Facebook, from the beginning, seemed to fill the gossip gap that the back yard clothesline and ancient telephone party line facilitated in decades past--all the while providing a "superiority" complex for 50- and 60-somethings who discovered the new technology's snooping and virtual sniffing out of other people's lives ability provided by Zuckerberg.
For people inclined to gossip and snooping, Facebook is/was a treasure trove. Ever encountered a relative or individual whose every paragraph began with, "I saw on Facebook that . . . ?"
FB is in many ways the worst thing on the internet. Its defenders talk about how it’s connected or reconnected people, but it’s probably ruined as many if not more friendships(and marriages) as it’s created. It has created hell on earth for many teens not only due to bullying but also constant negative self-comparisons to the semi-fictitious lives they view on their peers’ pages. I say all this as someone who has profited from owning FB stock (though I quit the site myself after being on there briefly 10 years ago).