Meet the Man Behind Your Favorite App "Mark Zuckerberg"

Today’s story is about a man who changed the form of communication as we used to know it. He created something out of nothing just for fun, and it turned his life around for the best. Allow me to introduce you to Mark Zuckerberg.

Who is Mark Zuckerberg?

Mark Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in White Blaise, New York into an educated family and grew up near the village of Doss Ferry. His parents were a dentist and a psychiatrist. Randy, Donna, and Ariel are his three siblings.

He was very fond of computers ever since he was a kid. He developed a messaging program that he called Zucknet using Atari Basic when he was only twelve years old.

His father used this software in his private clinic, where the receptionist could inform him of a new patient without having to shout the name for him to hear. Also, the rest of the family along with their friends used Zucknet to have better communication with each other.

Mark has created many things just with the intent of having fun. His father noticed that his son was a special kid, so he assigned Mark Newman as his private tutor. Later, Newman told reporters that it was difficult to remain superior to a genius like Mark.

Zuckerberg later studied at Phillips Academy, a preparatory school specializing in New Hampshire, and he showed a special talent in fencing and became the captain of the school team. He also excelled in literature and obtained a diploma in classical literature.

Later, Mark was able to create Synapse, which is an early version of Pandora, when he was still in high school. Many companies tried to express their interest in buying it from him and recruiting him, but he refused all of these offers. Those companies included AOL and Microsoft.

Mark’s Greatest Achievements:

After graduating from Phillips Extra in 2002, Zuckerberg attended Harvard University, and he had become a reputable player at IVY League by his second year. Additionally, he worked as a software developer on campus at that time, creating a program called Course Match that let students select their classes based on their fellow students' choices.

He also created Face mash, a program used to compare the photos of two students on campus and allow users to vote to see which of them is more attractive. As a result of deemed inappropriateness, the school administration closed this program after it became widespread.

Three fellow students approached him about creating a dating site for the Harvard elite. He agreed to assist, but he quickly retracted to work on his networking site with Dustin Moscow Fitz, Chris Hughes, and Edward Saverin. With the help of his friends, Zuckerberg created a site that allowed users to create their own accounts, upload photos, and interact with other members. As a result of Zuckerberg moving the company to Paulo Alto California in his second year of college, the group ran the first site called Facebook from the Harvard dorm room until June 2004. Facebook reached one million users by the end of 2004.

The Zuckerberg Foundation received a major boost from Accel Partners in 2005. At that time, Accel invested $12.7 million in the network, which was exclusive to IVY League students.

Zuckerberg's company opened up access to other colleges, high schools, and international schools, prompting the site's membership to grow significantly to 5.5 million Facebook users in December 2005.

Then the website began to gain the interest of companies wishing to use it for advertisement purposes. Mark rejected offers from companies, such as YAHOO and MTV, stating "not for sale". Instead, he focused on expanding the site and opening his project to outside developers to add more features.

Zuckerberg didn't seem to know where to go. He faced his first hurdle in 2006 when Harvard Communications claimed that Zuckerberg stole their idea and demanded payment for their business losses. Zuckerberg asserted that the ideas were based on two different types of social checks, but after lawyers searched Zuckerberg's record, they discovered incriminating messages, finding that Zuckerberg may have intentionally stolen the intellectual property of Harvard Communications.

Later, Zuckerberg apologized for the incriminating messages, saying, "You need to be mature if you want to create a service that people depend on, isn't that right?" Zuckerberg stated during an interview with the New York Times, "I think I've grown up and learned a lot."

Although an initial settlement of $65 million was reached between the parties, a legal dispute over the matter continued after Narend and Finklifusis claimed they had misled the value of their stock.

Zuckerberg faced another personal challenge in 2009 when the book "The Millionaire" was published by Ben Mezrich, which was highly critical of Zuckerberg and used innovative scenes, reimagined dialogues, and inserted fictional characters.

No matter how true the story was, Mezrich managed to sell the book rights to writer Aaron Sorkin. Also, the movie ‘The Social Network’, which was made based on that story, was critically acclaimed, and it was nominated eight times for an Academy Award.

Zuckerberg strongly objected to the movie and later told the New Yorker many details. For example, he had been dating a girl named Priscilla Chan for a long time, a Chinese-American medical student he had met at Harvard University since 2003.

He told a reporter at a press conference in early 2010: “It's interesting that they focus on some details like whatever shirt I'm wearing in that movie. In fact, I own a similar one.”

Despite criticism, Zuckerberg and Facebook continued to succeed, with Time naming him 2010's Person of the Year, and Vanity Fair ranking him at the top of the list of New Enterprise. With an estimated net worth of $6.9 billion, he topped Stephen Jones on Forbes' list of 400.

Zuckerberg has donated millions to fund a variety of humanitarian causes, and in 2010 Zuckerberg signed the Giving Pledge, which stipulates that at least 50% of his wealth will be donated to charities throughout his life. Among those who signed this pledge are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and George Lucas.

After his donation, Zuckerberg called on other young people and businessmen to follow his example, saying, "With so many successful young people in their businesses, there is a great opportunity in life to see the fruit of our charitable work."

Mark’s Personal Life:

Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. He hosted a party at his Palo Alto home for about 100 people. Instead of celebrating Chan's medical school graduation, the guests watched Chan and Zuckerberg exchange vows. In October 2015, Chan gave birth to their daughter, Max, and announced that he would take two months of paternity leave to spend with the family. Zuckerberg and his wife pledged in an open letter to their daughter that they would donate 99% of their Facebook shares to charity, saying, "We are committed to making this small part of building this world for all children." And they had their second child 5 years ago, and they named her August Chan Zuckerberg. The couple announced in September 2016 their CZT initiative that they have put their shares in Facebook and will invest at least $3 billion in scientific research over the next decade to help “cure and manage all harm in our children’s lives.” They also announced the creation of the "Chan Zuckerberg Bio-Hop", an independent research center based in San Francisco that will bring together engineers, computer scientists, biologists, chemists, and others in a scientific community. Bio-Hop will receive $600 million in seed funding over ten years to be shared by Stanford University, the University of California, San Francisco, and Berkeley.

Finally:

We should all learn from his dedication to giving back to people and remembering where he came from all while always working towards a better future for himself and for everyone around him.