Summary Facebook

Social Media has become a huge internet phenomenon of late. This technology is user friendly and in many ways a new form of interaction between not only individuals but organizations and consumers as well. Perhaps one of the most significant social media sites to date is Facebook. The site was conceived in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg as essentially a hobby project while he was attending Harvard University. The site quickly gained popularity at the University and its membership grew extremely quickly. It's initial growth was within the realm of ivy league colleges and eventually nearly all college students seemed to be on the site. Users can create profiles which may include a variety of things such as pictures, statuses, associates, groups, fan clubs and various other messages about themselves.
In 2005 Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to pursue his development of the site full time. Facebook has the second highest membership rate behind myspace. Facebook catered initially only to college students who used their college email address in order to obtain membership. Since then the site has opened up, welcoming all potential members. This has led to an increase the average age of members and has created a much larger network. Social Media has become perhaps one or most utilized aspect of the internet within the past five years and Facebook along with several others such as Myspace, Twitter, and Linkedin are leading their field in developing the various ways in which social media technology is utilized be it for personal use or more recently marketing efforts.