History: Mark Elliot Zuckerberg - Essay Example

History Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is the cofounder of Facebook, a social networking site and among the wealthiest businessperson globally. In the book Boy Kings, Losse talks fondy of facebook from its inception to the big organization it currently is (6). With a net worth of $24 billion, Zuckerberg is definitely among the richest men on earth. He is a computer programmer and an internet investor. He currently serves as the chief executive of Facebook Inc. a business that has a global outreach. Besides his creativity and inventions that enhanced his growth to financial stability, Mark Zuckerberg is a philanthropist who runs several donor foundations globally. He currently earns a salary of $ 1 per month in a show of his philanthropy thereby investing the rest in numerous donor foundations. His success story begins back in his college days where he teamed up with a group of colleagues to create numerous computer programs and software applications. The journey to stardom as a social network entrepreneur has encountered myriad challenges most of which he overcame successfully thereby becoming the leading entrepreneur in the industry. Mark Zuckerberg had an average childhood just as most American children. He was born in White Plains, New York in 1984. While he currently bears no religious inclination, he was born a Jew with his conferment in the religion occurring while he was thirteen. He attended Ardsley High School alongside his other siblings namely Randi, Donna and Arielle. At school, Zuckerberg excelled in classical studies. Additionally, he had exemplary performance in physics, astronomy and math. Besides his exemplary in academics, Zuckerberg portrayed leadership and sports ability factors that influenced his selection to serve as the captain of the schools fencing team. He graduated from high school and applied to Harvard where he would later develop his career in software development. Zuckerberg ventured into software development early in life while in middle school. In the 1990s for example, his father, Edward Zuckerberg began teaching him different programming languages. He perfected in Atari BASIC programming. His father later hired David Newman to tutor him thereby growing his interest and skills in software development. Owing to his immense interest in computer programming and software development, Zuckerberg performed exemplarily with Newman calling him a prodigy in software development. Among his early success in the practice while still in middle school was a program he name “ZackNet”. He developed the program to enhance his father’s dentistry business by connecting different computers in the house. This way, he enhanced his father’s work enabling him to access different databases from a central point. Zuckerberg is an outgoing individual who has had several friends thorough his life. As a teenager, he explains that some of his friends would draw while he would transform their drawings into computer games. He shared ideas with his friend a feature that helped grow both his intelligence and interest in software development. Additionally, the outgoing attitude has proven an instrumental trait that enhanced his success in both software development and entrepreneurship. He maintained a group of friends who would always motivate him as they shared ideas (Vargas 02). However, his involvement with the friends especially in college would later prove a major challenge for his online business empire as some of the friends petitioned him for a stake in his business sighting their own input in the development of such programs. Overcoming such challenges proved him an intuitive individual who did not only help grow the intelligence in others nut also mastered the art of developing successful businesses despite the numerous challenges that the industry offers. Zuckerberg joined Harvard later in life but at the time, he had already developed a reputation for himself in software development. At the college, Zuckerberg studied computer programming and psychology two courses that proved fundamental in the development of both his career in software development and intuitive personality who managed to maintain successful social circles around him. His zeal for program development motivated him to develop a program he named Course Match while in his sophomore year. The college adopted program that facilitated course selection as it enabled both students and lecturers to select classes based on the decision of other students. Additionally, the program enhanced studies since it facilitated the selection and formation of effective study groups. Within the same year, Zuckerberg developed a program that would later form basis for Facebook. The program he named Facemash would help students select the best-looking student by comparing student photos. While he developed the program for fun, the students appreciated the development thereby motivating him to further the program. The Facemash program became a spontaneous success in the college with the students appreciating it within its first two days. By its third day, the college administration shut down the site owing to the fact that it was deterring concentration in studies. Apparently, students had concentrated on the site thereby jamming other major college network switches. Additionally, some of the students complained that they did not sanction the use of their photos on the network that was fast becoming popular. The nature of the site worked against it since it sought to compare the physical features of the students. This gave a conducive environment for complains as students began complaining that they did not permit the use of their photographs on the site. The college thus had a valid reason shutting the site thus thwarting Zuckerberg’s ideas. However, the creative Zuckerberg did not lose hope and instead concentrated on developing an appropriate program that would not interfere with the college’s network. Zuckerberg began working on a new set of codes for a program that he believed would revolutionize the world in the following semester at college. On February 4th 2004, Zuckerberg launched a network he named TheFacebook. Just as was the case with Facemash, TheFacebook became a spontaneous success with student throughout the campus adopting the social network. However, Zuckerberg faced his first legal challenge soon after he launched the network as a group of his colleagues accused him of misleading them. Divya Narendra, Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss claimed that Zuckerberg had deceived them into believing that thy were working on and would launch a network known as Harvardconnection.com while he was in deed using them to foster his own self-interest. The Harvard Crimson launched an investigation on the case thereby reaching an amicable solution. Zuckerberg supplanted one and a half million shares of Facebook on its initial public offer amounting to a total of three hundred million US dollars. After settling the case, Zuckerberg dropped out of the college while still in his sophomore years to advance his business ambitions. Zuckerberg fisrt launched Facebook in Harvard with the concept remaining a Harvard affair. The students appreciated the idea thereby owing the network. However, the growing demand compelled Zuckerberg to launch the network in neighboring collages. He sought the help of his roommate, Dustin Moskovitz to market the networking in neighboring colleges within New York. Progressively the idea marketed itself thereby becoming a global household name as it is today. Zuckerberg has thus portrayed creativity and business prowess beginning from the word of mouth advert as he spread the news on his new project to collaborating with smart phones manufacturer as he targeted the mobile telephony, which was an equally developing notion globally. The incorporation of the Facebook application on smart phones coupled with the global appreciation of the network, Zuckerberg enjoyed immense success as he sought to consolidate his online business empire. Progressively, Facebook has become the market leader in the social network industry pioneering the development of other competing networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram among many others. While the development of the market portrayed the growth of technology globally, it also portrayed Zuckerberg management intuitions. Zuckerberg developed his business empire progressively often consolidating and improving particular features of Facebook in order to accommodate the growing demand for the applications. Currently, mobile phone manufacturers ensure that they include Facebook apps and use the presence of such application to market. This portrays Zuckerberg’s success in software development. To make legitimate earnings from the network, Zuckerberg subsequently introduced social media marketing. Facebook currently runs billions of adverts with entrepreneurs globally appreciating the use of such personal media in marketing their products and services. The mainstream media including films and literatures besides numerous news articles in the leading media houses have appreciated the media thereby fostering the growth of the social networks. Through mobile telephony, such social networks as Facebook have become household names with Facebook enjoying more than two billion users globally. This further makes the platform an effective marketing platform for entrepreneurs who use such sites to market their products. Additionally, through the personal interactions that Facebook creates, marketers successfully use the media in carrying out effective market researches. While such media have fostered the growth of Facebook, Zuckerberg has also carried out parallel campaigns consolidating ideas that he feels are viable as a way of growing his business empire. In 2014 for example, Facebook purchased Wattsap an online chat service. With the new business, Facebook sought to increase its market share by increasing its chart services through the online platform. In a summary, Zuckerberg’s life portrays a dedicated individual who has lived his dream to develop a brand that is a market leader. Just as he had sought, his product, Facebook, revolutionized the world, as the product is currently a global household name enjoying close to three billion users globally. This way, the product has become a fundamental feature of the contemporary society intensifying global interactions thereby contributing to the development of a global village. However, just as the discussion above portrays, the journey to success has faced myriad challenges with Zuckerberg meeting both technical and social challenges. He successfully overcame such challenges. Among the challenges he faced included court cases and intense competition from similar products that currently infiltrate the market he developed single handedly. Overcoming such challenges including the court cases, which he solved amicably, makes Zuckerberg an effective businessperson. Work cited Losse, Katherine. The Boy Kings: A Journey Into the Heart of the Social Network. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012. Print. Vargas, Jose A. "The Face of Facebook". The New Yorker. September 20, 2010. Print. Read More