6 ms·

Back in the day... 2004-2005 facebook was amazing. Spread like wildfire, and lots of fun to use. Just you and your college friends, and their friends.

lend000 3mo ago
Even the original idea (if The Social Network is a trustworthy source) was copied -- Zuckerberg just has a complete lack of vision, but is clearly an intelligent operator with good business sense. Jagged intelligence, like an LLM.
- digitaltrees 3mo ago
  Or he’s backed by the CIA?
  - vintermann 3mo ago
    Unlikely, since he is extremely hated by the Democratic party establishment. He's treated like a scorned ex.
  - TheOtherHobbes 3mo ago
    Any resemblance to a voluntary mass surveillance and personalised sentiment profiling network is entirely accidental.
  - breppp 3mo ago
    Or maybe you are backed by the CIA?
    - digitaltrees 3mo ago
      Except there is plenty of public evidence Facebook was. I think they were even on the cap table and thiel / palintir are explicitly partners in wiring up tech data pipelines into the knowledge graph. Thats why thiel was an early investor, this is known public info.
      - breppp 3mo ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9374977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9374977
        digitaltrees 3mo ago
        Thanks for that. I am confused about your prior comment. Maybe we are both cia and have forgotten because we were part of mk ultra and melted each other's memories
        breppp 3mo ago
        That's entirely possible, I was joking of course
  - LargoLasskhyfv 3mo ago
    Possible. Probably. https://whyy.org/segments/facebook-a-computing-pioneer-a-secret-government-program-and-a-strange-coincidence/ https://whyy.org/segments/facebook-a-computing-pioneer-a-sec...
- thin_carapace 3mo ago
  has zuckerberg done anything productive of his own accord? facebook was ripped off. most meta companies were acquired. it could be argued that propagandizing the entire world was productive relative to vested interests but that was done on the behest of those interests, not zuck himself. the only thing im aware of zuck actually spearheading was the metaverse, a conclusively unproductive pursuit costing tens of billions to achieve literally nothing. it isnt objective to unilaterally behave with vitriol ... still this person seems more comparable to cancer itself than any actual human. i guess you could collapse productivity to 'making money' in which case clearly he is productive, im more referring to accomplishing anything useful for humanity. i also dont consider mass surveillance to be useful for humanity as bad actors will always get away with it whether they are on or off camera.
  - georgemcbay 3mo ago
    > has zuckerberg done anything productive of his own accord? It probably will surprise no one to learn his "next big thing" is a prediction market app. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/technology/meta-prediction-markets-app.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/technology/meta-predictio... Hits the Meta product trifecta perfectly: * Derivative * Late to market * Harmful to society
    - Npovview 3mo ago
      Zuck is Equally Excited about all things, as noted by Demis. Zuck is that kid who wants his hand in all cookies jars.
- arkh 3mo ago
  In 2001 France had Copains d'avant https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copains_d%27avant https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copains_d%27avant for school based networking. So not a new idea
  - hparadiz 3mo ago
    Lol I was working on a social network site when FB came out and there were many sites like it (MySpace). Some of them even still exist like VK.
  - LtWorf 3mo ago
    We just had a thing that would export MSN messenger contact list, you'd add your email there and everyone would add you on MSN. Way less creepy than the stalking fb was doing.
- IshKebab 3mo ago
  I don't think you can say that the idea was "copied". It was a very obvious idea. I had the same idea before I heard of the Facebook. Do you know why it's called the face book? You may as well say Bezos copied the idea of Amazon from book shops. Really, he was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
calgoo 3mo ago
It was US only as you had to have a .edu email address to join, which most universities around the world did not get as it was mostly a US thing. It took forever for them to open up to non-US universities.
- doublerabbit 3mo ago
  It would of been nice keep it that way. MySpace was just fine.
  - marysol5 3mo ago
    The hook that Facebook had over MySpace (and the million other "Social Network" platforms of that day) was that you couldn't embed shitty HTML intot he profile

lend000 3mo ago

Even the original idea (if The Social Network is a trustworthy source) was copied -- Zuckerberg just has a complete lack of vision, but is clearly an intelligent operator with good business sense. Jagged intelligence, like an LLM.

digitaltrees 3mo ago
Or he’s backed by the CIA?
- vintermann 3mo ago
  Unlikely, since he is extremely hated by the Democratic party establishment. He's treated like a scorned ex.
- TheOtherHobbes 3mo ago
  Any resemblance to a voluntary mass surveillance and personalised sentiment profiling network is entirely accidental.
- breppp 3mo ago
  Or maybe you are backed by the CIA?
  - digitaltrees 3mo ago
    Except there is plenty of public evidence Facebook was. I think they were even on the cap table and thiel / palintir are explicitly partners in wiring up tech data pipelines into the knowledge graph. Thats why thiel was an early investor, this is known public info.
    - breppp 3mo ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9374977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9374977
      - digitaltrees 3mo ago
        Thanks for that. I am confused about your prior comment. Maybe we are both cia and have forgotten because we were part of mk ultra and melted each other's memories
        breppp 3mo ago
        That's entirely possible, I was joking of course
- LargoLasskhyfv 3mo ago
  Possible. Probably. https://whyy.org/segments/facebook-a-computing-pioneer-a-secret-government-program-and-a-strange-coincidence/ https://whyy.org/segments/facebook-a-computing-pioneer-a-sec...
thin_carapace 3mo ago
has zuckerberg done anything productive of his own accord? facebook was ripped off. most meta companies were acquired. it could be argued that propagandizing the entire world was productive relative to vested interests but that was done on the behest of those interests, not zuck himself. the only thing im aware of zuck actually spearheading was the metaverse, a conclusively unproductive pursuit costing tens of billions to achieve literally nothing. it isnt objective to unilaterally behave with vitriol ... still this person seems more comparable to cancer itself than any actual human. i guess you could collapse productivity to 'making money' in which case clearly he is productive, im more referring to accomplishing anything useful for humanity. i also dont consider mass surveillance to be useful for humanity as bad actors will always get away with it whether they are on or off camera.
- georgemcbay 3mo ago
  > has zuckerberg done anything productive of his own accord? It probably will surprise no one to learn his "next big thing" is a prediction market app. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/technology/meta-prediction-markets-app.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/23/technology/meta-predictio... Hits the Meta product trifecta perfectly: * Derivative * Late to market * Harmful to society
  - Npovview 3mo ago
    Zuck is Equally Excited about all things, as noted by Demis. Zuck is that kid who wants his hand in all cookies jars.
arkh 3mo ago
In 2001 France had Copains d'avant https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copains_d%27avant https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copains_d%27avant for school based networking. So not a new idea
- hparadiz 3mo ago
  Lol I was working on a social network site when FB came out and there were many sites like it (MySpace). Some of them even still exist like VK.
- LtWorf 3mo ago
  We just had a thing that would export MSN messenger contact list, you'd add your email there and everyone would add you on MSN. Way less creepy than the stalking fb was doing.
IshKebab 3mo ago
I don't think you can say that the idea was "copied". It was a very obvious idea. I had the same idea before I heard of the Facebook. Do you know why it's called the face book? You may as well say Bezos copied the idea of Amazon from book shops. Really, he was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.

calgoo 3mo ago

It was US only as you had to have a .edu email address to join, which most universities around the world did not get as it was mostly a US thing. It took forever for them to open up to non-US universities.

doublerabbit 3mo ago
It would of been nice keep it that way. MySpace was just fine.
- marysol5 3mo ago
  The hook that Facebook had over MySpace (and the million other "Social Network" platforms of that day) was that you couldn't embed shitty HTML intot he profile