Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook, the platform that fundamentally changed how people communicate worldwide. With his technical talent, strategic insight, and ambition, he built Meta (formerly Facebook Inc.) into one of the most influential technology companies in the world.
1. Founding Facebook at Harvard (2004)
Mark Zuckerberg launched “The Facebook” on February 4, 2004, along with fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes. What started as a platform for Harvard students rapidly expanded to other universities and eventually to the entire world.
The original idea was simple: connect people online. Within a year, Facebook had millions of users.
2. The Name and the Blue Design
The name “Facebook” comes from the paper student directories (“face books”) distributed at American universities.
Facebook’s signature blue color was partly chosen because Zuckerberg is red-green colorblind — blue is the color he sees best.
3. The ‘Move Fast and Break Things’ Mentality
Facebook grew rapidly thanks to a Silicon Valley mentality of rapid innovation, where making mistakes was considered less detrimental than standing still. Zuckerberg was known for his mantra: “Move fast and break things”.
This led to continuous updates and new features like the news feed, groups, Facebook Messenger, and later acquisitions of other platforms.
4. Acquisitions: Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus
Zuckerberg also expanded Meta through smart acquisitions:
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Instagram (2012) was bought for $1 billion and grew into a dominant photo and video app.
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WhatsApp (2014) was acquired for $19 billion and is now one of the most popular messaging apps globally.
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Oculus (2014) was the first step towards virtual reality and building the ‘metaverse’.
5. The Metamorphosis to Meta (2021)
In 2021, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook Inc. would henceforth be known as Meta Platforms. This marked a new direction: besides social media, the company aims to build the metaverse — a virtual world where people work, play, and gather using VR and AR.
Although the concept is still developing, Meta is investing billions in this vision.
6. Privacy and Scandals
Since 2016, Facebook has faced significant criticism, including for the spread of fake news, its role in elections, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In this incident, data from tens of millions of users were used for political purposes without consent.
Zuckerberg has had to testify multiple times before the US Congress and the European Commission regarding data ethics and privacy.
7. Mark as Coder, CEO, and Strategist
Zuckerberg is not just an entrepreneur but also a gifted programmer. He personally wrote the initial versions of Facebook and is known for his analytical approach to product development.
He is a typical ‘technical CEO’ with an eye for scalability and infrastructure. At the same time, he is often criticized for his significant power within the company – he holds a majority of the voting rights.
8. Great Wealth and Philanthropy
Mark Zuckerberg has been among the wealthiest people in the world for years. His fortune largely consists of Meta stock.
Together with his wife Priscilla Chan, he founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, through which they invest billions in education, medicine, and technology. Their ambitions include “curing or managing all diseases within this century”.
9. Priscilla Chan: His Wife and Partner in Philanthropy
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Zuckerberg married Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician and daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, in 2012. They met during their studies at Harvard.
Chan plays an active role in their charitable work and is co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Together, they have three daughters.
10. Lifestyle: Hoodie and Minimalism
Zuckerberg is known for his simple clothing style: often a gray hoodie and jeans. He claims to do this to avoid ‘decision fatigue’, allowing him to focus his energy on more important decisions.
Despite his immense wealth, he leads a relatively private life and focuses on work, family, and philanthropy.
11. Admiration and Criticism
Zuckerberg is admired for his technical vision, entrepreneurial spirit, and the way he has connected billions of people. Simultaneously, he often faces criticism regarding privacy issues, concentration of power, and the impact of social media on society.
His role as a visionary leader is constantly weighed against the societal responsibility of his platform.
12. Future: AI, Metaverse, and the Next Generation Internet
Zuckerberg continues to invest in the future of technology. Besides the metaverse, Meta is increasingly focusing on artificial intelligence, partly through its open-source AI projects.
He sees it as his mission to build the next digital infrastructure, where communication, work, and entertainment converge in a new virtual world.
