Three Kings – Three Companies that Transformed the Web

Facebook ?

Facebook is a social networking website intended to connect friends, family, and business associates. It is the largest of the networking sites, with the runner up being MySpace. It began as a college networking website and has expanded to include anyone and everyone.

Facebook was founded by 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and originally called thefacebook. It was quickly successful on campus and expanded beyond Harvard into other Ivy League schools. With the phenomenon growing in popularity, Zuckerberg enlisted two other students, Duston Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, to assist. Within months, thefacebook became a nationwide college networking website.

Zuckerberg and Moskovitz left Harvard to run thefacebook full time shortly after taking the site national. In August of 2005, thefacebook was renamed Facebook, and the domain was purchased for a reported $200,000 US Dollars (USD). At that time, it was only available to schools, universities, organizations, and companies within English speaking countries, but has since expanded to include anyone.

Facebook users create a profile page that shows their friends and networks information about themselves. The choice to include a profile in a network means that everyone withing that network can view the profile. The profile typically includes the following: Information, Status, Friends, Friends in Other Networks, Photos, Notes, Groups, and The Wall.

What is Myspace ?

     MySpace is a free online community composed of personal profiles aimed foremostly at a younger membership. A MySpace profile typically includes a digital photo and in-depth information about personal interests. The amount of detail included in the profile is up to the user and submitted voluntarily. MySpace policy requires users be at least 14 years of age to join. Members routinely send each other messages and “network” or socialize within the MySpace community.

     The format of MySpace makes it easy for anyone to submit profile information, even if they have little online experience. Though the domain has proved incredibly popular, reportedly hosting over 60 million profiles, it has also come under fire. The concern is that the vast majority of MySpace members may be too inexperienced to realize the potential danger of posting personal information online. Some profiles contain not only a picture, but the user's first and last name, location, and details like favorite music and foods. This information enables a predator to easily target and befriend a victim.

Youtube ?

     YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video bloggingand short original videos.

Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, the BBC, VEVO, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program. Unregistered users can watch videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos considered to contain offensive content are available only to registered users at least 18 years old. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion, and now operates as a subsidiary of Google.