Facebook’s News Feed – is ten years old today!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Facebook’s News Feed.

Time really flies and dilutes sentiments as it goes along. I still remember how angry some of my friends were when News Feed was just introduced. People are always reluctant to embrace change, but time washes away memories.

When Facebook launched, it was during a time when there were technology/social media norms. Profiles were popular on social networks. Who still remember Friendster?

The team at Facebook noticed that people were manually searching for and looking at their friend’s profiles to get updates on their lives. So the team decided to break the mould, and introduced one of the first ever feed-based models with News Feed.

News Feed was the first feed-based window into the lives of our friends, family and the world around us — using many formats and tools to communicate in diverse, immersive ways including:

Like button (2009): One of the first times users on any site could express that they like, enjoy or supported certain content — changing the way people interact on sites

Reactions (2016): Every day, people use Facebook to discover what’s happening in their world and around the world, and to share all kinds of things, whether that’s updates that are happy, sad, funny or thought-provoking.

Immersive Story Formats: News Feed has so many immersive ways to ‘be in a virtual room’ with all of the friends, family, businesses, and public figures you care about.

For people: 360 photos/videos; Live; Autoplay videos, Instant Articles,

For businesses: Instant Articles, Live, Canvas Ads, Carousel, Slideshow

When we use our phone to watch live video from a protest on the other side of the planet, or share a photo with a group of our friends, we are participating in a global network that connects us to people and information.

Community groups and companies, public figures and politicians, media and people have adapted to using Facebook to engage in the causes and conversations that matter to them.

Over the past 10 years, News Feed has played a part in several historical events. Some of the most talked about moments in the past two years include:

2014:

• Ice Bucket Challenge: News Feed powered the first fundraiser in history that cost $0 but raised tens of millions of dollars. Between June and September, people around the world shared more than 17 million Ice Bucket Challenge videos on Facebook to raise awareness for ALS.
• World Cup: The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil drove more conversation than any other event in Facebook history.

2015:

• Nov. 13 Attacks in Paris: People in Paris used Facebook to let their friends know they were safe, and millions of people around the world made posts or changed their profile photos to stand with France.
• Syrian Civil War and Refugee Crisis: People on Facebook have used groups, events and Pages to organise donation drives and offer support for refugees in their own communities.
• Charlie Hebdo Attack: One of the most talked about moments this year; People used the phrase, “Je suis Charlie” — “I am Charlie” — to show their solidarity with the victims and support free speech.
• Nepal Earthquakes: People around the world responded quickly to provide aid and show their support for Nepal. More than 770,000 people on Facebook donated more than $15.5 million to International Medical Corps’ relief efforts on the ground.
• Marriage Equality: One of the most talked about moments this year; More than 26 million people changed their profile photos using a rainbow filter to show their support for the LGBTQ community.

Here is Mark Zuckerberg’s post on celebrating 10 years of News Feed evolution: