Facebook 14th anniversary: CEO says mistakes were key to progress

Facebook, the global social networking platform, was started on February 4, 2004 by a 19-year-old student of Harvard University. Mark Zuckerberg, will years on become one of the most powerful persons in the world.

On the occasion of the 14th anniversary since he started Facebook in his university dormitory, the 33-year-old shared a message on his wall admitting mistakes made over the period and the need to continue to work to ensure a more connected world.

Facebook is currently headquartered in Menlo Park in the city of California. It has a series of subsidiaries to it, amongst others Oculus Virtual Reality, Pnavo, Whatsapp Incorporated, Atlas Solutions etc.

Below is the full text of Zuckerberg’s message

“Today is Facebook’s 14th birthday.

“It’s a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come from that dorm room at Harvard and how far we still have to go to bring the world closer together. And it’s a moment to think about what we need to do better.

“Sometimes people ask what I’ve learned along the way. I was 19 when I started Facebook, and I didn’t know anything about building a company or global internet service. Over the years I’ve made almost every mistake you can imagine.

“I’ve made dozens of technical errors and bad deals. I’ve trusted the wrong people and I’ve put talented people in the wrong roles. I’ve missed important trends and I’ve been slow to others. I’ve launched product after product that failed.

The reason our community exists today is not because we avoided mistakes. It’s because we believe what we’re doing matters enough to keep trying to solve our greatest challenges — knowing full well that we’ll fail again and again, but that it’s the only way to make progress.

“We are still early in this journey and we will keep working to improve. That focus has always been our strength, and that’s what this year is all about.

“Bringing us closer together with our family and friends matters, and 14 years in I’m proud of what we do and grateful to be a part of something so meaningful.

“It’s an honor to be on this journey with you.”