Mark Zuckerberg, 23, founded Facebook while studying
psychology at Harvard University . A keen computer
programmer, Mr Zuckerberg had already developed a number
of social-networking websites for fellow students, including
Coursematch, which allowed users to view people taking
their degree, and Facemash, where you could rate people's
attractiveness.
In February 2004 Mr Zuckerberg launched "The facebook", as
it was originally known; the name taken from the sheets of
paper distributed to freshmen, profiling students and staff.
Within 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and
after one month, over half of the undergraduate population
had a profile.
The network was promptly extended to other Boston
universities, the Ivy League and eventually all US universities.
It became Facebook.com in August 2005 after the address
was purchased for $200,000. US high schools could sign up
from September 2005, then it began to spread worldwide,
reaching UK universities the following month.
As of September 2006, the network was extended beyond
educational institutions to anyone with a registered email
address. The site remains free to join, and makes a profit
through advertising revenue. Yahoo and Google are among
companies which have expressed interest in a buy-out, with
rumoured figures of around $2bn (£975m) being discussed.
Mr Zuckerberg has so far refused to sell.
The site's features have continued to develop during 2007.
Users can now give gifts to friends, post free classified
advertisements and even develop their own applications -
graffiti and Scrabble are particularly popular.
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mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of facebook
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