Lhen Mark Zuckerberg appeared in The world, on July 25, 2007, the social network Facebook, of which he was the main co-founder, has existed for more than three years. Its first version was launched twenty years ago today, on February 4, 2004. Suffice to say that the evening daily is looking a little late at the phenomenon of social networks. But who, in this second half of the 2000s, saw it coming?
However, in this article by Andrey Steeves, entitled “Facebook, the fifth most visited site in the world, is the subject of a paternity claim”, the challenges of the industrial adventure are immediately raised: “At just 23 years old, Mark Zuckerberg has had a successful career so far. The site he founded in 2004 in his Harvard dorm room could well dethrone MySpace and become the world’s leading community network. For some analysts, it would even represent “the best opportunity for Internet entrepreneurs in recent years”. And with 100,000 more members every day, this prediction could come true. »
Facebook, which then had no less than 31 million users, cannot be reduced to a classic industrial success. The paternity of Mark Zuckerberg contested by three of his former colleagues from Harvard, demanding control of the social network and part of its royalties, already tells a legend. The young man, in addition to his enormous entrepreneurial qualities, displays an impressive strength of character.
“Always a cool look”
A year later, on January 30, 2008, in the “Business” supplement of the daily newspaper, Cécile Ducourtieux drew up the first portrait of the World dedicated to the entrepreneur. The subtitle – “For creating a site where every student can post photos and rate those of others, he was almost kicked out of Harvard” – already tells a story that goes well beyond the economic and technological framework.
The photo illustrating the portrait is surprising: the founder of Facebook is sitting on the floor in an open space, among his employees, in a hoodie, no socks, just a pair of flip-flops and jeans that are too big. The image will become iconic but, for now, in 2008, it is striking people’s minds.
Cécile Ducourtieux takes stock of this: “At just 23 years old, this baby-faced post-teen, always looking “cool” in his uniform of jeans, immaculate t-shirt and flip-flops, was one of the “start-ups”, as we call them. small technology companies in Silicon Valley, the most sought after in 2007.” Moreover, in October of the same year, Microsoft paid the astronomical sum of 240 million euros to obtain the sole advertising agency for the site and only 1.6% of the company’s capital.
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