Mark Zuckerberg, 23, founded Facebook while studying psychology at
Harvard University. A keen computer programmer, Mr Zuckerberg had
already developed a number of social-networking websites for fellow
students, including Coursematch, which allowed users to view people
taking their degree, and Facemash, where you could rate people's
attractiveness.

In February 2004 Mr Zuckerberg launched "The
facebook", as it was originally known; the name taken from the sheets of
paper distributed to freshmen, profiling students and staff. Within 24
hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and after one month, over
half of the undergraduate population had a profile.
The network
was promptly extended to other Boston universities, the Ivy League and
eventually all US universities. It became
Facebook.com in August 2005
after the address was purchased for $200,000. US high schools could sign
up from September 2005, then it began to spread worldwide, reaching UK
universities the following month.
As of September 2006, the
network was extended beyond educational institutions to anyone with a
registered email address. The site remains free to join, and makes a
profit through advertising revenue. Yahoo and Google are among companies
which have expressed interest in a buy-out, with rumoured figures of
around $2bn (£975m) being discussed. Mr Zuckerberg has so far refused to
sell.
The site's features have continued to develop during 2007.
Users can now give gifts to friends, post free classified advertisements
and even develop their own applications - graffiti and Scrabble are
particularly popular.
This month the company announced that the
number of registered users had reached 30 million, making it the largest
social-networking site with an education focus.
Earlier in the
year there were rumours that Prince William had registered, but it was
later revealed to be a mere impostor. The MP David Miliband, the radio
DJ Jo Whiley, the actor Orlando Bloom, the artist Tracey Emin and the
founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, are among confirmed high-profile
members.
This month officials banned a flash-mob-style water fight
in Hyde Park, organised through Facebook, due to public safety fears.
And there was further controversy at Oxford as students became aware
that university authorities were checking their Facebook profiles.
The
legal case against Facebook dates back to September 2004, when Divya
Narendra, and the brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who founded the
social-networking site ConnectU, accused Mr
Zuckerberg of copying their
ideas and coding. Mr
Zuckerberg had worked as a computer programmer for
them when they were all at Harvard before Facebook was created.