‘A Look Back’: Facebook creates a nostalgic custom video using your life

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Facebook’s founding. As creator Mark Zuckerberg reflects on the last 10 years with his company, he and his team are urging users to do the same. The social network has created a custom plugin that highlights how you’ve spent your time with the platform.

Starting today, Facebook users will be notified that a video summary of their Facebook lives is ready for viewing on the web and mobile. The “Look Back” video, as the network calls it, contains about 20 of the user’s most-liked photos, statuses, and life events set to some nostalgic music. It’s really cheesy but quite interesting to see the sum of one’s life according to Facebook in the last 10 (or in my case seven) years on Facebook.

The video is really a sentimental “thank you card” from Facebook to its 1.2-billion users, a little token to let them know that the last 10 years would not have been possible without them. So go have a look back at your life on the world’s largest social network.

In a Facebook post today, Zuckerberg reflected that it is special to be able to affect so many people via one platform.

“It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s rare to be able to touch so many people’s lives, and I try to remind myself to make the most of every day and have the biggest impact I can.”

For the tech billionaire, watching how the userbase has grown and seeing how people use the platform has been a particular highlight:

“It’s been amazing to see how all of you have used our tools to build a real community,” he wrote. “You’ve shared the happy moments and the painful ones. You’ve started new families, and kept spread-out families connected. You’ve created new services and built small businesses. You’ve helped each other in so many ways.”

The challenge for the Zuck in the next 10 years isn’t about getting more people on his platform but getting more people online through his Internet.org project.

“Today, only one-third of the world’s population has access to the internet. In the next decade, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to connect the other two-thirds,” he wrote.

Update: Wish you could edit your Look Back video? Facebook has confirmed it is working on it.