Facebook is an online
social networking service headquartered in
Menlo Park, California. Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, by
Mark Zuckerberg with his
Harvard College roommates and fellow students
Eduardo Saverin,
Andrew McCollum,
Dustin Moskovitz and
Chris Hughes. The founders had initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the
Ivy League, and
Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to high-school students. Since 2006, anyone who is at least 13 years old was allowed to become a registered user of the website, though the age requirement may be higher depending on applicable local laws. Its name comes from the
face book directories often given to American university students.