broadband news

Broadband networking site Facebook celebrates fifth birthday

Popular broadband site Facebook is celebrating its fifth birthday. And, while it may not be dishing out birthday cake to its 150 million broadband users, virtual gifts are being offered from cuddly bears and beer, to Champagne and four-leaf clovers.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg said, "In the spirit of celebrating connections between people, we encourage you to use this gift to give thanks to [those] you are connected with on Facebook."

Mr Zuckerberg first set up the broadband site as a modest project from his Harvard dorm room to help students at the university get to know each other. He could scarcely have imagined the snowball effect the broadband networking site would have around the world.

Turning down buy-out offers in 2008, Mr Zuckerberg appears dedicated to the principles and ethos of the broadband site.

In a broadband blog post, reported by the BBC, the 24-year-old wrote: "Building and moving quickly for five years hasn’t been easy, and we aren’t finished.

"As we celebrate Facebook’s 5th birthday, we continue to work hard to evolve Facebook and make it as simple as possible to communicate with and understand the people and entities that matter to you."

Facebook became available to UK broadband users at the end of 2005. The broadband site is now translated across 35 languages with another 60 in development. The broadband site has long-since surpassed its rival networking site MySpace, which currently has 130 million broadband users.

04/02/2009
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

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