Marc Andreessen joins Facebook

Facebook has announced the appointment of Marc Andreessen to the board

Web pioneer and Netscape founder Marc Andreessen has joined the board of Facebook.

Andreessen's position at the social networking site could see him grooming another web icon, Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

"I know Marc will be a great mentor to me and our leadership team," said Zuckerberg.

"He has experience that is relevant to Facebook in so many ways: scaling companies that are experiencing extraordinary growth, creating successful technology platforms, and building strong engineering organisations."

Most recently Andreessen has been working with Ning, a start-up which offers a platform for users to create their own social networking sites. Ning is Andreessen's third startup after Netscape and Opsware.

Andreessen will become the fourth member of a Facebook board that includes Zuckerberg and venture capitalists Jim Breyer and Peter Thiel.

"Facebook is one of the most innovative companies on the web and it is an honour to join the board," said Andreessen. "I am looking forward to helping the team as Facebook continues to grow."