Facebook idea claimed stolen from rival Harvard site

By Stan Beer
Wednesday, 25 July 2007 05:47

Opinion and Analysis

Many ideas are great but only a few make it to the big time. One such idea was Facebook, another was Connectu, both of which were Harvard social networks started in 2004. The Connectu founders have accused the Facebook founder of stealing their idea and intellectual property. Is it true? Does it matter?

The facts, acccording to plaintiffs Divy Narendra and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, are that they enlisted the help of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to help them develop Connectu. However, they claim instead Zuckerberg stole their idea and developed Facebook instead, beating them to the market by a coule of months. Zuckerberg and Facebook deny everything of course.

Whether the three Harvard graduates are telling the truth or not is up to the courts to decide. However, anyone who has brought a website into existence can attest being first to market by a couple of months does not guarantee success. Social networking sites are no different.

Classmates.com, one of the first social networking sites, started in 1995 and is very popular with tens of millions of members. However, Facebook, which started 9 years later, is bigger. Why? Superior marketing? Better SEO? Better services? Better user experience? Wider appeal? Probably a combination of all these.

In the world of web publishing, there are few financial barriers to entry. What makes one site successful with throngs of daily traffic while another just a deserted web placemark comes down to how compelling the content is and site developers are at getting the site known.

In the case of Facebook and Connectu, which both launched within three months of each other in 2004, it is fairly obvious which site was able to tap into that indefinable something that creates success. An iPod is after all a portable music player - it wasn't the first but it is definitely the most successful.

If Zuckerberg's adversaries win their case, perhaps Facebook could be made to pay some compensation. Should Facebook be given to Connectu? Only if you believe that iPod should be given to Creative Labs.