Facebook has hit 500 million users and is easily the most popular social network in the world, so here’s a timely timeline of how it grew from a glint in founder Mark Zuckerberg’s eye to a global internet behemoth.

Thefacebook’s home page on February 12 2004: Old skool, or what?

It’s hard to imagine life without Facebook now. Lags on the run use it to taunt the police, thousands of people upload embarrassing holiday photos every day, workers rile their bosses with ill-advised status updates about how they find their jobs boring, YouTube videos are shared, charity runs advertised, exes stalked and house parties foolishly advertised to all.

And this is how it all came about:

October 28, 2003: Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg puts Facemash online, the prototype to Facebook. It was a bit like the hot or not website, but for Harvard students.

February 4, 2004: Zuckerberg sets Facebook ‘live’. In just 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had set up a profile. Within just one month, over half the undergraduate population had one. Clearly, Zuckerberg was on to something.

March 2004: Facebook expands from Harvard to Standford University, Columbia University and Yale University.

2005: ‘The’ is removed from the domain name after the domain for ‘facebook.com’ was bought for $200,000.

September 2005: A high school version goes online.

March 2006: Facebook is valued at $2billion.

September 2006: Facebook is unleashed to the world. Well, as long as you’re over 13 and have a valid email address.

May 2007: The author of this article joined Facebook, and in the same year, so did Labour’s David Miliband, DJ Jo Whiley, heart-throb actor Orlando Bloom and controversial artist Tracey Emin.

October 24, 2007: Microsoft grabs a 1.6 per cent share of Facebook for $240 million, and puts the value of Facebook at a staggering $15billion. And remember, it only launched three years previously.

September 2009: Facebook announces that it has finally made a profit.

July 2010: Facebook announces that it has 500 million users, or eight per cent of the world’s population.

PS :  A big Thanks for sharing this with me to Rifckan!

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit … and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or evenshattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life.

How?

• Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

• Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

• Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

• Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

• Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

• Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.

• Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be pave.

• Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!

• Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

• Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

• Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

• Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way…

–Brian G. Dyson

President and CEO, Coca-Cola Enterprises during his speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address Sept. 6, 1996

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,

Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a
unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor,   as the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things – family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your
life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else –The small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’  He continued,
there is no room for  the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.
So…

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner..

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal..

‘Take care of the golf balls first –
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,

Please share this with other “Golf Balls”
I just did……

PS :  A big Thanks for sharing this with me to Duminda Ayya!

I have learnt things from Bhathiya Jayakody,the legendary figure bns.

I have seen him in school uniform with the golden Ananda Crest Badge,
then I have seen him in a scout uniform,I have seen him playing the piano
in the western music room,and many more times as an old anandian.

All this time I just had one word to describe him,
“inspirational”.

Once when I was attending the Leadership Training Camp in Year 2001,to become a Prefect of Ananda College,he was there for a group discussion as an old prefect.I was lucky enough to be a member of his group and he had so many things to say to us.
I just felt like sharing some of the things he has told us.

* whenever you feel that, you are the better person at the job, you’re the one that deserves the position,
you’re the one that has done the hard work and you’re the one who’s simply not getting the deserved position….
go back and analyze the situation and the see what was lagging.

it might be the thing simply you don’t have and someone has.
try to achieve it if you can,if it’s unachievable learn to bear with the situation.
for arjuna ranatunga it was the english language and for me it was the stammer.

* the three simple letters ” F-I-T ” එක ,is the one that will eat up a person.
the bond between you and another colleague will create barriers for you to do your duty properly and will result in a harmful manner to you.

* whenever you have done a duty at any position, stay there for 5min for chit-chat, then go-home or leave the place and engage yourself in a productive work.

* learn how to market yourself. it ain’t always commercial.

we ain’t gonna always sing till we die.
we will release some albums, and there will be an end for us and end of demand.At that time we won’t continue singing.at that time we shall be producers,guest artists and record label holders.
Sunil Perera has already given the right of some of his songs to us and we’re are planning to work with them.
Learn about the future trends and be ready for the future.

* Before you get something from somebody,you might have to give away a hell of a load of things.

We remember how we went to sirasa studio to give out our first cd to the be played on the radio.
We had to wait around 6-7 hrs late from the appointment time,
just to meet the right person.
Now sirasa is waiting in our appointment list,waiting for us to do their jingles.
thats just the way it is!

Thanks for sharing your wisdom Ayya!
Anandaye Saranai!

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