Facemash to Facebook

2003

Date: 28 October 2003 (Facemash) · 4 February 2004 (Facebook) · Place: Kirkland House, Harvard University · Figures: Mark Zuckerberg, sophomore · the Harvard Crimson, complainant · the Harvard administration, disciplinary body · Tags: Lineage, Origin Sin 01. One Night, Stolen ID Photos On the night of 28 October 2003 Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard sophomore, writes Facemash in his dorm room. He scrapes Harvard ID photos from the nine residential houses' face-books, pairs them two at a time, asks visitors which is hotter. The site goes live; word spreads through Kirkland House; by morning Harvard's network has logged 22,000 votes. The administration shuts him down within 48 hours and threatens expulsion. The site is a direct knockoff of Hot or Not (October 2000). It is also a thesis: the photo of a person is the social object. 02. Facebook is Facemash Without the Rating Three months later, on 4 February 2004, Zuckerberg launches thefacebook.com from the same dorm. He keeps the photo grid and drops the binary rating. The friend connection replaces the score. The product scales. Facebook's origin is a hot-or-not knockoff that almost got its author expelled. The aesthetic lineage from forum joke to the largest social platform in history runs directly through Facemash. The Social Network (2010) opens with the scene. Sources • Harvard Crimson, 'Facemash creator survives' (19 November 2003) • Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network screenplay (2010) • David Kirkpatrick, The Facebook Effect (2010)