Who Created Facebook

You may have heard about or used the social network known as Facebook, but you may not be aware of who created Facebook. With more than 600 million users, Facebook's popularity is undeniable. The service allows registered users to create profiles, add friends, swap messages, update their status and quickly share other information.

Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Facebook. On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched Facebook from this Harvard dorm room. The website was originally called thefacebook.com, and was limited to students currently enrolled at Harvard University. Within one month, more than half of the entire Harvard student population had signed up for Facebook accounts.

Although Mark Zuckerberg is usually credited as the person who created Facebook, there are three other co-founders. Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz are other Harvard students who joined with Zuckerberg and contributed to Facebook. Saverin handled sales and business development for the emerging company. Hughes worked as a spokesperson for Facebook. Moskovitz was responsible for many technical aspects of Facebook.

In March 2004, soon after the three other co-founders joined, "thefacebook" expanded to include students from Columbia, Stanford and Yale. Later, students from other Ivy League universities and Boston-area colleges were invited to join. Thefacebook then opened membership to students from most colleges in the United States and Canada. In June, Zuckerberg relocated the company to Palo Alto, California. The company name was changed from "thefacebook" to "Facebook" after Zuckerberg purchased the domain, facebook.com, for $200,000.

Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard University soon after creating Facebook. Moskovitz also dropped out from Harvard after studying economics for two years. Hughes earned a bachelor's degree in history and literature and graduated magna cum laude. Saverin also graduated magna cum laude with a degree in economics.