Related topics: social networking , twitter , myspace , users , social networking sites
Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. The website's name stems from the colloquial name of a book given to incoming students at Zuckerberg's high school alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy. The book shows the faces and names of the school's students and faculty.
Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook with fellow computer science major students and his roommates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes while he was a student at Harvard University. Website membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently has more than 250 million active users worldwide.
Facebook has met with some controversy over the past few years. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria, China and Iran, although Iran later unblocked Facebook in 2009. It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. Facebook is also facing several lawsuits from a number of Zuckerberg's former classmates, who claim that Facebook had stolen their source code and other intellectual property.
A February 2009 Compete.com study has ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace.
For more information about Facebook, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with facebook
Facebook, MySpace ban New York sex offenders
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Facebook and MySpace have closed the accounts of 3,533 convicted sex offenders in New York state under a law combating online predators, officials said Tuesday.
Apple in talks to buy Lala.com
Dec 05, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Apple Inc. is in advanced talks to buy online music retailer Lala.com, a Silicon Valley startup that has threatened "the end of the MP3" with its fast song-streaming application.
Facebook profiles capture true personality, according to new psychology research
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 01, 2009 |
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Online social networks such as Facebook are being used to express and communicate real personality, instead of an idealized virtual identity, according to new research from psychologist Sam Gosling at The University of Texas ...
GPS cell phone apps challenge standalone devices
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Nov 28, 2009 |
3.6 / 5 (5) |
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(AP) -- The growth of cell phones with global-positioning technology is making life uncertain for the makers of personal navigational devices that help drivers figure out where they are and where to go.
Movieclips.com launches with studio deals
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Movieclips.com, an online movie clip-sharing service, launched in beta test mode on Wednesday touting the cooperation of six major Hollywood studios amid an industrywide slowdown in DVD sales.
Facebook tops 350 million users, tightens privacy
Dec 02, 2009 |
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Facebook is enhancing privacy controls and eliminating its regional framework for online communities as the Internet's most popular social networking service tops 350 million users.
Yahoo plugs into Facebook to become more popular
Dec 02, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Yahoo Inc. will lean more heavily on Facebook's popularity as it tries to give people more reasons to stay on its Web site.
Gift Guide: A focus on HD video, at many prices
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Dec 01, 2009 |
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It's easier than ever to shoot high-definition video. You can do it with traditional-style camcorders, of course, but also with cameras that also are designed to take still photos - from high-end "digital ...
For stars, high-tech gaffes hard to hide
Nov 28, 2009 |
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(AP) -- So, you fail to take a deep breath and to count to 10 - and you post something you probably shouldn't on Twitter or Facebook, or somewhere else online.
Facebook creates dual-class structure, but no IPO
Nov 24, 2009 |
1 / 5 (1) |
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(AP) -- Facebook has created a dual-class stock structure designed to give founder Mark Zuckerberg and other existing shareholders control over the company.
Roku adds more 'channels' of video and other digital content
Nov 26, 2009 |
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Owners of Roku's digital video player will soon have a bunch more channels to choose from.
Review: $100 Palm Pixi is stylish but sluggish
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Nov 18, 2009 |
1 / 5 (1) |
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(AP) -- Palm Inc. is fighting harder than ever to snag a chunk of the smart phone market, and just six months after releasing the stylish Pre it's back with a lighter, more petite and affordable version called ...
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 friend Facebook
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Nov 18, 2009 |
2 / 5 (2) |
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(AP) -- Users of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles can now brag about their achievements on Facebook.
Canadian woman loses benefits over Facebook photo
Nov 22, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.
Xbox Live boots pirate videogame players; will link to Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm
Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Microsoft said Thursday that its Xbox 360 videogame console will be able to link online starting next week with Twitter and Facebook along with Internet radio star Last.fm.
