2013 IN REVIEW: Facebook Strenghtens Domination of Social Media
By Melony Roy
MENLO PARK, Calif. (CBS) -- Facebook continued its reign during 2013 at the biggest social network in the world, but not without some hiccups.
The site started the year with a big announcement from founder Mark Zuckerberg:
"Today, we're finally going to talk about that Facebook phone."
Long anticipated, it was but not part of most conversations by year's end.
Facebook also added Twitter-style hashtags, graph search, and chat heads.
There was some debate about whether Facebook had a teen problem when its CFO admitted during an earnings call that daily use among some teens may be declining.
But what was popular with teen this year is the Facebook-owned photo sharing app Instagram, which hit some major milestones in 2013.
First, Instagram tried to cut Twitter's Vine, with an announcement from Instagram founder Kevin Systrom:
"I'd like to introduce video on Instagram."
The network also posted its first advertisements, and after parent company Facebook's billion-dollar offer to the rapidly growing messaging service Snapchat, Instagram then debuted its own private messaging feature.
(Systrom:) "Today I'd like to introduce Instagram Direct, a simple way to send photos and videos to your friends."
Instagram has over 150 million users sharing more than 55 million pictures every day.
Facebook -- under the microscope on Wall Street to develop more revenue -- will end the year on a high note with the recent launch of video ads. The stock has risen from the ashes and joined the S&P in December.
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