This made me smile. Happy birthday, Facebook 🎉🎂😊.

A teenage boy Mark calls three of his friends to his room one day at Harvard to discuss Facebook. Only two showed up, they discussed the future of FB and both are billionaires now along with Mark. Happy 16th birthday Facebook.

When I started building the website I never imagined it would grow to connect billions of people. I thought something like this needed to get built for the world, but I figured someone else would do it. But we believed more deeply in the power of connecting people, so we kept pushing ahead when others doubted.

I've learned a lot since 2004. The last few years in particular have been very humbling. One of the most important lessons I've learned is to always stand up for your principles, even when they're unpopular or out of fashion.

We believe progress happens when you give people a voice and bring people together. That's what we stand for. We know there will also be issues when you give more people a voice and new ways to connect, and we'll keep working to address them. But we believe in empowering people, because at the end of the day, we believe in people.

These basic ideas have guided us for the last 16 years and they will continue to guide us for a long time to come.

Thank you for being part of this community.