The Rice University Neologisms Database

to contact someone via TheFacebook.com; to participate in any activity via TheFacebook.com As the age of computer technology flourished and online communication became increasingly popular. In February of 2004, three Harvard University sophomores, Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz, developed a website as the online version of campus-wide books filled with pictures and information of freshman. They called this website “TheFacebook.com” or “facebook.com.” The website became a nationwide frenzy with over four million users within one year of its creation. As more and more college students began to use the website, the term facebook was coined as a verb meaning, to contact via TheFacebook.com. The website included features such as messaging, “poking,” “wall” signing, and picture albums. As the website grew, the term facebook was further developed to mean any activity performed via the TheFacebook.com. Please note that this term can also be represented as a proper noun, Facebook, denoting the actual website. The suffix –ing also denotes the verb form.