The year was 2005, and a fresh-faced 21-year-old Mark Zuckerberg had only created Facebook — or “The Facebook” as he called it back then, kind of like how your mom does now — the year before, and he clearly had no idea what a juggernaut he had on his hands. In this interview clip that was intended for a 2008 documentary, Now Entering: A Millennial Generation, a casual, barefoot Zuckerberg sipping beer out of a red solo cup explains that his website was meant to be an interactive online directory for college students.
He says that while attending Harvard, the school didn’t have any kind of online directory, so his goal was to create something interesting that would motivate people to participate. And sure enough, within weeks, two-thirds of the school had signed up, and from there the social networking site only grew as he brought it to more schools.
Ironically, at the time Zuckerberg had no delusions of grandeur when it came to the website, when asked about his future plans for The Facebook:
I mean, there doesn’t necessarily have to be more. You know, I mean like a lot of people are focused on, like, taking over the world, or doing like the biggest thing, or getting the most users, and I mean like I think that part of making a difference and doing something cool is focusing intensely.
At the time, Zuckerberg and his employees were celebrating having hit three million users by doing keg stands in their Palo Alto office. Now the website has over a billion, just to show what a difference 11 years makes.
(Via Fast Company, Business Insider)