From an early age, Mark Zuckerberg showed a passion for computers. Zuckerberg even had a tutor that aided him once per week in his blossoming computer science needs. Zuckerberg studied at multiple schools before he received arguably his most recognition at Harvard. At Harvard, Zuckerberg created CourseMatch and Facemash. CourseMatch allowed students to see reviews of classes that other students had taken which was a great way to pool a large amount of honest, open feedback. Facemash, the more infamous of the two, pinned two students against each other, allowing for other members of the student body to vote for who is the most attractive. The website, despite its popularity, was taken down by the school after it was deemed inappropriate.
These two projects led to the early developments of what was to be known as Zuckerberg’s magna carter. Notable Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss enlisted Zuckerberg to create a dating website for students that attend Harvard. This venture did not last long as Zuckerberg set out on his own to create the social media platform known as Facebook. Zuckerberg dropped out and quickly began to see success. In less than a year after dropping out of college, he had already amassed over 1 million users. The success began to quickly snowball, with Zuckerberg opting to grow the company rather than be bought out by investors. Today, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world and is continuing to grow.
There are many things that I could take away from Mark Zuckerberg. While he may not be the most extroverted individual, he took the field that he is passionate for and created a completely new platform that innovated the social media landscape forever. As a college student, this story is especially inspiring and motivates me to put time into my craft. Always seek out others for help but likewise, let others seek you out for help. Collaboration and reflecting ideas are some of the biggest aspects that can lead to a successful idea.
To learn more about his story, click here.
I think it’s interesting how Facebook originally started as such a small platform. Zuckerberg saw a need and filled it, and that eventually grew into a huge platform.