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Status update: Facebook's first year as a public company (pictures)

It's been one year since Facebook's IPO, and it's been a year of ups and downs. Here are a few of the most Liked features from Facebook's first public year.

James Martin
James Martin is the Managing Editor of Photography at CNET. His photos capture technology's impact on society - from the widening wealth gap in San Francisco, to the European refugee crisis and Rwanda's efforts to improve health care. From the technology pioneers of Google and Facebook, photographing Apple's Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai, to the most groundbreaking launches at Apple and NASA, his is a dream job for any documentary photography and journalist with a love for technology. Exhibited widely, syndicated and reprinted thousands of times over the years, James follows the people and places behind the technology changing our world, bringing their stories and ideas to life.
James Martin
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1 of 13 Facebook

Facebook's IPO

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. It was the age of Facebook's initial public offering -- and after one year, there have been plenty of highs and lows.

Here, we see Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company celebrating Facebook's listing on the Nasdaq on May 18, 2012.
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2 of 13 Screenshot/Google Finance

Facebook's stock journey

With a highly anticipated IPO, Facebook's stock took a battering following the Nasdaq listing. Debuting for $38 a share, it's since gone as low as $17.55.
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3 of 13 James Martin/CNET

New connections

Facebook's public listing meant that CEO Mark Zuckerberg's empire was no longer solely in his control. It opened the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company to outside criticism and forced its business end to make new connections and find new sources for growth and revenue.
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4 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Arrington and Zuckerberg

In his first live interview since the IPO, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat down for a conversation with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington (left) at TechCrunch Disrupt.
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5 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg took a few minutes to answer audience questions following his conversation with Michael Arrington at TechCrunch Disrupt.
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6 of 13 Facebook

Facebook Gifts

When Mark Zuckerberg and company spoke in January about the Facebook Gifts feature, they were tackling one of the social network's best hopes for making money from somewhere other than advertising -- yet the prospect has yet to deliver.
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7 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Graph Search

Facebook's Graph Search was intended to help people find more of what they're looking for on Facebook and discover connections between the people, places, and things they already interact with.
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8 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Graph Search and privacy

Like many Facebook products, the idea of such a comprehensive network search was met with skepticism by privacy critics.
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9 of 13 Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET

Facebook's new News Feed

This year Facebook unveiled a new News Feed, a bigger and better experience aiming to make Facebook more unified across devices like computers, smartphones, and tablets.
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10 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Facebook Home

Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook Home earlier this year. Facebook runs on top of the Android operating system -- and is as close to a long-rumored Facebook Phone as we'll ever get.
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11 of 13 James Martin/CNET

HTC First

When you open your Facebook Home-compatible phone, like the HTC First, you'll see photos in your news feed make up the wallpaper. While the overlay cycles through pictures, you can interact with the text, and other features, without disrupting the flow.
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12 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Facebook Home front and center

Home puts Facebook front and center on your phone -- but is it too much Facebook?
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13 of 13 James Martin/CNET

Facebook Home as OS

Facebook Home acts almost as its own Facebook operating system stacked on top of the Android OS.

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