.com and dropping the initial article. Access expanded dramatically in September 2006, when registration opened to anyone aged thirteen and older with a valid email address. By April 2008, according to comScore figures, Facebook had caught up with MySpace in monthly visitors worldwide, and it soon pulled ahead.