Facebook.

 "We lived on farms, and then we lived in cities, and now we are going to live on the Internet." Justin Timberlake's character Sean Parker says this to Mark Zuckerberg, who's played by Jesse Eisenberg. At that point in time in 2010, nobody quite understood what he was trying to say. But 10 years later, everybody understands what he was saying, as we cannot imagine our lives without the internet.

Can you believe that Facebook was initially known as 'TheFacebook'? Absurd right? All this and more are depicted in a cinematic way through the film 'The Social Network', directed by David Fincher. It tells the story of the birth of Facebook, and more than ever, the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. 

Started in the year 2004, the growth of this social networking site knows no bounds. Other sites like Whatsapp and Instagram are now owned by the charismatic businessman, Mark Zuckerberg. A Harvard dropout, he was the 'go-to computer programmer' at college. After making a fairly successful albeit a sexist app, he got the idea od Facebook. And the rest, as you all know, fell into place.

There are several reasons as to why Facebook became the social networking giant that it is today. One of the major reasons that are to be taken into consideration is Facebook's simplicity. Its simple algorithm of making an account, adding friends, putting up posts, and liking others' pictures is easy to understand, for a 17-year-old, or a 70-year-old. Zuckerberg moved fast. He didn't think twice about launching the app; he got the idea and molded it into the site that we see today. Although several people had the idea of Facebook, Zuckerberg was the one to make it happen. Ultimately, it doesn't matter whose idea it is, it only matters who executed it. Mark Zuckerberg is another reason that made Facebook so successful. When he was busy formulating the idea of the site, he didn't care about the business or the profit he could get from it. He only cared about the quality of the product. Zuckerberg didn't find 'ads to be cool', but he wanted 'Facebook to be cool'. Mark Zuckerberg had a 'near-perfect' team to drive the concept of Facebook home. He knew the people he would have to hire and also knew the people he would have to fire. Facebook wouldn't have been the app it is today if it wasn't for his great team. As Steve Jobs once said, "customers do not know what they want," Zuckerberg understood the same quite well. He and his team rolled out new features and 'killed it' if the consumers weren't exactly fond of it. After the launch of Facebook, Zuckerberg saw himself running a marathon and not a 100m race. He knew that he was in this for the long haul, and he had to plan accordingly. He did indeed focus on the marathon, which is why he is in the position that he is in today.

Although the millennials and the Gen-Z are on Instagram, it's still not possible to say that the days of Facebook are over. Actually, it is far from over. People who are in their late 40's, 50's and 60's thrive on Facebook. While they have nothing else to do during this pandemic, Facebook is one source of the outside world for them. Until next time, Facebook me, Whatsapp me, or Instagram me.