Facemash

Facemash was a website created by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University. The site allowed users to compare the photos of two students and vote on which one was more attractive, with the goal of creating a ranking of the most attractive students at Harvard University. The site quickly gained popularity, with users including students from Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yale University. The site's creators were also involved in other projects, such as Wirehog and Facebook, which would later become a global social networking phenomenon, with users including Sheryl Sandberg, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman.

● Introduction

Facemash was launched in 2003, during the second year of Mark Zuckerberg's studies at Harvard University. The site was created as a Harvard University-specific version of the popular website Hot or Not, which allowed users to rate the attractiveness of photos submitted by other users, including those from University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, and Columbia University. Facemash quickly gained popularity among students at Harvard University, with over 22,000 votes cast in the first four hours of the site's operation, and users including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison. The site's success was also noticed by the media, with articles published in The Harvard Crimson, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, featuring interviews with Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Jeff Bezos.

● History

The idea for Facemash was born out of a conversation between Mark Zuckerberg and his roommate, Eduardo Saverin, who were both students at Harvard University at the time, and were also friends with Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The two students were inspired by the popularity of Hot or Not and decided to create a similar site for Harvard University students, with the help of Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, and Kleiner Perkins. They spent several days creating the site, which was launched in October 2003, and quickly gained popularity among students at Harvard University, including those from University of Cambridge, University of California, Los Angeles, and New York University. The site's success was also noticed by other universities, with students from Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yale University also using the site, and featuring interviews with Tim Berners-Lee, Vint Cerf, and Marc Andreessen.

● Features_and_controversy

Facemash allowed users to compare the photos of two students and vote on which one was more attractive, with the goal of creating a ranking of the most attractive students at Harvard University. The site used photos from the Harvard University student directory, which were obtained without permission, and featured students from University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University. The site's features were simple, with users able to vote on the attractiveness of photos and view the rankings of the most attractive students, with comments from Eric Schmidt, Sundar Pichai, and Satya Nadella. However, the site was also controversial, with some students complaining that the site was sexist and objectifying, and featuring articles from The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and Forbes, with quotes from Arianna Huffington, Sarah Kendzior, and Glenn Greenwald.

● Shutdown_and_aftermath

Facemash was shut down by Harvard University in 2003, after the site's popularity caused the university's computer network to crash, and the site's creators were also criticized by the university's administration, including Lawrence Summers, Drew Gilpin Faust, and Alan Dershowitz. The site's shutdown was also covered by the media, with articles published in The Harvard Crimson, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, featuring interviews with Jimmy Wales, Craig Newmark, and Pierre Omidyar. The site's creators were also forced to apologize for the site's content and to pay for the damage caused to the university's computer network, with the help of Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and WilmerHale.

● Impact_and_legacy

Despite its short existence, Facemash had a significant impact on the development of social media, with Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues using the experience and knowledge gained from creating Facemash to develop Facebook, which would later become a global social networking phenomenon, with users including Sheryl Sandberg, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman. Facemash also inspired other social media sites, such as MySpace and LinkedIn, which were founded by Chris DeWolfe, Tom Anderson, and Reid Hoffman, and featured interviews with Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Jeff Weiner. The site's legacy can also be seen in the many social media sites that have been created since, including Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, which were founded by Jack Dorsey, Kevin Systrom, and Evan Spiegel, and featured articles from The Verge, TechCrunch, and Wired, with quotes from Marissa Mayer, Dick Costolo, and Kevin Rose.

● Legal_issues

The creation and operation of Facemash raised several legal issues, including copyright infringement and violation of Harvard University's computer use policies, with the help of Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, and Center for Democracy & Technology. The site's use of photos from the Harvard University student directory without permission also raised concerns about privacy and intellectual property, with comments from Lawrence Lessig, Jonathan Zittrain, and Tim Wu. The site's shutdown and the subsequent apology and payment of damages by the site's creators also raised questions about the limits of free speech and the responsibility of website creators, with articles from The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Slate, featuring interviews with Sarah Kendzior, Glenn Greenwald, and Julian Assange.