How Facebook Got Big

Facebook is really really big. By the end of 2013, Facebook boasted 1.23bn monthly active users worldwide, adding 170m in just one year. [1]


So how did Facebook got so big?

• People started using a social network with their Real Identities. (“X” is on Facebook!)
• Real identities were rare in the pre-Facebook era.
• How?
• Limited Access in the initial stage
• Facebook started out only with Harvard students (you were supposed to have a Harvard University issued EMail Address) [2]; then limited only to College students. So when it was opened for all, people got used to having real identities.
• Privacy Options 
• Before Facebook came along, Myspace, Hi5 were as public as possible.
• With Facebook, you could control privacy according to your desires and socialize only among selected friends.
• Facebook Platform 
• Viral spread of Apps and Games and farming in Farmville.
• Only social interactions would have bored many of the users.
• Facebook is popular because you can connect with all the people you ever knew: your classmates, your long forgotten neighbours, colleagues - many of whom you met years back.

References

1. Facebook: 10 years of social networking, in numbers
2. Hundreds Register for New Facebook Website
3. Facebook Statistics