Type of site | Social network service |
---|---|
Founded | December 2002 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Founder(s) | Cameron Winklevoss Tyler Winklevoss Divya Narendra |
Products | ConnectU.com, i2hub.com, Jungalu.com, StallScribbles.com, Digital Flyers, ConnectHi (theyearbook.org), ConnectGroups, The Winklevoss Chang Group Representative Program, The Rep Center, Social Butterfly |
Registration | Required |
Launched | May 21, 2004 (as HarvardConnection) |
Current status | Defunct |
ConnectU (originally HarvardConnection) was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004, [1] that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. [2] Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. [3] Users were placed in networks based upon the domain name associated with the email address they used for registration. [4]
In December 2002, Harvard students and friends Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra wanted a better way to connect with fellow students at Harvard and other universities. [5] As a result, the three conceived of a social network for Harvard students named HarvardConnection, [2] which was to expand to other schools around the country. [6] [7] [8] In January 2003, they enlisted the help of fellow Harvard student, programmer and friend Sanjay Mavinkurve to begin building HarvardConnection. [4] Sanjay commenced work on HarvardConnection but left the project in the spring of 2003 when he graduated and went to work for Google. [9]
After the departure of Sanjay Mavinkurve, the Winklevosses and Narendra approached Narendra's friend, Harvard student and programmer Victor Gao to work on HarvardConnection. [4] Gao, a senior in Mather House, had opted not to become a full partner in the venture, instead agreeing to be paid in a work for hire capacity on a rolling basis. [8] He was paid $400 for his work on the website code during the second half of 2003, then excused himself thereafter due to personal obligations. [7]
In November 2003, upon the referral of Victor Gao, the Winklevosses and Narendra approached Mark Zuckerberg about joining the HarvardConnection team. [10] By this point, the previous HarvardConnection programmers had already made progress on a large amount of the coding: front-end pages, the registration system, a database, back-end coding, and a way users could connect with each other, which Gao called a "handshake". In early November, Narendra emailed Zuckerberg saying, "We're very deep into developing a site which we would like you to be a part of and ... which we know will make some waves on campus." Within days, Zuckerberg was talking to the HarvardConnection team and preparing to take over programming duties from Gao. [8]
On the evening of November 25, 2003, [11] the Winklevosses and Narendra met with Zuckerberg in the dining hall of Harvard's Kirkland House, where they explained to Zuckerberg the HarvardConnection website, the plan to expand to other schools after launch, the confidential nature of the project, and the importance of getting there first. [6] [8] During the meeting, Zuckerberg allegedly entered into an oral contract with Narendra and the Winklevosses and became a partner in HarvardConnection. [1] He was given the private server location and password for the unfinished HarvardConnection website and code, [7] with the understanding that he would finish the programming necessary for launch. [1] Zuckerberg allegedly chose to be compensated in the form of sweat equity. [12] [13]
On November 30, 2003, Zuckerberg told Cameron Winklevoss in an email that he did not expect completion of the project to be difficult. Zuckerberg wrote: "I read over all the stuff you sent and it seems like it shouldn't take too long to implement, so we can talk about that after I get all the basic functionality up tomorrow night." [10] The next day, on December 1, 2003, Zuckerberg sent another email to the HarvardConnection team. "I put together one of the two registration pages so I have everything working on my system now. I'll keep you posted as I patch stuff up and it starts to become completely functional." On December 4, 2003, Zuckerberg writes: "Sorry I was unreachable tonight. I just got about three of your missed calls. I was working on a problem set."
On December 10, 2003: "The week has been pretty busy thus far, so I haven't gotten a chance to do much work on the site or even think about it really, so I think it's probably best to postpone meeting until we have more to discuss. I'm also really busy tomorrow so I don't think I'd be able to meet then anyway." A week later: "Sorry I have not been reachable for the past few days. I've basically been in the lab the whole time working on a cs problem set which I'm still not finished with." [6] On December 17, 2003, [11] Zuckerberg met with the Winklevosses and Narendra in his dorm room, allegedly confirming his interest and assuring them that the site was almost complete. On the whiteboard in his room, Zuckerberg allegedly had scrawled multiple lines of code under the heading "Harvard Connection," and this would be the only time they saw any of his work. [8]
On January 8, 2004, Zuckerberg emailed to say he was "completely swamped with work [that] week" but had "made some of the changes ... and they seem[ed] to be working great" on his computer. He said he could discuss the site starting the following Tuesday, on January 13, 2004. [10] [14] On January 11, 2004, Zuckerberg registered the domain name thefacebook.com. On January 12, 2004, Zuckerberg e-mailed Eduardo Saverin, saying that the site thefacebook.com was almost complete and that they should discuss marketing strategies. [8] Two days later, on January 14, 2004, [11] Zuckerberg met again with the HarvardConnection team; he never mentioned registering the domain name thefacebook.com nor a competing social networking website, rather he reported progress on HarvardConnection, told them he would continue to work on it, and would email the group later in the week. [10] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, a social network for Harvard students, designed to expand to other schools around the country. [1]
On February 6, 2004, the Winklevosses and Narendra first learned of thefacebook.com while reading a press release in the Harvard student newspaper The Harvard Crimson . [8] According to Gao, who looked at the HarvardConnection code afterward, Zuckerberg had left the HarvardConnection code incomplete and non-functional, with a registration that did not connect with the back-end connections. [4] On February 10, 2004, the Winklevosses and Narendra sent Zuckerberg a cease and desist letter. [15] They also asked the Harvard administration to act on what they viewed as a violation of the university's honor code and student handbook. [16] They lodged a complaint with the Harvard Administrative Board and university president Larry Summers, but both viewed the matter to be outside of the university's jurisdiction. [17] President Summers advised the HarvardConnection team to take their matter to the courts. [14]
The About section of the ConnectU website included this sentence, which was live on December 4, 2004: "We've cycled through several programmers, even one who stole our ideas to create a competing site, without informing us of his intentions." [18]
Between November 29, 2003, and February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg exchanged a total of 52 emails with the HarvardConnection team and engaged in several in-person meetings. [14] In this period, Zuckerberg engaged in multiple electronic instant message communications with people outside of the HarvardConnection team. On March 5, 2010, certain electronic instant messages from Mark Zuckerberg's hard drive were leaked. [6] On September 20, 2010, Facebook confirmed the authenticity of these leaked instant messages in a New Yorker article. [19]
A partnership allegedly formed between i2hub, a popular peer-to-peer service at the time, and ConnectU (HarvardConnection). The partnership, called The Winklevoss Chang Group, jointly advertised their properties through bus advertisements as well as public press releases. i2hub integrated its popular software with ConnectU's website, as part of the partnership. The team also jointly launched several projects and initiatives, including: [20] [21]
In 2004, ConnectU filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that creator Mark Zuckerberg had breached an oral contract to develop ConnectU and used their source code and idea to create TheFacebook.com. [22] The suit alleged that Zuckerberg had copied their idea [23] [24] and illegally used source code intended for the website he was hired to create. [25] [26] [27] [28] Facebook countersued in regard to Social Butterfly, a project put out by The Winklevoss Chang Group. It named among the defendants ConnectU, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Divya Narendra, and Wayne Chang, founder of i2hub. [29] A settlement agreement for both cases was reached in February 2008, reportedly valued at $65 million. This included buying the domain name ConnectU.com and shutting it down. [30] In May 2010, it was reported that ConnectU was accusing Facebook of securities fraud on the value of the stock that was part of the settlement and wanted to get the settlement undone. According to ConnectU's allegations, the stock was worth $11 million instead of $45 million that Facebook presented at the time of settlement. This meant the settlement value, at the time, was $31 million, instead of the $65 million. [31] [32] On August 26, 2010, The New York Times reported that Facebook shares were trading at $76 per share in the secondary market, putting the total settlement value at close to $120 million. [33] [34] If the lawsuit adjusted the settlement to match the difference, the value would quadruple to over $466 million. [35]
In May 2011, after the Court of Appeals found against the Winklevosses, the twins announced that they would petition the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case. In June 2011 the Winklevosses, in a filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said that "after careful consideration," they would not file their petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. [36] In a new filing, the Winklevoss brothers and their business partner Divya Narendra asked the judge to investigate whether Facebook "intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence." [37]
One of ConnectU's law firms, Quinn Emanuel, disclosed the confidential settlement amount in marketing material by printing "WON $65 million settlement against Facebook". [38] Quinn Emanuel sought $13 million of the settlement as part of a contingency agreement. ConnectU fired Quinn Emanuel and sued the law firm for malpractice. [39] On August 25, 2010, an arbitration panel ruled that Quinn Emanuel "earned its full contingency fee". It also found that Quinn Emanuel committed no malpractice. [40]
On December 21, 2009, i2hub founder Wayne Chang and The i2hub Organization launched a lawsuit against ConnectU and its founders, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, seeking 50% of the settlement. The complaint says "The Winklevosses and Howard Winklevoss filed [a] patent application, U.S. Patent Application No 20060212395, on or around March 15, 2005, but did not list Chang as a co-inventor." [41] It also states "Through this litigation, Chang asserts his ownership interest in The Winklevoss Chang Group and ConnectU, including the settlement proceeds." [21] Lee Gesmer (of law firm Gesmer Updegrove, LLP) posted the 33-page complaint online. [20] [42]
On May 13, 2011, it was reported that Judge Peter Lauriat had made a ruling against the Winklevosses. Chang's case against them could proceed. The Winklevosses argued that the court lacked jurisdiction because the settlement with Facebook had not been distributed and therefore Chang had not suffered any injury. Judge Lauriat wrote, "The flaw in this argument is that defendants appear to conflate loss of the settlement proceed with a loss of rights. Chang alleges that he has received nothing in return for the substantial benefits he provided to ConnectU, including the value of his work, as well as i2hub's users and goodwill." Lauriat also wrote that, although Chang's claims to the settlement are "too speculative to confer standing, his claims with respect to ownership in ConnectU are not. They constitute an injury separate and distinct from his possible share of the settlement proceeds. The court concludes that Chang has pled sufficient facts to confer standing with respect to his claims against the Winklevoss defendants." [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48]
On December 24, 2014, summary judgment in favor of the Winklevosses was granted. Chang's suit sought a portion of the settlement via two independent arguments. The first, that he formed a partnership with the Winklevosses, was dismissed based on a May 25, 2005 chat, where the partnership was dissolved. The second, a memorandum of understanding granting him the option to acquire a fifteen percent stake in ConnectU, was ruled a contract claim against ConnectU, the corporation, not the Winklevosses, former shareholders. [49]
The story of the relationship between ConnectU and Facebook is depicted in The Social Network , a film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich.
i2hub was a peer-to-peer file sharing service and program designed and intended primarily for use by university and college students.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP is an American white shoe law firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm employs approximately 1,000 attorneys throughout 35 offices around the world.
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms, of which he is the chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling shareholder. Zuckerberg has been the subject of multiple lawsuits regarding the creation and ownership of the website as well as issues such as user privacy.
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by American technology conglomerate Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name derives from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities. Since 2006, Facebook allows everyone to register from 13 years old, except in the case of a handful of nations, where the age limit is 14 years. As of December 2022, Facebook claimed almost 3 billion monthly active users. As of October 2023, Facebook ranked as the third-most-visited website in the world, with 22.56% of its traffic coming from the United States. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.
Beacon formed part of Facebook's advertisement system that sent data from external websites to Facebook, for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements and allowing users to share their activities with their friends. Beacon reported to Facebook on Facebook's members' activities on third-party sites that also participated with Beacon. These activities were published in users' News Feed. This occurred even when users were not connected to Facebook, and happened without the knowledge of the Facebook user. The service was controversial and became the target of a class-action lawsuit, resulting in it shutting down in September 2009. One of the main concerns was that Beacon did not give the user the option to block the information from being sent to Facebook. Beacon was launched on November 6, 2007, with 44 partner websites. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, characterized Beacon on the Facebook Blog in November 2011 as a "mistake." Although Beacon was unsuccessful, it did pave the way for Facebook Connect, which has become widely popular.
Dustin Aaron Moskovitz is an American billionaire internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left Facebook to co-found Asana with Justin Rosenstein. In March 2011, Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, on the basis of his then 2.34% share in Facebook. As of June 2024, his net worth is estimated at US$23 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Tyler Howard Winklevoss is an American investor, founder of Winklevoss Capital Management and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, and former Olympic rower. Winklevoss co-founded HarvardConnection along with his brother Cameron Winklevoss and a Harvard classmate of theirs, Divya Narendra. In 2004, the Winklevoss brothers sued Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their ConnectU idea to create the social networking service site Facebook. As a rower, Winklevoss competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Summer Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner, Cameron.
Cameron Howard Winklevoss is an American cryptocurrency investor, former Olympic rower, and cofounder of Winklevoss Capital Management and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Summer Olympics with his rowing partner and identical twin brother, Tyler Winklevoss. Winklevoss and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection along with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra. In 2004, the Winklevoss twins sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, claiming he stole their ConnectU idea to create the social networking site Facebook. In addition to ConnectU, Winklevoss also co-founded the social media website Guest of a Guest with Rachelle Hruska.
Eduardo Luiz Saverin is a Brazilian billionaire entrepreneur and angel investor, known for having co-founded Facebook. In 2012, he owned about 2% of Facebook shares, valued at approximately $2 billion at the time. Based in Singapore, he is the co-founder and co-CEO of the venture capital firm B Capital, and has also invested in early-stage startups such as Qwiki and Jumio. The richest Brazilian, with an estimated net worth of US$31.7 billion as of October 2024, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is the 56th richest individual in the world.
The Social Network is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. It portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, Armie Hammer as Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Max Minghella as Divya Narendra. Neither Zuckerberg nor any other Facebook staff were involved with the project, although Saverin was a consultant for Mezrich's book.
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal is a 2009 book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook, adapted by Aaron Sorkin for the 2010 film The Social Network. Co-founder Eduardo Saverin served as Mezrich's main consultant, although he declined to speak with him while the book was being researched. After Zuckerberg and Saverin settled their lawsuit, Saverin broke off contact with the author.
Facebook is a social networking service originally launched as Facemash in 2003. It became TheFacebook on February 4, 2004, before changing its name to simply Facebook in August 2005. Facebook was rebranded to Meta on October 28, 2021 during the Connect 2021.
Divya Narendra is an American businessman. He is the CEO and co-founder of SumZero along with Harvard classmate Aalap Mahadevia. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard University classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.
Wayne Chang is an American entrepreneur, angel investor, film producer, and philanthropist. He is best known for founding Crashlytics, a startup acquired by Twitter in 2013. He is also known for creating a filesharing network called i2hub, making various seed investments, and his lawsuit against the Winklevoss brothers.
"To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap" is the series finale of the American police procedural television drama series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It is the eighth episode of the tenth season and the 195th episode overall. It originally aired in the United States on the USA Network on June 26, 2011. In this episode, Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames investigate a case centered on Parker and Thomas Gaffney, a set of wealthy twins, who file a lawsuit against a social networking site due to allegations of stealing copyright claims.
"The D'oh-cial Network" is the eleventh episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 15, 2012. In the episode, Lisa is sad that she has no real friends. She discovers that it is easier to make friends on the Internet and therefore creates a social networking website called SpringFace. It becomes incredibly popular in Springfield and Lisa gets many online friends. However, they still ignore her in real life, and the website starts to cause trouble in the town when people use it while driving and cause accidents. Lisa is put on trial and the court orders her to close down SpringFace.
SumZero is an online community for professional investors, which hosts investment research, job opportunities, and capital introduction services. Buyside professionals are granted membership per an application, where they must be on the research team at a hedge fund, mutual fund, private equity fund, or investment banking proprietary trading desk. SumZero is a closed, application-based community, which currently has over 16,000 buyside members and over 60,000 'Basic' users. Roughly 75% of buyside applicants for membership are rejected. Members gain access to SumZero's Research platform and approximately 12,000 long-form theses on publicly traded securities. SumZero's ancillary products include Cap Intro and Job Vault.
Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) is an American cryptocurrency exchange and custodian bank. It was founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
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Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption is a 2019 book by Ben Mezrich. A sequel to The Accidental Billionaires, the book traces Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss' journey into the world of cryptocurrency, investing in bitcoin and encountering early adopters Charlie Shrem, Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees, Naval Ravikant and Dan Kaminsky, in the face of mounting scrutiny from government regulators and the financial establishment.