Facebook was founded 20 years ago as a basic hangout space for young people and has now evolved into a battle-hardened juggernaut that, despite impressions of being for boomers and parents, continues to grow.
On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and three buddies launched thefacebook.com, which was initially only available to Harvard College students.
It was first available to students at various US universities before being made available to the general public in 2006.
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Facebook became a platform for communicating with almost anyone, anywhere, and by 2023, it was reported to be used by more than 3 billion people monthly, a 3% increase over the previous year.
The more users interact with the social network, the more money-making adverts it can display based on the massive quantity of information they post on Facebook.
It is credited with paving the way for material to "go viral" and fueling the growth of online-only news services.
Facebook's reputation for buying and copying rivals has led to a "family" of apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp, making it an advertising monster.
Zuckerberg, who still runs the company, followed a policy of aggressively spending in user acquisition before incorporating revenue-generating strategies, which typically included targeted adverts.
Facebook, like Google, has grown into an online advertising powerhouse. 2022 the Silicon Valley-based company's profits amounted to $23 billion.
Following charges that Russia used the platform to try to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, it became involved in the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal.
In 2021, it came under pressure from whistleblowers who said executives prioritized profits before user safety and well-being.
Despite this, Facebook has continued to grow.
The digital titan's growth has enabled it to invest in advancements such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Facebook changed its parent business name to "Meta" in late 2021, citing Zuckerberg's vision of immersive, virtual worlds dubbed the "metaverse" as the next major computer platform.
