Who is Mark Zuckerberg?
In the past few years, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gone from awkward geek to awkward geek with cool glasses. But, who is this man really? While his reserved persona may not scream out “leader”, Zuckerberg has proven himself time and time again as a brilliant mind, forward-thinking innovator, and confident leader. His thoughtful vision for the company has led to some big changes in the way people use Facebook today. In this article we take a look at 10 things you probably don't know about Mark Zuckerberg - from his early beginnings as an uncommonly smart hacker to his work with non-profit organizations. Read on to learn more about this intriguing character and see if you can separate fact from fiction!
Mark Zuckerberg's Childhood
Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14th, 1984 in New York City. His parents were employed by the Department of Education, his mother as a psychologist and his father as an engineer at the university. He has two sisters, Randi and Arielle, who are 5 and 3 years younger than him respectively. Zuckerberg grew up in the New York City suburb of New Rochelle, where he attended the public New Rochelle High School. At the young age of 12, Mark Zuckerberg taught himself computer programming and co-developed a basic version of the social network that we know today as Facebook. Zuckerberg used his instant messaging (IM) account to hack into the Harvard University network and steal students' email addresses. Mark created a website where students could search for others who were taking their courses. He made the website open to everybody at least 15 years old, regardless of their school or location. Initially, Harvard students made up most of the site's users, but before long people from other schools, and eventually from all over the world, were using it, too.
Facebook Was Originally Called “Thefacebook”
The name “Facebook” was selected from a suggested list of over 80 names. Zuckerberg said that he chose the name because he wanted something that would appeal to a broad range of people and 'was universal'. The most interesting name on the list was “thefacebook”, which was the original name for the website before it was changed to Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg's parents' first suggestion for the name was "Hot or Not". And he said that he regrets that he didn't take that one! The name “Face book” is a play on the term “Face book”, a term used at Harvard to describe how other students judged one's popularity by the number of callouts in their yearbook. The site was referred to as "the face book" because "it's a face book", according to Zuckerberg.
The Facebook Platform and its Development
Facebook was originally founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and a few of his fellow Harvard students. They were soon joined by Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The original idea was to create a website where Harvard students could compare their extracurricular activities. In 2012, Facebook opened up a new platform that allowed users to use third-party applications. Since then, there have been many new features added to the website, including a feature that allows users to upload pictures and a feature that allows users to like posts. In 2013, Facebook also acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, two social media applications that enable users to take pictures and share them with others.
Zuck and Education: Donating and Helping
In 2010, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan founded the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, which supports the San Francisco General Hospital. In 2018, Zuckerberg announced that he would donate 99% of his Facebook shares to charitable causes. Zuckerberg has partnered with schools in the United States and around the world to bring Facebook's resources to students and teachers. He has also funded the Startup: Education foundation and the Education Invention Challenge to bring entrepreneurship and creativity to the classroom. Zuckerberg and Chan have committed 99% of their Facebook shares (worth $ 45 billion as of December 2017) to be donated to causes including curing disease, improving education, and promoting equal opportunity. In September 2018,
Conclusion
Mark Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and the founder and CEO of Facebook. When he was a student at Harvard University, Zuckerberg created a website called “The Facebook”, that was a dating site, where you could rate your relationship with others, be they friends, family or lovers. The website soon became a hit, and Zuckerberg dropped out of school, and relocated to Palo Alto, California, to dedicate himself to running the website. Today, Facebook is the world's most popular social network with over 2 billion users, and it has become the most powerful media company in the world. Zuckerberg has been named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People", Fortune's "Business Person of the Year", and "The Most Powerful Person in the World". He has also been included in the Forbes list of "billionaires",
