The History of Facebook: Timeline of the Network

Just when it seemed like Facebook was going to have a quiet end to the year, Mark Zuckerberg took everyone by surprise with his announcement of Meta, the new brand that would encompass all Facebook apps. Unleashing the Metaverse was huge news, but has not taken off as Zuckerberg had hoped.

A few months after appearing on Instagram, Reels arrive to Facebook as well, after Zuckerberg made sure it was a successful feature among users. As of now, it seems that Instagram Reels have done better than Facebook Reels, however both respectfully insist on reaching new users.

The popularity of live videos continued to increase, so Facebook decided to test out Live Shopping, allowing users to make purchases directly from Live videos on the platform. However, in October of 2022, Facebook decided to eliminate this feature altogether.

The truth is, no, there aren’t games on Facebook. However, let’s talk about what happened. Facebook Gaming landed in 2020, with the aim of connecting creators and video game fans on the platform. Yet, this experiment ended in 2022, when this program was eliminated. 

In 2020, Facebook prepared the launch of Business Suite, a tool to manage all marketing and ad actions in one place. This would later turn into Meta Business Suite, where users can connect both Facebook and Instagram.

The third bombshell from the platform. In 2020, Facebook announced the purchase of the largest GIF creation platform, GIPHY. The goal with this was to improve GIF searches in both comments and private messages on Instagram.

If there was any doubt that Facebook and Instagram were more than just social media networks, this was disproved when Facebook decided to bring Messenger to and the Post Center of both platforms together. This allowed for enhanced manageability of accounts and private messaging for brand pages.

The app launched the Faceook 360 feature so that users could share content in this type of format. Facebook had high hopes for 360, however it has not been able to meet expectations. 

Just a year after launching Stories on Instagram, this content appeared as Facebook Stories with the same characteristics: Images or short-form videos that last for 24-hours on the platform, with the option to add stickers and other elements to encourage user interaction. 

Live broadcasts were starting to take center stage in online entertainment. Facebook, no stranger to the success of YouTube and Twitch, launched Facebook Live, a feature where users could broadcast live directly from the platform.

Do you remember how long it feels since the first “likes” on Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg’s social network wanted to add variety to this feature by incorporating reactions to posts and comments, allocating different emojis for each reaction. However, it would be a year later that this feature finally arrived.

Now that GIFs have become a huge success in the way users communicate on social networks, it’s worth noting that it was Facebook who dared to include GIFs. In 2015, GIFs became available in both comments and on the main Facebook wall feed.

Facebook continued to work on improving user experiences with its algorithm. Over the years it has changed to reach what we know today, where the user more or less has the option to choose what they want to see, while the social network recommends similar content. 

Facebook announced the purchase of WhatsApp, the most prominent instant messaging application. In the long run, Instagram has become more popular, however, this was a bombshell considering WhatsApp was already an established app. 

Editing posts after they are already posted is a not feature that took users by surprise, but it was one that was very uncommon. In 2013, Facebook allowed users to edit their posts and comments after they were published. 

If emojis were a huge novelty in expressing thoughts and emotions on Facebook, stickers came with an even more creative touch. However, it wasn’t a universal launch. First, iOS users had the luck to try it, and then it reached the web version later. 

With the arrival of instant messaging apps, emojis were already established in daily digital conversations. Yet it wasn’t until 2013 that Facebook allowed users the option to add emojis to their status updates.

In 2012, there was a social network quickly attracting a lot of attention, and it wasn’t Twitter. With its unique image and filter characteristics, Instagram was the hottest commodity on the market. And after just two years, Facebook decided to buy Instagram into one of the most iconic partnerships.

As Facebook’s app was already being widely downloaded on iPhones, in the same year that Facebook incorporated Messenger into the app, it arrived on the iPad. Having this in tablet format would mean a redesign of the app. This was the second edition of the iOS version.

As we will see below, this isn’t the first acquisition or integration, but this is certainly one of the first that raised the most attention. Facebook and Skype joined forces to incorporate video calling, which was likely a response to Google and Google+. 

Just a few years after the Facebook app launched, Facebook Messenger landed on iOS and Android devices. In addition, another update to this app allowed the download to Blackberry devices.

One of Facebook’s goals was to share more data amongst users. This is how the biography section appeared on the network, causing a redesign of the interface to allow users to tell more about themselves: information, educational background, work experience, etc. 

David Fincher was the director in charge of creating a movie about the history of Facebook. With Jesse Eisenberg in the role of Mark Zuckerberg, the movie became a huge hit. However, the Facebook CEO stated that the story in the film is not entirely accurate. 

Already becoming an authentic revolution was the inclusion of tagging other users in photos. Facebook wanted to take tags to a new level in 2009 when launching the option to tag or mention users in their status updates or comments. 

After two years of silence, Facebook turned social networks on their heads when they created a new form of interaction between users. The “like” button arrived, which would leave comments on other networks, such as Fotolog, in oblivion. 

At the same time that Mark Zuckerberg announced the arrival of the Facebook Ads platform, pages also came to life. This tool would eventually become an essential element for ads, but also for every other aspect of businesses on Facebook. 

In 2007, Facebook was still a pioneer in many aspects, among them being the beginning of advertising. When Mark Zuckerberg announced the arrival of ads to this platform, brands and companies were given the tools to connect with users and specifically find their target audience and customers.

Facebook’s expansion is already becoming unstoppable and the social network is looking for new horizons. At the beginning of 2007, it launched the ‘Facebook Platform’, an app for developers to create other applications and continue to improve the social network. 

Smartphones were beginning to appear in our lives and social networks were not shy of new technologies. Facebook announced the arrival of Facebook Mobile and its supporting components in January 2007. This first version would be updated many times over the years.

Facebook seemed like it had it all, at first glance. However, what was missing was to stay up-to-date with your friends on the app. Thus, NewsFeed was born, the first Facebook feed to see what your friends post to the app. This was sorted by Facebook’s algorithm and updated with each new post. This very well could have been the first version of Facebook’s algorithm.

Now having more of its footing, the Facebook team decided to add a twist to the design of its interface. An interface that was already becoming somewhat outdated and had several similarities to MySpace. This facelift sought to give more prominence to other elements, such as profile pictures. Facebook’s goal was to stand out from other networks. 

It seems unthinkable now, but there once was a time when tags and mentions weren’t an option. However, in the winter of 2005, Facebook announced the possibility of tagging other users in photos. Facebook pioneered this feature, and it was later brought to Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.

At a time when Fotolog was the main protagonist of social networks, it was crucial to have image sharing as an option. Thus, in 2005, Facebook added the image format option, where users could post endless photos. 

In the middle of its expansion into Mexico, New Zealand, and some European counties, the network decided to remove the ‘The’ from its name, becoming the famous network we know today. Facebook was officially born.

In 2004, social networks began to emerge as a simple platform to entertain and connect with other users from all over the world. Mark Zuckerberg, along with three other university classmates, launched the first draft of “The Facebook.”