On September 26, 2006, Facebook dropped its last big membership barrier and opened registration to anyone at least 13 years old with a valid email address. Until then you needed the right kind of email address to join: one from a college, a participating high school, or one of a select list of companies.
The gradual rollout had been deliberate. Facebook launched at Harvard in February 2004, spread to other Ivy League and Boston-area schools within weeks, and then to universities across the US and Canada. High school students got access in September 2005, followed by employees of some companies. That closed, school-by-school model gave the site a reputation as a trusted space tied to real identities, which set it apart from competitors like MySpace.
The move came at the end of a turbulent month. On September 5, Facebook had launched News Feed, which set off a wave of user protests over privacy, and the company added new privacy controls within days. Three weeks later it opened the doors to everyone. That choice turned a college network into the mainstream social platform that would pass MySpace and eventually count its users in the billions.
Source: Wikipedia – History of Facebook, Jon Loomer Digital – Detailed History of Facebook Changes
Daily Tech History is a running series looking back at notable moments in technology on this date.
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