Entrepreneur Profile
Company/Brand
|
:
|
Facebook,
Inc.
|
Co-Founder
|
:
|
Mark
Elliot Zuckerberg
|
D.O.B
|
:
|
14th
May 1984
|
Residence
|
:
|
Palo
Alto, California
|
Ethnicity
|
:
|
Jewish
|
Education
|
:
|
Harvard
University (Dropped Out)
|
Occupation
|
:
|
CEO/President
of Facebook
|
Net
Worth
|
:
|
USD$17.5B
(2011)
|
Awards
|
:
|
TIME
Person of the Year 2010
|
Business Profile
Type
|
:
|
Private
|
Founded
|
:
|
Cambridge,
Massachusetts
|
Headquarters
|
:
|
Palo
Alto, California, U.S.
Menlo
Park, California, U.S
|
Area
Served
|
:
|
Worldwide
|
Key
People
|
:
|
Mark
Zuckerberg (CEO)
Chris
Cox (Vice president of product)
Sheryl
Sandberg (COO)
Donald
E.Graham (Chairman)
|
Employees
|
:
|
2000+
(as in 2010)
|
Website
|
:
|
http://facebook.com
|
Service Concept Description
Facebook
is a social networking service and Web site launched in February 2004, operated
and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Facebook has more than 800 million active
users as in July 2011. Users must register before using the site, they can
create personal profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages, and
also automatic notifications when there is updates on their profile.
Users
may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or
college, or other characteristics, and categorized their friends into list such
as “Close frineds” or “Acquaintances”. User can also get reminded on friend
birthdays, get invited to events, bug friends and play games.
Picture of Service
Business History
Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash, the
predecessor to Facebook, on October 28, 2003, while attending Harvard as a sophomore. Facemash attracted 450
visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online.
The
site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut
down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg expanded on
this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final, by uploading 500 Augustan images to a Web site, with
one image per page along with a comment section. He
opened the site up to his classmates, and people started sharing their notes.
The following semester, Zuckerberg
began writing code for a new Web site in January 2004. He was inspired, he
said, by an editorial in The
Harvard Crimson about the
Facemash incident. On February 4,
2004, Zuckerberg launched "The Facebook", originally located at
thefacebook.com.
Facebook was founded by Mark
Zuckerberg with his college
roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris
Hughes. The Web site's membership
was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other
colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually
added support for students at various other universities before opening to high
school students, and eventually to anyone aged 13 and over.
Facebook incorporated in the summer
of 2004, and the entrepreneur Sean
Parker, who had been informally advising Zuckerberg,
became the company's president. In
June 2004, Facebook moved its base of operations to Palo Alto, California. It
received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter
Thiel. The
company dropped The from its name after purchasing the domain namefacebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.
Business Success
Facebook is freaking amazing because you can talk
with friends without having to make crazy plans and stuff. Plus, you can find
old friends, make new ones, and here what some people have to say about your
pictures.
Business Philosophy and Strategies
Most
revenue comes from advertising. Microsoft is Facebook’s exclusive partner for
serving banner advertising, and therefore Facebook serves only advertisements
that exist in Microsoft’s advertisement inventory. Facebook takes your private information and markets it to
companies that will manipulate their ads to relate to your likes and interests.
For example, user from Kuala Lumpur will only able to see ads from advertiser that only target Kuala Lumpur market.
For example, user from Kuala Lumpur will only able to see ads from advertiser that only target Kuala Lumpur market.
Facebook’s strategy is to build a huge user
base, attract big brands and provide the platform for buying meaningful engagement
with that user base. Everything else, like Facebook Connect, Beacon, Titan and
mobile, just feeds into this strategy.
Business Achievement
- Most used social networking service by worldwide
monthly active users (800 million users – on September 2011)
- Revenue USD$4.27B, 2011
Company’s Name Origin
“Facebook”
was changed from “The Facebook” and it name originally come from the colloquial
name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by some
university administrations in United States to help students get to know each
other.
Service Unique Features
- Block friends on chat
- Make friends aware of your location
- Choose friends to display update (friend priority)
- Tag friends in status updates
Service Success Key Factors
- Huge market
- Experience was designed for college students by
college students
- Privacy
- Socioeconomic motives
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