Facebook

Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and a ragtag crew of Harvard's finest (Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes), Facebook started as a college hookup app and quickly evolved into the digital deity of social interaction. Known for turning everyone's most mundane updates into a spectacle and fueling a billion-dollar advertising machine, it became the gold standard for online egotism. Its defining moments include the explosive 2012 IPO that left investors scrambling and the infamous 2016 election meddling scandal, which proved that data privacy was as secure as a wet paper bag. With a valuation that oscillates between astronomical and disastrous depending on the latest scandal, Facebook has managed to snag a Pulitzer for its journalism while simultaneously hosting a parade of privacy breaches and fake news. The platform’s awards are almost as numerous as its controversies, with leaders like Zuckerberg skillfully navigating the treacherous waters of public outrage and congressional hearings. In the grand theater of tech, Facebook's role is both omnipresent and omnipotent—an empire built on the back of our insatiable need to overshare and stay connected, whether we like it or not.