

Today is Facebook's 10th anniversary - charlesma
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101250930776491

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philfreo
Bill Gates' quote rings so true here:

"Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what
they can do in ten years."

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nly
I don't know. It doesn't seem like Facebook has done anything new for users
since around 2007/8 to me.

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zevyoura
In 2007/8 Facebook had roughly 100 million users. They now have well over a
billion. That's something in itself.

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MojoJolo
Happy 10th birthday Facebook! You have such a love and hate relationship with
more than a billion people around the world. Awesome.

You guys wanna check out "A Look Back" [0]. It shows your highlights and
moments in Facebook. It feels good reminiscing those moments. I wonder though,
did they generate the look back videos for all of their users? I think that
will require massive computation power.

[0] [https://www.facebook.com/lookback](https://www.facebook.com/lookback)

~~~
batuhanicoz
My "Lookback" was beautiful; brought back some memories. Made me realise how
much my life changed in 6 years.

As for your question, they are not generating it for every user; my test
account doesn't have it. It's a 5 years old account.

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MojoJolo
Interesting. Maybe they just generate it for the active users. You mention it
was a tst account, so I assume it's not that active and not a lot of content.

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batuhanicoz
Yeah, not much content; I delete almost every post since they are just dummy
posts made with the API.

I just checked again and I know have that page on my test account but no
video:

    
    
      Thank you, { firstname }
    
      10 years ago people started using Facebook to share their biggest moments. Here are some of yours.
    
    
    

And then just 6 photos, though that account has 7-8 photos anyway.

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TheCoat
I now also get that paged after having deleted one of the photos that appeared
in the video. I wonder if they will regenerate it.

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MehiraDeOro
I'm hoping they will regenerate it :/ I deleted one photo from a bachelorette
party because the cake very inappropriate and for whatever reason they chose
that damn photo to be featured.

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izolate
I remember being on Facebook in its infancy. When the user's "wall" was just a
<textarea> that was editable by anybody. I used to change the comments left by
friends of friends to humorous effect (at least in my mind).

Does anybody else remember this? Or did I dream this up?

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anrope
Yep yep, back when it was thefacebook.com

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siphr
Three cheers for a decade of surveillance!

~~~
borplk
Imagine if you walked in to NSA 20 years ago and said I'll make a software
that millions and millions of people will use to list all their friends, where
they have been what they have done where they have gone where they want to go
what they want to do, what they are thinking, photos of themselves, family,
children, wife, husband, everything, they'll just go there every day and
update this information .... you'd have gotten kicked out ... fast forward and
tada! "Facebook! I use it because everyone else does" .... honestly from a
surveillance point of view Facebook is the holy grail ... I can just imagine
them shouting ... Facebook ... jackpot!

~~~
evanb
The Onion has a news video along these lines:

[http://www.theonion.com/video/cias-facebook-program-
dramatic...](http://www.theonion.com/video/cias-facebook-program-dramatically-
cut-agencys-cos,19753/)

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ronilan
> _why were we the ones to build this? We were just students. We had way fewer
> resources than big companies. If they had focused on this problem, they
> could have done it._

What does "this" refer to? ;)

Exclusion by school email address, that's a resource. Big companies didn't
have that, so they couldn't start "this" the same way, so they got to a
different "it" and so on... Caring is important, but every social phenomena is
unique by origin when you connect the dots backwards.

~~~
eurleif
Also, it's not just big companies who "could have done it". About a million
different teenagers (including me) made virtual pet sites in the early 2000s.
Virtual pet sites have profiles, friends lists and social features. If you get
rid of the virtual pets, you have a social network. But that probably seemed
too simple to us.

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scotthtaylor
Great work Facebook, you've remained relevant and certainly made the world
more connected. Looking forward to seeing what you do over the next 10 years.
True poster-child for startups and what they can accomplish.

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RexRollman
I just don't see how this is something to celebrate. Facebook is an awful
company and an awful product.

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matthewmacleod
Don't be obnoxious.

Facebook has obvious problems as a company—privacy violations, data retention,
lock-in, and so on—and as software, especially with regard to the frequency
with which it's buggy as hell.

However, it's also had more impact on the utility of the web for most users
than almost any other product, save for perhaps Google. More than one-seventh
of the entire human population now uses Facebook every month, which is
incredible. And to achieve that in only 10 years—obviously by providing a
service that many people feel is worthwhile—is still something that we can
admire, regardless of the other issues around Facebook.

~~~
jpeterson
_However, it 's also had more impact on the utility of the web for most users
than almost any other product, save for perhaps Google._

If by "had more impact" you mean "changed it into a medium for idle
entertainment".

Seriously, what problem does Facebook solve? Does it even do a very good job
solving this problem? Does it have any redeeming quality whatsoever?

From where I stand, it's just another dumb fad that was in the right place at
the right time. It's the slap bracelet of this generation.

~~~
robryan
At the top of the list I would say would be bringing a critical mass of users
under the one service.

Everything kind of follows from that, the actual service is less important and
can likely be replicated by many companies.

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PavlovsCat
> At the top of the list I would say would be bringing a critical mass of
> users under the one service.

That sounds like damage to route around, not like a solution to a problem.

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fflsoldier
For all those who deleted by mistake their lookback it took me three days to
find how to get it back....... 1\. log into your facebook 2\. top right find
where you can find actual form to report problem 3\. actually write what you
did 4\. say sorry lol 5\. wait 24 hours 6\. log back in 7\. hopefully like
mine yours will come back 8\. play it 3 times 4\. log out 5\. log in 7\. green
share button will appear 8\. don't touch or alter again. I hope all who want
it back get it back good luck Tony

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chrissyb
_" The first ten years were about bootstrapping this network."_ Can somebody
please enlighten me on what he means here? I had previously thought that
"bootstrapping" is a term reserved by those who are developing with little
resources?

Is there some other meaning that i'm not aware of?

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efdee
"In computer technology the term (usually shortened to booting) usually refers
to the process of loading the basic software into the memory of a computer
after power-on or general reset, especially the operating system which will
then take care of loading other software as needed." So I'm assuming they are
saying that they "creating the necessary software/infrastructure for the
network to run on", rather than using it in the "bootstrapping a startup"
sense.

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chrissyb
Awesome.. OK that makes much more sense now, i knew i was missing something
important!

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icefox
Anyone notice that in the superbowl commercials no one was giving links to
facebook ala facebook.com/pepsi?

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the_watcher
At this point it's not even necessary. It's like saying Google us.

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icefox
Except they were almost all had text like #pepsi, indicating the place to talk
about this commercial is only on Twitter.

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nataliec86
I've deleted my look back video and now I can't get it back? I re clicked the
link and it now just comes up of a grid of about 6 photos!? Anyone know how I
get the video back? 😞

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baileybailey
I'm having the same problem!

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callmeawest
Same!! How do we get it back?

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natschroeder
I only got to view my lookback once and it never came back! how can i get my
video back. I want to share it:( can someone tell me how to get it back?

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ivonne5116
I saw the video. Liked it but one photo which i deleted, when i returned to
check the video it was goneeee!!! Can i get it back? Anyone please?

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blackcatgirl
Well my video crashed when I tried to share it, and now it will not recreate
it so I've missed out. Any idea how to redo one?

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mallory1020
I'm having the same issue!! My FB app crashed when I tried to post it and now
the video is totally gone... :/ Just a thank you message and a few of my
pictures.

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mide765
I actually don't know how the video is made. How do you create, and modify, a
video with a programming language?

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agtunn
Congratulation 10 years old Facebook!Just wonder how many time Facebook data
had been stollen in 10 Years.

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vwgill
Why can't I post my "A Look Back" video to FB? I don't see a share button.

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pravincee
Ok. Should we celebrate?

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72deluxe
Bebo was 9 in January. I wonder who will win between them?

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freehunter
When I go to Bebo, it tells me they're currently closed but I can sign up for
the new Bebo. The fact that they've had to shut their doors and reboot (like
digg and myspace) puts some doubt in my mind as a user. Wikipedia tells me
that they've also deleted all user content from the site. I especially
wouldn't consider it to be nine continuous years if they're bankrupt and
closed for business, even if they plan on reopening. If they succeed, Bebo
launched in 2014.

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bbivo1
Ugh. 10 years of privacy invasion.

~~~
lucaspiller
I love when new people sign up and believe the best way to contribute is to
troll.

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NAFV_P
When a troll calls accuses someone else of trolling, you know you are living
in a lunatic asylum.

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theklub
This makes me feel old

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ulfw
Well happy birthday.

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elberry-uae2007
Fghcxc

