Facebook – Top 3 Organizational Habits for Success

Introduction to The Organizational Habits of Facebook

Facebook is the poster child of social media. Founder Mark Zuckerberg is the reason many college students set off to become billionaires and duplicate his success. The company had a movie made called the "Social Network" that was all about its messy founding story. This company changed the world forever. 

Facebook changed the way people date, stay in touch with friends, how the world consumes news, and how people discover what is going on. Facebook also owns WhatsApp, Instagram, and has swallowed up many other lesser-known companies. 

Facebook makes money from Advertising due to the MASSIVE amounts of data they collect on their users. Facebook has continuously pushed the limits on privacy, and though it has got them into a bit of hot water, it has not slowed them down for one second. 

The success of this company under the vision and leadership of Mark Zuckerberg has been outstanding. Everyone can point to a time when they were sure that Facebook was going to die, but they kept proving the haters wrong. Keep reading to see the Organizational Habits of Facebook. 

Quotes Organizational Habits of Facebook

 "Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough." - Mark Zuckerberg

“For most people, their wealth accrues slowly, and at any given point they say, ‘Okay, I should kick up my standard of living because now I’ve earned slightly more wealth.’ I went from the dorm room to having a billion dollars.”—Dustin Moskovitz

"Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. The primary thing that excites me is the mission. But we have always had a healthy understanding that we need to do both." Mark Zuckerberg

“All I know is that I carried you for nine months. I fed you, I clothed you, I paid for your college education. Friending me on Facebook seems like a small thing to ask in return.”
― Jodi Picoult

“Facebook gives people an illusory sense of being LIKED.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"I just think people have a lot of fiction. But, you know, I mean, the real story of Facebook is just that we've worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded." - Mark Zuckerberg

“When we founded Facebook, we put a lot of hours into it and worked hard every day. ‘The Social Network’ painted this picture that we were partying all the time when really we only attended 2 or 3 parties during Facebook’s first year.”—Dustin Moskovitz

#1 - Move Fast and Break Things

Anyone in tech has heard this motto and knows it comes from Facebook. Mark believes in this motto, and it has worked its way throughout the company. They do what they want to do and ask for permission later. You can't build a $10B company in three years without moving at breakneck speeds.

The reason this organizational habit is number one is that they have to build a company culture of smart people who are not afraid to try new things. Nothing is off-limits at Facebook, and the brilliant minds that work there never have to slow down.

#2 -Test Everything

The way that Facebook became the first social network to crack 50M users is by having a strategic plan to do so. They hired a growth hacking team before it was cool to do so. Facebook knew that their north star metric was and they knew that the wall was at 50m. They put all of there energy and resources into making sure they broke that barrier. 

They were HUNGRY for new users, and they would not stop until they got more. They were willing to run more tests then other companies were to make sure they kept growing. They did not stop there though they spent time working on all these different customer segments. 

• New Customers
• Retaining Customers
• Resurrected Customers 
• Churned Customers 

Their north start metric was to get users to 10 friends in 10 days. Their data showed that if they could get users to have ten friends, they could get them to 50 friends as fast as possible, and then they would likely stick with Facebook in the long run. They figured this out and solved this problem by testing like crazy. 

#3 - Fit To People's Strengths and Ignore Weaknesses  

Facebook makes sure that they connect their employees to their most engaging work. They don't focus on what their people can't do. Instead, they help them figure out what will excite them, and then they set them loose in that direction. 

Facebook is in the Bay Area, which is known for being a talent War Zone. Everyone wants the "smart creatives" to come work for them. Facebook would have to fight with Apple, Google, Salesforce, Oracle, Cisco, and the plethora of Startups hitting the ground running every day. 

When talent has this many options, you have to be willing to offer something they can't get elsewhere. Keeping people around is the hardest thing for any company because the longer someone stays the more cumulative knowledge they can build over the years.

How Facebook Approached Hiring

1. Select for talent, not experience or determination 
2. Define outcomes, not steps 
3. Motivate by focusing on strengths
4. Find the right fit not just the next run