Oscar Morales, frustrated by FARC's mistreatment of Colombian citizens, created a Facebook group called "One Million Voices Against FARC" which gained thousands of members within days. This led to the creation of a massive "March Against FARC" Facebook event that saw over 10 million people protest in Colombia and 2 million more worldwide. This grassroots movement organized on Facebook helped weaken FARC and free hostages, showing the power of the "Facebook Effect" to mobilize people around common causes.

1. The Facebook Effect:
Chapters 1-4
By: Gina Rohn

2. Facebook: Creating a Revolution… Literally
Oscar Morales a regular everyday citizen of Barranquilla, Colombia was
on vacation and frustrated with what was happening in his county.
FARC the revolutionary armed forces were known for mistreating and
holding 700 Colombian hostages. Fed up with how FARC was treating
citizens he wondered what to do. Going to Facebook he searched
FARC, because Facebook was known for having a group for everything.
But he found nothing. No groups. No activism. No Outrage.
Morales had decided to take matters into his own hands and created a
group against FARC. He entitled it “One Million Voices Against FARC-
Un Millon de Voces Contra Las Farc”

3. Growth of “Un Millon de Voces Contra Las
FARC”
• He sent an invite before he went
to bed at 3am to his approx. 100
friends.
• By 9am 1,500 people had joined
• Late afternoon 4,000
• Approx. 2 days later 8,000

4. A “Revolution” was Born
Facebook Event, National March Against FARC was created.

5. FACEBOOK EVENT- MARCH AGAINST FARC
• On February 4th almost exactly a month after the Facebook group
formed the Facebook Event March Against FARC took place. About 10
million people marched against FARC in hundreds of cities in
Colombia.
• Almost 2 million more marched in cities across the world.
• Catching the attention of the Colombian President he was provided
with security and helped coordinate demonstration that was caught
national TV coverage.
• This helped lead to freeing of hostages, the weakening of FARC, and a
cause that is still alive and running today.

6. All of this started with an
ordinary citizen, in his bedroom,
with his computer, and…
FACEBOOK

7. Definition: FACEBOOK EFFECT
• The Facebook effect happens when the service puts people in touch
with each other, often unexpectedly, about common experience,
interest, problem, or cause.
• Can occur in a small or large scale- from a group of two or three
friends or a family or millions.
• Can be over serious gatherings such as Anti-FARC events, or
organization of a huge pillow fight.

8. Marc Zuckerbergs View of Facebook
• “We’re a utility, we are trying to
increase the efficiency through
which people can understand
their world. We’re not trying to
maximize the time spent on our
site. We’re trying to help people
have a good experience and get
the maximum amount out of
that time.”

9. Chapter One
Getting to know the Creator
• Mark Zuckerberg was a Harvard University student who in his
sophomore year in 2003 really began to create Facebook. Known for
his huge white board where he drew out his ideas. Lots of his ideas
were for services on the internet.
• Short, slender, and intense introvert- his classic uniform was baggy
jeans, rubber sandals, and a t-shirt with some clever picture or
phrase.

10. Chapter One
Previous Internet Ideas at Harvard
Course Smart
• Created for fun.
• Idea was to help students pick
classes based on who else was
taking them.
• You could click on a course, see
who was signed up, or click on a
person and see what classes
they were taking.
Facemash
• First look at his “rebellious side”.
• Purpose: figure out who was the
hottest on campus.
• He invited users to compare two
different faces of the same sex
and say who was hotter.

11. Chapter One
Creation of TheFacbook.com
• He went online Jan 2004 and
paid $35 for the web address
Thefacebook.com
• Ideas were borrowed from
Course Match, Facemash, and a
site called Friendster.
• This was an attempt to put
together a social site for Harvard
that officials kept promising but
never created.

12. Chapter Two
Facebook Begins Growing
• What started off as just available at Harvard, grew to all the ivy league
schools, and by the time Spring 2004 semester ended was available at
34 schools.
• That summer Marc decided to go out to Palo, California and rent a
house.
• Idea was the Palo Alto was a mythical place when all the techs come
from.
• Him and his friends would work that summer to expand Facebook.

13. Chapter Two
An Interesting Point
• What helped Facebook Grow
was the deliberate slow pace of
Thefacbook’s growth.
• They slowly added new campus,
watching the traffic surge, grow
and level off.
• If any issues occurred they
would wait before adding new
servers.

14. Chapter Two
Leaving Harvard
• During that summer they had
planned to launch to 70 new
colleges.
• Zuckerberg realized it would be a
big year for Facebook and he
wouldn’t return to Harvard.
• Several of his friends working on
the project went back to Harvard,
while others like Zuckerberg did
not.
• Almost all friends/co workers
regardless on school situation
stayed on with Facebook.

15. Chapter Three
Social Networking and the Internet
• The concepts of social networking are not new, and many of the
components of the early Facebook were originally pioneered by
others.
• Zuckerberg has been accused of stealing the ideas that created
Facebook several times.
• Fact is his service is a heir to ideas that have been evolving for forty
years.

16. Chapter Three
Engineers of the Internet
The idea of Facebook was envisioned by engineers who laid the
groundwork for the Internet. In a 11968 essay titled “The Computer as
Communication Device,” the authors asked “what will online interactive
communication look like.
The idea crept toward the concept of social networking when it said,
“You will not send a letter or a telegram: you will simply identify the
people whose files should be linked towards yours”.

17. CHAPTER THREE
Expansion of Social Networking
• Social networking has now
expanded to the entire planet.
• With the release of Facebook
becoming available to everyone
to join, not just those with .edu
email addresses it has become
the worlds largest social media
network.
• It is the rare student who does
not routinely check Facebook.

18. CHAPTER FOUR
FALL 2004
“Look at the world around you. With the slightest push-in just the right
place- it can be tipped.”
In the fall of 2004 TheFacebook was in serious crisis. Membership
doubled from 100,000 to 200,000. Good because membership was
up, and back because their severs just couldn’t handle it. Service
became unsable.
Between this and inner company tension, things were very unstable.

19. CHAPTER FOUR
FALL 2004
• Facebook still wasn’t available to
all schools.
• People were sending letters
candy, flowers, or even showed
up begging.
• But funds were limited and
servers were a serious problem.

20. CHAPTER FOUR
FACBOOK MEETS LINKED IN
2004 people were wondering if all
social networking would converge
into one big network. Linkedin
founder Reid Hoffman didn’t
believe so.
Regardless Hoffman didn’t want
to invest in Facebook believing it
would lead to a conflict of
interest, but would introduce
them to other key players.