Facebook

One of the most important developments in social media since the mid-2000s is the rise of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg developed Facebook as a website for Harvard University students in 2004. Facebook subsequently expanded to other colleges and ultimately opened to the public. Today, Facebook functions as a worldwide platform in over 70 languages. In late 2018, Facebook reported having 2.32 billion users who are active on the site at least monthly. Although growth in the United States and Canada seems to have stagnated in recent years, the user base has continued to expand at a steady pace around the rest of the world. As of mid-2018, Facebook’s market capitalization exceeded $574 billion.

In addition to providing a variety of ways for users to display identity, network, ...