Facebook: 10 years in pictures

Mark Zuckerberg launched "The Facebook" in his Harvard University dorm room on 4 February 2004. It was not until 20 September 2005 that the company officially dropped the "The" and became Facebook.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was a billionaire by the age of 23. His personal wealth is now estimated to be $19 billion. He was the US's biggest charity donor in 2013, but is known for his controversial views on privacy, and has been caught up in various legal disputes with former colleagues.Picture: AP

Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com. They claimed he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. They later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling in 2008 for 1.2m shares (worth $300m at Facebook's IPO).Picture: REUTERS

One of the most popular applications on Facebook is Photos, which launched in October 2005. Users can upload albums of photos, tag friends helped by facial recognition technology, and comment on photosPicture: FACEBOOK

Facebook for Mobile launched in April 2006. The social network spent its first year as a public company struggling to work out the best way to monetise mobile users effectively. Mobile ads now account for 53pc of advertising revenue.Picture: FACEBOOK

Facebook introduced the Like button in February 2009, allowing users to express their appreciation of content such as status updates, comments, photos, and advertisements.Picture: GETTY IMAGES

Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg starred in the 2010 film The Social Network, which portrays the founding of Facebook and the resulting lawsuits. The film received widespread acclaim, with critics praising it for its editing, acting, score, direction and screenplay.Picture: REX FEATURES

In December 2011, a flaw in Facebook has granted prying users access to supposedly private photographs, including those of the website’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.Picture: REX FEATURES

Facebook held an initial public offering on May 17, 2012, negotiating a share price of $38. The company was valued at at $104 billion, the largest valuation to date for a newly listed public company. However, the value of the stock declined rapidly, and by the end of May 2012, it had lost over a quarter of its starting value.Picture: BLOOMBERG

Facebook bought photo-sharing app Instagram in April 2012 for approximately $1 billion. In 2013, Instagram grew by 23pc, while Facebook, as the mother company, only grew by 3pc. In June 2013 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Instagram would allow users to take and share video.Picture: GETTY IMAGES

In September 2011, Facebook overhauled the design of its website and introduced Timeline, which groups together all publicly viewable messages, comments and photographs by date. The design was controversial at the time, but has remained the template for Facebook profiles ever since.Picture: FACEBOOK

Today, Facebook is launching 'A Look Back', an experience that enables people on Facebook to see a personalised movie or collection of photos with their biggest moments since they joined Facebook.Picture: FACEBOOK

source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10614601/Facebook-10-years-in-pictures.html