---
title: "Which came first, Facebook or TikTok?"
description: "Facebook vs TikTok: Facebook came first, by 12 years — 2004 against 2016. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/facebook-vs-tiktok/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Facebook or TikTok?

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

2004 — 12 years before TikTok

Facebook came first, by 12 years. TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only.

## Side by side

|  | Facebook | TikTok |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 2004 | 2016 |
| Date | 2004-02-04 | — |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only. | ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017. |

## 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.

## TikTok

The app launched in China as Douyin in September 2016 and internationally as TikTok in 2017. What made it global was the 2018 acquisition and merger of Musical.ly, a lip-sync app that had launched in 2014 and already had a large Western user base — so part of TikTok is two years older than TikTok. Douyin and TikTok remain separate apps on separate infrastructure.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Facebook or TikTok?

Facebook, by 12 years — 2004 against 2016.

### When did Facebook start?

2004. TheFacebook launched for Harvard students only.

### When did TikTok start?

2016. ByteDance launched Douyin in China; TikTok followed abroad in 2017.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)