//What, exactly, does a social network do?//

<i>It's as if no one had ever thought of any of it before</i>

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_industry

Go on...

//Facebook was where you might find out that your friend was dating someone new, or that someone had thrown a party without inviting you.//

There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. And from such an auspicious start, an empire was born.