---
title: "Which came first, Facebook or Netflix?"
description: "Facebook vs Netflix: Netflix came first, by 7 years — 1997 against 2004. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/facebook-vs-netflix/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Facebook or Netflix?

**Which came first, Facebook or Netflix?: Netflix**

1997 — 7 years before Facebook

Netflix came first, by 7 years. Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded a DVD rental-by-post company.

## Side by side

|  | Facebook | Netflix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 2004 | 1997 |
| Date | 2004-02-04 | 1997-08-29 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only. | Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded a DVD rental-by-post company. |

## Facebook

Facebook launched on 4 February 2004 restricted to Harvard email addresses, opened to other universities through 2004 and 2005, and to anyone over 13 with an email address in September 2006. It is six years younger than Google and a year older than YouTube. Its predecessor Facemash, which compared students' photographs, was shut down by the university within days in 2003.

## Netflix

Netflix was founded in August 1997, a year before Google, and posted DVDs for a decade before streaming launched in January 2007. The famous origin story — Hastings founding it after a $40 late fee on Apollo 13 — has been called a useful myth by co-founder Marc Randolph. Blockbuster declined to buy the company for $50 million in 2000.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Facebook or Netflix?

Netflix, by 7 years — 1997 against 2004.

### When did Facebook start?

2004. TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only.

### When did Netflix start?

1997. Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded a DVD rental-by-post company.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]