Detailed History of Facebook Changes 2004-12 [Research]

Jon Loomer

12 years ago

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my new video Timeline: The History of Facebook in Less than 90 Seconds. The video was put together by Andy Greenhaw and is a dizzying trip through Facebook changes from 2004-2012.

What’s amazing about this video is that it only highlights the major changes. When I put together the research for the video, I created a six-page document that detailed Facebook changes since the social network’s humble beginnings. But for the sake of entertainment, we cut out most of it from the final product.

Now you get to see what was left on the cutting room floor. I used the Facebook Blog as my source for most of these changes, and I link to the specific blog entry where possible.

So here is the detailed history of Facebook changes. The transformation is amazing.

Are there any major changes missing? Please let me know so that I can update my list!

2004

February: Launched as TheFacebook.com, limited only to Harvard students
March: Expanded to Stanford, Columbia and Yale
No photos, wall, news feed, events or pages yet
Reached 1M users

2005

Purchased facebook.com domain for $200k and dropped “the”
Introduced Photos
September: High school version launched

2006

January: Friend Details (how you know your friends)
February: High School and College Facebook Merged
March: Redesigned Groups and Events
Spring: Expanded to include work networks
Spring: Facebook Mobile Texts
Spring: My Messages Page launched
Spring: Browse launched
Spring: Mobile Photo Uploads
Spring: My Photos page upgraded
Summer: Search functionality added for former classmates and coworkers
Summer: Global Groups and Events
August 15: Facebook Development Platform Launched
August 22: Facebook Notes
Late August: Mobile Web
September 5: News Feed and Mini-Feed launched
September 8: New privacy controls
September: Added spam prevention systems
September 26: Opened to all 13 and up with valid email address
October 27: Share links to articles, photos and videos
October 31: Share Button
November 15: News Feed Preferences
Fall: Privacy controls for when you poke, message and add friends
December: Profile picture photo album, keeps history of your profile photos

2007

January 10: Mobile Web (again) announced for mobile friendly Facebook
January 10: Mobile Uploads
January 10: Mobile Texts
January 17: List screen names for IM clients in contact info of profiles
January 24: Redesign of My Privacy page
February 7: Give virtual gifts
March: Group Update Information and create Events from Groups
March 14: Photo Sorting and Organizing
March 15: Export photos directly from iPhoto to Facebook albums
April 11: Navigation and profile simplification
April 11: My Messages and My Shares changed to Inbox
April 11: Network Pages launched
April 20: Added “[user] is…” before each status update
April 20: Friends’ three most recent updates on the home page
April 20: See all friends’ updates at once
April 20: RSS feed of friends’ updates
April 20: Subscribe to a friend’s updates via SMS
April 20: Update status from your phone by sending an SMS to Facebook
April 24: Gift Shop accessible to blind via screen-reader
May 14: Marketplace completely rolled out (classifieds)
May 24: Facebook Platform launched
June 22: Facebook Video Launched (tagging, FB video player, video messaging, mobile integration)
July: Post Attachments to the Wall
July 10: 30 Million Users
August 15: Facebook for iPhone Mobile Site
August 20: Send Facebook Messages to Facebook User or email address
September 5: Public Search Listings
November 6: Facebook Pages for Businesses launched
November 6: Social Ads launched, making advertising relevant
November 6: Share activities taken off of Facebook (Beacon)
November 9: Publish your activities on Facebook Pages to News Feeds
December: Make a tagged photo your profile photo
December 5: Beacon made opt-in
December 19: Friend Lists launched

2008

January: Extended Profile to declutter
February 11: Spanish version launched, set language
February 20: Interaction with applications curbed to block spam
March 19: New privacy interface and options
April 4: Ignore application invites from specific friends
April 6: Facebook Chat Launched
April 15: Import activities from Flickr, Picasa, Yelp and del.icio.us
May 1: People You May Know
May 23: Import activities from YouTube, Pandora and other sites
June 4: Suggest Friends to other Friends
June 19: Inbox Search
June 23: More language translations and 55 others opened to the community
June 25: Comment on friends’ mini-feed stories from their profile
July 10: Facebook for iPhone Application
July 21: The Wall
July 21: The Publisher – publish content directly to the Wall
July 21: New tabbed profile design (Wall, Info, Photos, Boxes)
August 26: 100 Million Users
September 19: Pirate Translation
October 7: Microsoft Live Search added to Facebook Search
October 31: Gift Shop Credits
December 4: Facebook Connect Launched
December 5: Higher quality video
December 17: Seamless browsing commenting pop-up

2009

January 7: 150 Million Users
January 30: Birthday Reminders
February 4: Update to Terms of Use
February 9: Like button added to friends’ content
February 11: Schedule a virtual gift on Valentine’s Day
February 17: Temporary return to prior Terms of Use after uproar
February 24: Group Administrators able to change Group Name
March 3: New version of Facebook Marketplace (powered by Oodle)
March 4: New profiles for public figures and organizations (formerly Pages)
March 11: Facebook available in Arabic and Hebrew
March 11: New Home Page design, real-time stream, new filters, improved Publisher, Highlights
March 16: “Everyone” option available to create public posts
April 8: 200 Million Users
April 27: View your Facebook stream on websites and applications outside of site
April 30: New Friends Page for organizing and filtering
May 4: News Feed now updates in real time, no longer needing to be refreshed
May 6: Filter friends by Recently Updated and view Only Status Updates
May 8: Family Relationships added
May 11: Facebook Chat updated to include Friend Lists and Offline Mode
May 11: Notifications appear in real time above chat bar as pop-up alerts
May 19: Increased size limit of photo albums from 60 to 200 photos
May 20: New Application Directory
May 22: Update to Facebook Credits, removing a Zero
May 29: Presentation of People in search results updated
June 2: Removing Regional Networks
June 4: Subscribe via SMS to friends’ status updates
June 13: Facebook Usernames
June 18: Streamlined Inbox
June 22: Display alternate names
July 8: Create Events from the Publisher
July 8: Facebook Fan Box on Websites
July 15: 250 Million Users
July 17: New Tools to Secure a Compromised Account
July 22: Upload Photos or Videos via email
August 10: Improved Facebook Search
August 20: Publish Facebook Page content to Twitter
August 24: Invite Friends to an Event Who Attended Prior Event
September 14: Tag Friends in Status Updates
September 15: 300 Million Users
September 17: Log in with Username in addition to email address
October 19: Revamped Groups for consistent design and publish to News Feeds
October 21: Retooled Gift Shop, including Music
October 23: Change to two views: News Feed and Live Feed
October 23: Friends Suggestion Box
October 26: Share Count added to Share Button
November 17: Xbox Connects with Facebook
November 17: New Privacy Policy Adopted
December 9: Simpler Privacy Controls Launched/All Users Required to Update
December 16: Relationship Anniversaries Added to Profile

2010

January 12: Reply to Comments through email
January 20: Receive Updates from Applications through Email
February 4: New Top Menu
February 4: New Left Menu
February 5: 400 Million Users
February 5: Faster, Simpler Photo Uploader
February 10: Connect Facebook Chat with AIM
February 17: New Privacy Controls for Applications
March 1: New Applications and Games Dashboard
March 1: Bookmark Applications
March 1: Become a Fan of Application Facebook Pages
March 2: Maximum Size of Photos Increased to 720 Pixels
March 16: Instant Search Results while Typing
March 26: Updates to Privacy Policy
April 19: Community Pages
April 19: More Connected Profiles
April 19: Now “Like” a Facebook Page instead of “Become a Fan”
April 21: Social Plugins (Like, Activity Feed, Recommendations)
April 21: Open Graph Protocol
April 21: Graph API for Developers
May 1: Streamlined Events Creation
May 13: New Security Features
May 18: Mobile Site 0.facebook.com launched with focus on speed
May 26: Simplified Privacy Controls
June 16: Added the ability to Like a Comment
June 30: New Application Permissions Authorization
July 1: Improved Photos Tagging
July 2: Interests Suggestions for New Registrants
July 21: 500 Million Users
July 21: Facebook Stories Launched
July 22: Update to Left Hand Navigation
July 28: Facebook Questions Launched
August 1: Facebook Gift Shop Closes
August 4: Access to Streamlined Privacy Controls from Any Device
August 11: Dynamic Load Photo Album Browsing
August 13: New Layout and Features for Facebook Notes
August 18: Check in at Facebook Places
September 15: Update to Facebook Chat
September 21: Features that Give Control over Games Updates in News Feed
September 24: Facebook Page Browser for Page Discovery
September 30: Improvements to Photos: Higher Resolution, New Photo Viewer, Easier Tagging and Uploading
October 6: New Version of Facebook Groups
October 6: Download All of your Facebook Content to your Computer
October 6: New Dashboard for how Applications Use Your Data
October 12: One-Time Passwords
October 12: Sign out of Facebook Remotely
October 13: Partnership with Bing for Social Search
October 14: Skype Integration
October 28: Friendship Pages
November 2: Facebook Deals
November 3: Places and Groups to Android App
November 3: Deals Integration for iPhone App
November 3: Mobile Single Sign On
November 15: Seamless Facebook Messaging (SMS, Chat, email or Messages)
December 5: New Facebook Profile
December 8: New Detailed View of What You Share with Apps from Mobile
December 15: Face Recognition Photo Tagging

2011

January 5: 600 Million Users
January 19: Facebook for Feature Phones Application
April 25: Improvements to Facebook Groups
April 26: Expansion of Deals to Deals on Facebook
May 30: 700 Million Users
July 6: Video Calling and Other Improvements to Facebook Chat
August 11: Improvements to Games including Games Ticker
August 23: More Controls to See Who You are Sharing With
August 26: Bigger, Faster Photos
September 13: Improved Friend Lists, including Smart Lists and Notifications
September 14: Subscribe Button to Subscribe to Non-Friends’ public content, allow non-friends to subscribe to your public content, and better control what content you see from your friends
September 20: Top Stories on News Feed
September 20: The Ticker
September 22: 800 Million Users
September 22: Facebook Timeline for Profiles
October 10: Facebook for iPad
October 19: Facebook Messenger Mobile Application
November 10: Recent Stories Filter
December 7: Updated Facebook for Android Application
December 8: Facebook Subscribe Button for Websites
December 15: Timeline Available on Mobile