Facebook

Facebook is a high profile social network, in operation and available to the public since 2006. As of Q4 2017, the company reported 2.2 Billion monthly users.

Facebook allows users to create a public profile, which they can then use to interact with family, friends, and strangers. Options for interaction include a blog-style Timeline, private messaging, photo sharing, "Liking" and commenting on other user's posts, and other general forms of interactions. Facebook offers users a mobile app, as well as a separate mobile app for private messaging, calling, and video conferencing.

History
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerburg while he was attending college at Harvard University, initially as a service exclusive to universities. The platform was made available to everybody aged 13 or older with a valid e-mail address in September of 2006

Business Model
Facebook generates the majority of its revenue through advertising. Companies or individuals will purchase an advertisement from Facebook, and it will be displayed to users who have expressed interest in relevant content through their User Profiles For example, a user who has "Liked" pages relating to professional photo/video equipment will likely be displayed advertisements for cameras and microphones, or events related to that subject area

With the advent and implementation of Web 3.0 and Semantic Web technology, Facebook is able to offer increasingly personalized advertisements.

Major Controversy
In 2018, Facebook was discovered to be keeping massive amounts of data on each user, including everything they have ever done on the site, and even call and text records from their mobile phones. The company is the subject of a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its data tracking policies, causing stock prices to collapse, stripping billions in value from the company.