The Facebook Blog

A few weeks ago, Facebook turned a bright-eyed, precocious three years old, and since we have now entered the tattling stage, we want to tell you all about it.

As you may have guessed, there was a big party, with hats and cake and music and balloons to mark the occasion—no clowns, they're just creepy. But that's not what we are most excited to talk about. Here's what we learned last year...

Counting. A year ago, we could only make it to 6 million. Now we can get all the way past 17.
...

Getting dressed. Finally, buttons and zippers aren't so hard anymore. This doesn't relate to the site. Zippers are just a pain.

Playing well with others. First, we merged the high school and
college networks. Then, we created work networks. Finally, we expanded
regional networks to include everyone. That's right...Facebook is for
everyone.


No talking to strangers. Facebook may be for everyone, but not everyone is nice. Three-year-olds learn to follow simple commands and differentiate between familiar objects. We put these skills to good use creating privacy settings for just about anything we could think of. You give the order, and we follow it; your information stays safe, and everyone gets a snack.

Napping. Well, we're working on it. There's just so much to do around here…

Story time. According to Wikipedia, at our age we can listen attentively to stories, recall pieces of information, and make relevant comments, especially when the subject relates to our home and family. Improving social context is incredibly important for continuing to achieve developmental milestones, so we built News Feed.
Sharing. We are way ahead of the curve on this one. Most don't like to share until the age of five, but Facebook lets you share whatever you can get your hands on, from music and movies to blog posts and news articles to any and every thing inside Facebook and out there on the web. Most three-year-olds can't even read.

Potty training. Three-year-olds usually achieve complete bladder control. We're very proud.



Jon is a Software Engineer at Facebook, and even though he's almost 25, he still has trouble with zippers.

Clearly I had the Hackathon spirit long before I worked at Facebook.

We call it a Hackathon. A week in advance, we start hoarding snacks under our desks to prepare for an edge-of-your-seat night crammed with feats of engineering strength. We watch the clock until finally someone jumps on the nearest table and yells, "Hackathon!" Everyone--engineers and executives, managers and marketers, sales and support reps--drops everything to work on something new for the night. We think, we talk, and we create.

Like Facebook users, Facebook employees... are never short on ideas--just time. A Hackathon is a veritable gathering of the minds; it is an opportunity to jumpstart the projects that might otherwise get left behind. Besides, who isn't nostalgic for the nights spent cranking away on an idea or four with a pot of black coffee and a case of Red Bull?

Most of the time, when the sun rises over the Facebook office, it sets on a Hackathon idea. That's fine; no one would have enjoyed the My Pets page anyway. However, sometimes great things happen. They can be innovative, like Wall-to-Wall, useful, like the Birthday Calendarhref>, or a fun combinationhref> of the two, like the Friend Gamehref>. On rare occasions, a Hackathon provides the spark for something epic, like NCAA Tournament Pools.


Jon is a Facebook engineer by day, a table dancer by night, and a Devil's advocate all the time.