Like it or not, Facebook has a vision of making the world more open. This vision reportedly dates back to Facebook’s 2004 origins at Harvard.

In the book, The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick writes that just a short time after “Thefacebook” launched in February 2004, Zuckerberg had already explained his vision to Tricia Black with Y2M, an early advertising partner.

The excerpt reads:

“Even then he had his own vision for the potential of Thefacebook, and it didn’t have a lot to do with money. “We’re going to change the world,” Black remembers him saying. “I think we can make the world a more open place.”

This vision is one that we’ve been hearing more and more about in recent weeks. Zuckerberg has taken to public forums to express his steadfast commitment to this vision, especially when coming to the defense of Instant Personalization. Zuckerberg also proudly dons the now famous company hoodie that is branded with the Facebook insignia, as depicted above. The insignia captures the company’s vision of making the world more open and connected through [Open] Graph, Platform and Stream.

In hindsight, it’s easy to tie Zuckerberg’s grandiose vision to the evolution of the site. Just look at the News Feed, Facebook Platform, the “Everyone” option, and now the “Like” buttons. The News Feed made content from friends more accessible, Platform introduced third-party application integration, the “Everyone” option began to acclimate users to the idea of publishing content publicly (to the Stream) and the “Like” buttons serve as digital rewards for those who engage with third-party content.

Clearly, Facebook has stayed true to its vision over the years, and while everyone may not agree with it, it’s this consistency that’s led to focused innovation on the feature front.