Happy 10th Birthday, Facebook!

It's hard to believe that any sort of social media is 10 years old. I remember first signing up for Facebook. It was during the days that you had to have a .edu email address. The summer before I went off to college I waited eagerly for that letter in the mail giving me the key to open the door to my Facebook profile.

According to my timeline, I signed up for Facebook on July 6, 2006.

I immediately added a photo album of my best friends and I at prom. Those were the days you could only have 60 photos per album. Once you surpassed that number, you'd name your next album "Prom 2" or "More Prom".

Your profile consisted of lists of your interest. No status yet, the wall was coming any day.

I remember the day the newsfeed launched. I was a freshman at Marietta and one of my soccer teammates had changed her relationship status the night before. She didn't want anyone to know because it was such a new relationship. This wouldn't matter except that the next morning a newsfeed shouted "in a relationship" to all of her Facebook friends. She cried. Today, our Facebook savviness would have cooly prevented such "public" embarrassment. 

There were always updates, too. Your friends would have different theories about how to prolong keeping the 'old version'. But inevitably, everyone's page would change.

And then there was the age of bumper stickers. Spending hours finding the best one for your best friend. Nostalgia.

The status bar came with that annoying "is". "Erica Rath is going to the gym." And you would have the annoying friend would write "Jim Bob is is going to the big game." Then after groups and groups of petitioning, Facebook dropped the "is". But some people didn't get it, so they'd write "Jim Bob going to the movies." I can now fully appreciate what the status bar is today.

Then commenting was started. Now, instead of having to go back and forth between your friends' "walls" to see what they were talking about, you could just read the comments. I have no idea what this April 2007 conversation with Michelle is about. So sad.

At one point, all of your personal info was listed at the top of your profile above your status bar. Then there was the invention of the news ticker, Facebook chat (which single handedly killed of AIM and every other instant messaging system), the timeline. Also, remember that weird box that used to be below your profile picture?

Now we have this. And I'm only taking a screen shot so we can see how much has changed in 10 more years. 

Love it or hate it, Facebook is a brilliant thing that has adapted to change in order to thrive. What is your favorite phase of the 10 years of Facebook?