Facebook launched as The Facebook in 2004, and Mark Zuckerberg's site was originally a community strictly for college students. The company soon dropped "the" from its name and became available to anyone in 2006. The app was soon one of the most widely used social networks and only continued to grow over time.
Facebook has had to compete with more and more new social media apps over the past decade. Some Facebook s recall a simpler time on the social networking site. What are some of the hallmarks of the app's earlier years?
Writing On The Wall
Currently, Facebook s can leave each other messages via Facebook Messenger. They can also post notes on s' timelines. The Facebook timeline was created a decade ago so that s could keep track of life events by years. There are obvious drawbacks to the change, and nostalgic Facebook s can when there was no timeline and everyone wanted to write on someone's "wall." The timeline and the wall might seem like the same thing, but the design of the wall was much simpler, and there was something special about the nature of sending little messages back in forth on s' walls, even though it wasn't the most private way to communicate.
Becoming A Fan
Some Facebook s can a time before the "like" button ever existed. Prior to liking friends' posts, a would "become of fan" of what they appreciated. That applied to business pages, too. A "became a fan" of those pages before Facebook changed the response to "like." There was something really unique about being a fan of something, and the feeling was lost with all those quick likes.
Greater Interaction With Pages
There are plenty of businesses and public figures on Facebook, but some of these pages don't get as much traction due to the ubiquity of other social networking sites today. Some businesses thrive on LinkedIn; many public figures gain their biggest followings on Instagram now. There once was a time when influential pages were more regularly updated on Facebook so that there was more for fans to interact with.
Seeing popular pages and regular people on Facebook together was a positive aspect of the social network. Now, people who only use Facebook could easily miss an update from their favorite figures or businesses if those entities rely more on other social media communications.
A Friendly Poke
The "poke" button on Facebook was a bit unusual, but it was a fun feature for some s. In keeping with the "like" button, the poke feature is denoted by a poking index finger next to the word "poke." It is technically still possible to poke a friend, but it takes several steps to reach the poke page in settings. Years ago, the poke button was on the homepage, and it was fairly common to offer a friend a little poke to let them know they mattered.
Simpler News Feed
The Facebook news feed has seen several remodels since 2004, but the feed is a bit cluttered as it is currently. With the additions of Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Watch, there are a lot of things a could potentially look at after logging in. In the former days, a Facebook didn't have quite as much to navigate on the news feed. It was simpler just to scroll through updates from friends, as shown in the Nitrozac and Shaggy comic above, especially without all those sponsored ads interrupting everything.
Less Facial Recognition
Facebook started automatically offering tagging suggestions over a decade ago, which means that a might receive suggestions whenever Facebook would recognize a face in a photo. Although it can be turned off, there is a supposedly more advanced facial recognition setting now. People over 18 can use a face recognition template to try to review more photos and videos they might be in. The change sounds good in theory, but increased facial recognition gives Facebook even more information. It's good that this setting doesn't have to be turned on, at least.
Poetic Status Updates
Before Facebook started asking s "What's on your mind," the app prompted s to post more reflective status updates. It was commonplace to follow one's pre-typed name with the word "is." It was so easy to then describe feelings, hopes, or other contemplations. "X is happy." "X is waiting for the world to change." "X wonders what the meaning of life is." Not all statuses were profound, but it was fun to personalize them with an "is."
Facebook Chatting Without Messenger
Facebook Messenger didn't exist until 2011, and some s would argue that Facebook was more enjoyable before Messenger was introduced. Prior to Messenger, s could still communicate quickly with one another using the Facebook Chat feature. Chat was folded into Messenger, which is its own separate app.
People can still chat somewhat like they used to while using Facebook on the computer, but the heyday of the Facebook Chat is sadly in the past.
More Personalized Profile
In addition to the old wall on Facebook, there were other nice touches that personalized a 's profile. There has always been an "About Me" section on Facebook, but there once was a small box on the left side of the profile page where s could type a note, a quote, or a link to another website. That little box was such a wonderful part of the old profile, and the current timeline loses something without it.